Make, use, dispose, repeat – again, and again …
It works for the electronics industry, but doesn’t work for the planet!

WHEN YOU BUY A PRODUCT, you expect to be able to repair it. The problem is, many modern products are designed so that you can’t fix them. Vital parts are inaccessible. Or you have to go through the manufacturer, which may well just give you a new one. The end result: millions of expensive products, from cars to phones to appliances, end up in the rubbish tip.
 
Many countries and jurisdictions are introducing laws enshrining your right to repair products. The EU has introduced a “right to repair” policy. In the United States, 26 states have proposed laws.

In: If you buy it, why can’t you fix it? Here’s why we still don’t have the ‘right to repair’, (The Conversation, 17 April, 2023) Leanne Wiseman, Professor of Law, Griffith University, Griffith University and John Gertsakis,  Adjunct Professor (Industry), University of Technology Sydney, report on the current state of ‘right to repair’ laws in Australia and why it seems we’re dragging our feet. 

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In Foot Work, Tansy Hoskins (picture above) asks: Where do our shoes come from?
Where do they go when we’re done with them?
 
SHOES HAVE NEVER BEEN CHEAPER to buy, and we have never been more convinced that we need to buy them. Yet, their cost to the planet has never been greater.
 
In this urgent, passionately argued book, Tansy Hoskins opens our eyes to the dark origins of the shoes on our feet. Taking us deep into the heart of an industry that is exploiting workers and deceiving consumers, we begin to understand that if we don’t act fast, this humble household object will take us to the point of no return

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Nokia launches DIY repairable Android phone
Samuel Gibbs (Consumer technology editor, The Guardian, 26 Feb 2023)

NOKIA HAS ANNOUNCED one of the first Android smartphones designed to be repaired at home allowing users to swap out the battery in under five minutes in partnership with iFixit.
 
The Nokia G22 has a removable back and internal design that allows components to be easily unscrewed and swapped out including the battery, screen and charging port.
 
Nokia phones manufacturer HMD Global will make “quick fix” repair guides and genuine parts available for five years via specialists iFixit, in addition to affordable professional repair options.
 
“People value long-lasting, quality devices and they shouldn’t have to compromise on price to get them. The new Nokia G22 is purposefully built with a repairable design so you can keep it even longer,” said Adam Ferguson, head of product marketing for HMD Global.

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Fairphone / @Fairphone
MAKE, USE, DISPOSE, REPEAT- works for the electronics industry, but doesn’t work for the planet! So we went all in and designed smartphones to break this cycle. On World Consumer Rights Day – March 13 – Fairphone announced: “We support the right to repair and we have the perfect 10’s from iFixit to back it up!”   Read more about this shift away from the disposable consumer society later in the magazine.

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GOING CIRCULAR is a film about hope. It tells the stories of four practical visionaries – 102-year-old inventor Dr. James Lovelock, biomimicry biologist Janine Benyus, designer Arthur Huang, and financier John Fullerton – whose extraordinary experiences change the way we think about humanity’s future.  Each of their stories helps us reassess what our food, our cities, our financial system and our fashion industry could look like if we transitioned to a circular system where everything is reused and nothing goes to waste.

Warners Bay Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group and MHCS sponsored the screening of this ground-breaking film at the Lake Mac Landcare and Sustainable Living Centre, umali barai-ku, Wednesday 17 May.

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Beyond Growth
Conference held at the European Parliament, 15-17 May 2023
Pathways towards sustainable prosperity in the EU. Now completed, but plenty of information available via the website.
https://www.beyond-growth-2023.eu/

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PICTURE: The ‘economy’ as we know it, is a human invention – something humans have made up. It’s actually changed a lot since it started! This means that the contemporary model with always increasing growth doesn’t have to be the main economic system. A different system (as illustrated) might make it easier to stop climate change and other types of environmental damage.

Degrowth isn’t the same as a recession
Katharina Richter, The Conversation, 23 May 2023
Degrowth is not the same as negative GDP growth. Instead, degrowth envisions a society in which wellbeing does not depend on economic growth and the environmental and social consequences of its pursuit. Degrowth proposes an equitable, voluntary reduction of overconsumption in affluent economies.
https://theconversation.com/degrowth-isnt-the-same-as-a-recession-its-an-alternative-to-growing-the-economy-forever-202469