You deserve the right to repair your stuff | Gay Gordon-Byrne

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A self-declared "repair geek," Gay Gordon-Byrne is a driving force behind the right-to-repair movement, which aims to empower people to fix their stuff. She describes how the movement is gaining legislative momentum and breaks down how the global shift away from "throwaway society" can literally turn trash into treasure in a circular economy -- so we can all experience that "Yes! I fixed it!" feeling.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hume. Especially with same-day shipping,
0:09.6	it can be so tempting and convenient to buy things new. Of course, that means more trash. Gay Gordon-Burn
0:17.7	is resisting the churn of consumption with repair.
0:24.0	In her archive talk from Ted Monterey in 2021,
0:27.6	the right to repair advocate shares how mending what's broken can have not just environmentally, but socially beneficial ripple effects.
0:33.7	That's after a short break.
0:37.2	I am a repair geek.
0:40.3	I grew up fixing things with my dad.
0:43.2	It was what we did.
0:45.2	We fixed our TV.
0:47.1	We fixed our refrigerator.
0:49.0	We fixed stuff that didn't need fixing.
0:51.5	We fixed our Volkswagen Beetle.
0:57.9	In our home, if something broke, we took it as an opportunity to have fun. We loved the idea and the challenge of bringing things back to life.
1:05.5	And I still love that feeling, which to me is just thrilling. I did it recently. My laptop was overheating.
1:14.4	I thought it might be the fan. I ordered a fan. I put the fan in. I turned it on and the fan went
1:20.4	like, yes. That really worked. It was a great feeling. Now, I know this kind of repair probably sounds very old-fashioned,
1:30.8	and I probably look a little old-fashioned,
1:32.7	but it's much more than saving money.
1:36.5	It's how we keep the things that we like in use.
1:39.3	It helps us keep things out of the trash.
1:42.5	It helps bring jobs into our communities, and it can help solve the digital divide.
	...

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