NEW PALTS, N.Y. (AP) — On a drizzly Saturday morning late last month, the basement of the New Paltz United Methodist Church was filled with old lamps, dull knives, malfunctioning sound mixers and broken zippers.
About a dozen volunteers welcomed the broken items and their owners to a global movement promoting new relationships between people and things.
Repair Café is part of the new brand, a free event where volunteers with the technical know-how help their neighbors repair a myriad of household items. anti-consumerism it is trying to provide alternative to the mass-produced, disposable products that have dominated the global economy for the past half-century. Here’s the fuel to move toward repair instead of purchase: US consumer pricesspiked again last month war with iran causing a rise in gasoline prices, more pain For Americans.
After starting with Netherlands From one event in 2009, Repair Cafe has grown into a global nonprofit organization with more than 59,000 members, nearly 4,000 cafes, and nearly 850,000 items repaired annually.
“We need to change the way we think. We need to change the economy,” said Martine Postma, founder of Repair Café. “Even if Repair Café alone cannot solve the problem, it is still a clear sign that change is needed at a higher level.”
Repair cafes are a way to fix things and a way to form a community
In New Paltz, a college town in the Hudson Valley about two hours from New York, 50 people brought about 85 items to a repair cafe. Items include antique fans that need rewiring, shirts, pants, jackets, and stuffed animals. There were old family photos in need of restoration and jewelry waiting to be re-strung and clasps replaced.
Repair experts waited behind long tables in the cafeteria, offering replacements and giving people a chance to learn that a defective item doesn’t automatically become junk.
“Maybe their initial reason for coming is financial or emotional,” organizer Holly Shader said.
More than that, she added, “it gives people an opportunity to collaborate and extend the life of something. People build relationships.”
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Specialists on site repaired 71 items, but four were found to require further work and 10 were deemed beyond repair. They said they volunteered for the low-pressure joy of solving things as a side benefit of networking.
“I get to come here and do some hands-on work, meet some nice people, and teach them how to build something,” said contractor Patrick L. Murphy.
A network promoting this new anti-consumerism brand is growing.
The Buy Nothing project, the Right to Repair law, and a growing library of tools also specialize in repairing, trading, and gifting rather than buying and selling.
The Buy Nothing Project, which started in Washington state in 2013, maintains an app and social media presence that connects gift givers with people nearby who want it. As described on its Facebook page, it is a global network of gift economies.
Founder Liesl Clark said the network has grown to at least 12.5 million people on Facebook, a growth rate with the ability to influence the behavior of companies and nations.
“What was a social movement has actually become a safety net for millions of people,” she said. “People are starting to realize that they don’t have to go to the Amazons of the world to get what they need, that their communities have a strong material culture.
“We want to change the way the world consumes.”
The movement “began as a social, economic and environmental experiment,” she noted.
“When you and someone else are working together to solve something, there will be conversation,” she said. “We found ourselves overcoming a lot of barriers.”
In today’s modern throwaway culture, many people have lost the once-near-universal ability to repair household items, says Peter Counter, an engineer who studies repair cafes and is working toward a PhD at the College of Creative Arts in Farnham, England.
“The idea that you can fix things yourself is being pushed back because skills are not passed on,” he says. “If you want to fix something, it’s almost always cheaper to buy something new.”
Counter said community repairs are popular because the volunteers who donate their time make it financially viable, even if they have to buy spare parts.
The Right to Repair movement wants consumers to be empowered to repair products themselves instead of having to go to the manufacturer for tools and instructions. A national campaign has urged states to consider legislation in 2023 that would require manufacturers to provide both customers and repair shops with access to tools and instructions. Several states have passed legislation.
Additionally, some jurisdictions around the country host tool libraries where people can borrow expensive tools, much like library books.
“It’s great to see people restoring old things.”
In New Paltz, Paula Weinstein, 79, brought in a 1930s Hammond watch and gave it to Bob Morton.
Morton, 82, a former IBM electrical engineer, said he enjoys using his skills to stay intellectually busy and helping people.
“I’m blessed to still have a brain,” said the grandfather of three. “It’s a chance to do something.”
Weinstein added: “It’s great to see people restoring old things.”
After many hours of patiently working together, the hands on her clock moved.
“Yes, it worked!” she exclaimed. “Oh my god, thank you so much!”
“I’m glad I stuck with it,” Morton said.
