Now, there are some points here. Things like the right to repair, and not disposing of so many products which end up in landfills, which is an environmental issue. But, the climate cult likes to link everything to their cult
Fixit culture is on the rise, but repair legislation faces resistance
Americans are responsible for throwing out more stuff than any other nation in the world. According to the Public Interest Research Group, people in this country generate more than 12% of the planet’s trash, though we represent only 4% of the global population.
“We keep going at this pace and we’ll reach the heat death of the earth in a few hundred years,” said Adam Savage, the leader and host of Tested, a popular YouTube channel and website aimed at makers, and an outspoken advocate for repairing the things we own rather than trashing them. “So time is of the essence.”
Throwing things away comes with an environmental cost. Manufacturing processes and decomposing products in landfills emit significant levels of climate warming pollution. Some materials, like plastic, never decompose. Savage said it’s time human beings reminded themselves that throwaway culture is a relatively new phenomenon. It started about a hundred years ago with the rise of mass manufacturing.
They also have a slight point there, namely that landfills are an issue with releasing methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, though it doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere. I’ve long stated that mankind is responsible for a small portion of anthropogenic global warming, and landfills are part of that. But, seriously, do we need to make everything about ‘climate change doom? Seriously, heat death of the Earth because of throwing out products?
“We have been repairers and restorers for millennia longer than we’ve been profligate thrower outer of things,” Savage said, as he worked on mending the hulking wood-and-metal-shaping lathe that occupies a corner of the professional tinkerer’s cavernous workshop.
It’s a lot easier to repair a horse drawn cart than your coffee maker, fridge, TV, etc. Sadly, products aren’t made to last as long as they used to.
Nevertheless, the appetite for fixing things is on the rise. From patching jeans to replacing phone screens, U.S. consumers are showing an increased interest in prolonging the life of the things they own, rather than getting rid of them.
Unfortunately, it’s often less expensive to replace than repair, or, in other cases, not that much more expensive to replace. If a new coffee maker costs $30, and $25 to repair (can you even find someone to repair it? Does anyone fix TVs anymore?), do you repair the old one or replace?
This points to a shift in how Americans are defining what it means to be a responsible shopper as global consumption continues to contribute to climate change.
Sigh. But, yes, I would like products to last like they used to. I’ve had the same washer and dryer since 1994. The same JVC receiver since about 1988. I recently took a tube TV from about 1989 to the dump. It still worked fine. Nobody wanted it. An acoustic guitar since the early 80’s. But, I have an electric that would cost a lot to fix, as the locking wammy bar is toast, and electronics are not great. Great guitar, but, is it worth it? Or, just get a new one? The neck is still perfect.
Daniel Leong was among the crowd attending one such event at the San Francisco Public Library. The San Francisco resident has brought two bikes along for the volunteer bike repairers to repair. His wife’s has a flat tire; his son’s, malfunctioning brakes.
“We don’t know much about repairing bikes,” said Leong. “We just ride every so often.”
A basic bike tune-up in San Francisco can cost well over $100. Leong said he’s a fan of fixit days because the service is free. But it’s about more than the unbeatable price.
Yeah, well, if you’re trashing a bike because you can’t take it to someplace like a bike shop, or Dick’s sporting goods, you’re a moron. That’s not really fixit culture. It’s easy. Of course, the climate cult wants all you peasants out of your cars and onto bikes. I repair a lot of stuff myself, from plumbing to toilets to this and that where I can. Electronics? I do not have the parts. If a laptop goes toast, less expensive to replace.
Anyhow, the climate cult stuff ends in the previous excerpt, and is an interesting read.
No one fixes burned out incandescent light bulbs. And no one cries about “throw away” culture when they buy a new one. It is a simple matter of economics. No one fixes automotive oil filters instead of just replacing them with a new one. In the underdeveloped world, lots of things get repaired. In industrialized nations more things get replaced instead. That is because labor in those countries is cheap relative to ours. Even complex things like smart phones get replaced often in the USA and end up in China getting repaired and resold. In America, lots of things get repaired as a hobby, not a trade. And fewer people are learning the trades of all kinds because high school guidance counselors only have one page in their play book: go to college. Then easy government backed loans make it possible for everyone to go to college, go heavy into debt, learn nothing useful and then forever ignore going into the trades as “beneath them”. This is the result of too few people even knowing how to repair things because they frittered away their learning years on amusements, TV, Twitter, Facebooks, Games, and then followed it up with amusing classes in college instead of learning hard things. You end up with a bunch of people who are only fit for government job somewhere where no results or productivity are expected.
Our distinguished host wrote:
That’s true enough, but there’s also the part that money can’t buy, and that’s the personal satisfaction of having done the work yourself, taken something that’s broken and fixed it, having done something that a lot of people can’t, or won’t, do.
More, when you fix it yourself, your wife gets impressed with how manly you are, and she jumps your bones.
All true. There is a certain level of satisfaction that comes from showing skill in a craft. With Youtube showing all manner of how to do things, it is harder to excuse being useless when it comes to most basic repairs. I personally do all of my own home, auto, appliance and computer repairs. I have the knack for it and once you collect all the tools, most jobs are pretty easy.
For once, the salt-of-the-Earth Kentuckian and I are in total agreement!
The Greatest Generation did their best to pass skills along to us boomers, some who have sustained modest plumbing, carpentry, electrician and construction skills… enough to install a faucet, ice maker, garbage disposal, ceiling fan, build/fix a deck, door, concrete work, fix a leak, replace a screen, change a lock, fix a car!. New cars are so complex now that it’s best left to the pros. My father-in-law was a talented do-it-yourselfer and I learned much from that WWII vet. My own kids have picked up some skills and can breakdown a bass boat and raise a garden. My son-in-law is a talented amateur mason – patio, built-in grill and fireplace etc.
Fortunately, I have good friends who are carpenters and construction workers for help and advice.
Installing a new quiet garbage disposal is more effective than a $20,000 bonus in the bones jumping arena!!
The manly Missourian wrote:
Perhaps, but it’s one thing I will never do! All of that chewed up junk going into the waste lines is a prescription for clogged lines. If you replaced the standard waste line with a 4″ waste line, the kind which drains your toilet, I might think that’s OK.
I’m also pretty much of a martinet about not cleaning most of the soil off of dishes before putting them in the dishrinser. The small, corrugated waste lines that come off of dishrinsers seems too easy to clog to me.
Agreed. In fact, no house that has a septic system should even have a garbage disposal. Anything that doesn’t dissolve in water should not go into your pipes. A few weeks ago, I was uninstalling a disposal and replacing it with a standard basket strainer in order to get the pipes flowing again to a reasonable and reliable level.
With modern electronics, things are frequently obsolete before they’re broken. A stereo might be an exception, but TVs and computers are seldom worth it. It’s hard to even get parts. I once tried to fix my GE clock radio, and called all over to find a keypad. Turns out GE had sold it’s consumer electronics to Phillips in France. Almost nobody fixes computers to the component level. It’s all board swap. When I fixed Amigas, I did repair to the chip level, but that was back in the 80s-90s when surface mount tech was not as common.
With some tech, like VCRs, since they don’t make them anymore, they’re gonna have to fix them…. if you want to keep watching those old tapes.