Episode Summary: Tune in with hosts Leekei, Jenn, and Kristina as they share good news related to climate change around the world.

Initiatives covered include:

• plastic collection initiative in Bali by Gary Benchegib
• public water fountains in Minneapolis
• fashion repair scheme in France
• EPR Extended Producer’s Responsibility in the EU
• ‘buy nothing groups’ and ‘fix-it-fair’ in Canada
• the ‘Right to Repair Act’ in California

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang and Jenn Swanson.

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France. 

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and community Connector, helping people help themselves. 

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Hi, I'm Christina.

2

I'm from Prague.

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Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

4

Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

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Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

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Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

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Welcome to Carbon Sessions.

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A podcast with Carbon Conversations

for every day with everyone

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from everywhere in the world.

10

In our conversations, we share ideas,

perspectives, questions, and things we

11

can actually do to make a difference.

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So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions because it's not too late.

13

Hi, I'm Liki.

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Hi, I'm Christina.

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Hi, I'm Jen.

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So what are we talking about today?

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Good news.

18

Yeah.

19

Good news.

20

Good news.

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We love good news.

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Right?

23

Who doesn't love good news?

24

So for this conversation, our

assignment was to come to this

25

discussion with some good news to share.

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Who wants to start?

27

I'll start.

28

Good.

29

I got all excited a while ago about the

cleaning the plastic from the oceans.

30

And, uh, Thank you.

31

I heard about two guys,

Boyan Slat and Caleb Cruz.

32

I think Boyan is very famous

in this cleanup plastic idea,

33

and he is very successful.

34

He has a company called Ocean Cleanup,

and I think he started when he was 17.

35

So I'm very excited about young

people doing something and

36

really making a difference.

37

And the other one is also...

38

For cleaning plastic from the rivers

so the plastic wouldn't go in the

39

ocean and it was founded in 2020.

40

I think there are three siblings, Gary,

Kelly, and Sam, and they collected

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1 million kilograms of plastic.

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They created, they used the

barriers in the rivers in Indonesia

43

and I think there are up to 1,

000 barriers in their company.

44

Uh, called Sungai Watch.

45

So those are my good news and it

feels really good that young people

46

are not only thinking of ideas but

having success and really doing things.

47

So that's my good news.

48

Those two organizations, are

they both working in Indonesia?

49

The one, uh, the Sungai Watch

is in Indonesia and I think...

50

Uh, the ocean cleanup, they

are not in the Indonesia.

51

I thought they were in Africa, but I

am not 100 percent sure, but definitely

52

they figured out first what they

wanted to do is clean up all these

53

islands of plastic in the ocean.

54

And so they figured out

what's really going on.

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It's not just the big cruise ship,

which, yes, there are problems.

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But.

57

That's not where the most

plastic was coming in.

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It was coming in from the rivers.

59

And I think they started an African

continent, but I might be wrong.

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Yeah, so basically they're creating

dams, floating dams, so it catches all

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the plastic and garbage and collecting

it so it doesn't come into the ocean.

62

On YouTube they have

these beautiful videos.

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Oh, that's interesting.

64

So they stop the plastic before they,

they pollute , the oceans, right?

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Exactly.

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Exactly.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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Because everything is connected.

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That's great.

71

What do they do with that after?

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I wonder.

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I wonder.

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Yeah.

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That's for another kid.

76

That's the word for another kid.

77

Yeah, that, that reminds me of, um,

another conversation that we had about

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good news that we had with Ola Banji.

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And he was sharing the initiative of,

um, Gary Benjigrib, something like

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that, I'm sorry if I'm sure, I'm sure

that I didn't say his name right, but

81

it's also in Bali, and he's, um, so

Obenji say that he was collecting flip

82

flops on the beach and made fences

with the flip flops, but then recently,

83

Then recently, because I followed this

guy on Instagram, I saw him building

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houses, actually, no, just one house

out of plastics that he has collected

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from the, from the, from the ocean.

86

So I think it is, you

know, I think that's him.

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Gary Van Henship.

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Yes.

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So we're talking about the same guy.

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Yeah, that's him.

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Those are the guys from Indonesia.

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, and that's awesome.

93

It's all connected.

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Amazing.

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Oh, okay.

96

I'm sorry.

97

I didn't, I didn't realize I was

the same guy you were talking about.

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Yeah, that's great.

99

That's good.

100

Well, riffing off of, um, plastic,

I was recently at a conference

101

in, um, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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And one of the things that I noticed

in traveling, cause I haven't

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traveled for work for a long time.

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But one of the things I noticed was that

in both the airports I was at and the

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convention center I was at, um, I noticed

water bottle refill stations installed.

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Many of them.

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You didn't have to look very far

to find one in any of the places.

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And what I like on them,

they're, I don't know if you've

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seen them, they're automatic.

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You put your bottle underneath and

the water runs in, and then it counts.

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It counts your water bottle as one

of a number that has saved plastic

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bottles from going into the landfill.

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So the one I was at, uh, said something

like 320, 000 something was the number,

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you know, but it's always fun to see

what number you get to, um, and so

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that was, that was really good to know.

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And I'm really glad I

took my bottle with me.

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And was able to use it on the plane

and, and everywhere so that I didn't

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have to take the little cups of

water they hand out because I'm, you

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know, trying to avoid more plastic.

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Hmm.

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Sounds great.

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So that was good news.

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Yeah.

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It's good news.

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Well, okay.

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This is something you probably knew, but.

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In Paris, there are fountains everywhere

and they have been around for maybe

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150 years, so it's, it's great that

it's going in Minneapolis, but it's

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been in Paris for a long, long time.

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You know, I watched a video all about

that once, all about the fountains

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in Paris, and it was spectacular.

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I was so impressed.

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And wish that that would move

to other parts of the world.

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Oh, can you share the link to that video?

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Because I would love to watch that.

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Yes, I will have to find it.

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But I think it was, um, yeah,

I think I know where it is.

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So I would love to see it.

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Because I'm so used to it that I feel

lost when I don't have it in other cities.

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Because it's, uh, I won't

even say it's in France.

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, you know, , last year, I went to Lille,

which is in the northern part of France.

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Um, I run, and one of the things I

really enjoy, I mean, I, one of the

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things I need is to drink when I run.

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And um, in Paris, I have my, you

know, I know exactly where I run,

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I know exactly where the fountains

are, and it's very smooth, and, and

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I feel safe, because I'm very...

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I panic when I, when I

think I have no water.

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But then when I go just in Lille,

which is still in France, I couldn't

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find as many fountains as in Paris.

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And I was like, wow, why can't the

rest of the world be like Paris?

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Exactly.

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And I, I don't know, it might've been

that down to earth series with Zac Efron.

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Yeah, I think that's it.

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Do you know?

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Yep.

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That's it.

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Not that series, it's called Down to

Earth, and it's, , they, he goes around

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exploring, , different elements in

different places, and I think, I think

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it was that one, um, that's the video.

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It's a series, I believe, on Netflix

called Down to Earth, and it's all

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about environmental, , uh, initiatives

around the world and things that

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people might not know about.

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Mm, yeah, yeah.

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Yeah, I love that story about Paris.

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For me, the most important part was

how they treat the water because they

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don't use chemicals to treat the water.

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And that one I wish would

be all over the world.

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Oh, really?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, they used, uh, I think light.

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Yeah, it was very, um, eye

opening to watch, I remember.

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Wow.

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Okay.

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I need to watch this and

find out what kind of water I

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drink because I have no idea.

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Very healthy one.

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Okay, great.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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I'd like to share my, my take on good

news for this week and, , , this is

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something I've been waiting for, for a

long time, for, well, actually not for a

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long time, since I've read this , , um,

this new scheme and I was waiting for it

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to be implemented, which is, um, scheme

to help reduce fashion waste in France.

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That is , a great thing because, um, as

you know, fashion, we're consuming more

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and more items of fashion and, , we are

keeping them um, for half as long as

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before, there's a McKinsey study about it.

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And so to tackle the issue of fashion

waste, so there's this scheme that,

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that gives us subsidy for, for you,

the consumer to repair your clothes

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or your shoes that are worn out.

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So you bring it to your local repair shop.

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One of the problem is that you never know

where to go when you have something that

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is, that it has a hole in it, and, um,

you don't know how to mend it, and then

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when you find someone It's very expensive.

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So that is great because it's um, it's

helping this culture to, you know, to,

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uh, encourages this culture of repair.

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And I guess it's also helped promote

this kind of small businesses.

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So I think it's a win win situation.

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And I've been really waiting for

this because I have a few pairs

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of shoes that needs to be resold.

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And, um, and so I've been waiting for

it to, because, um, yeah, I think I

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don't want to throw them away, and, um,

those are very good shoes, and I just

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want to replace the sole, uh, but then,

um, then I have, I think, three or four

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pairs, and so I was waiting for this

scheme to be implemented, so it started

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in October, so now I'm going to Look

for the businesses, the small cobblers

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that can help me do the repair my shoes.

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And so , that's the piece of good

news that I wanted to share with you.

207

And though I dig a little deeper in

that scheme, and I, well, I realized,

208

not that I realized, but I somehow

forgot that the European Union has

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pioneered In the, what is called the

EPR, which is the extended producer

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responsibility, which is a environmental

policy that shifts the responsibility

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of a product lifecycle to the producer.

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So basically when you design something as

a producer, you have to think of how you

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cover the whole lifecycle and especially

what to do at the end of life cycle.

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You know, this is the

responsibility of the producer.

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And so, Europe has pioneered in

that, in that environmental law.

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And so basically, there's some products,

when you buy this, you pay a little

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bit extra, and that goes to a fund that

takes care of its afterlife after use.

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And so I think this is great.

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That's excellent.

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Yeah.

221

That is excellent.

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And actually, when I say that Europe

has pioneered, because this has

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been extended to other countries,

I think, like in the US and Canada

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and other parts of the world.

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So that is great.

226

And um, , you know, the repair stuff has

been extended to other parts of the world.

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And, um, just recently, just this

in October, a new bill has passed

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in California, which is the, uh,

the right to repair act, I think.

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And, um, And this, this time it tackles

electronic devices because, ho, ho, I

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think we consume way too much, uh way

too many electronic devices and, um, and

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it's because it's become so cheap . and

this is what, uh, it comes back to what

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I was saying earlier, you know, when you

need to repair something, you never know

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where to do, where to repair the stuff.

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And so it's so easy and

so cheap to buy a new one.

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And, um, Yeah, I noticed that, you

know, everything old is new again.

236

I mean, it used to be that you repaired

things and, and we used to get laughed

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at because we would, we would go over

Christmas years ago to my in laws

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and we would take all the socks and

things that we had that needed fixing.

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We would sit.

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visiting and watching, you know, drinking

tea and watching Christmas shows.

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And we would sit there fixing

our stuff and they would say,

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why don't you just get new ones?

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Yes.

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But we used to fix things.

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And that was just a funny little

thing, but we get laughed at by

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everybody for doing it, but it's

good if it's becomes more normalized.

247

We have things around here called, um,

uh, what is it like a, a fix it fair.

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Where people who are good at fixing things

will gather and people who have things

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that need fixing will come and The people

that know how to fix it will teach the

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people who need it fixed how to do it

And I think the money goes to charity.

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So it's a fix it fair where Where

where everybody benefits because

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people who know how to take things

apart and put them back together so

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they work can help those who don't.

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And then, uh, often things

go home working again.

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And I think it's brilliant.

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Yeah.

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Well, that's wonderful.

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Over here, we have things that we have

places that are called, uh, Repair Cafe.

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And I think it's the same principle.

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You just go there and then there

are people that, that can help you.

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And there are also classes.

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So I look at the program of the

Repair Cafe in my neighborhood.

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There's one that teaches you how

to, oh, I don't know how to say it.

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Um, say it in friend.

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Okay.

266

Du electronic parts.

267

Um, well, solder solder.

268

Just solder solder when you, when

you melt the, uh, the metal thing?

269

Yes.

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Yeah.

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Solder.

272

Yes, solder.

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Okay.

274

Okay.

275

So that's a, that was, um, this

week is, this is this solder

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thing, but I can't That's cool.

277

Pretend, but I would love to Little

soldering iron and you melt the.

278

The stick of, uh, of metal, metal

and yeah, I think it's great, but,

279

but I can't attend, but it's just

great to know that this thing exists.

280

Yeah, it really is.

281

But I'd like to just go back a minute

to the, the low air in California , I

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mentioned earlier, and then.

283

This law is very interesting because,

um, it enforces, it forces manufacturers,

284

electronic devices manufacturers,

to make the documentation and tools

285

for repair available to everyone.

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Because before that, , they didn't

want to make it available to everyone

287

because they say, oh, well, this is, um.

288

This, the ip, we want to protect that.

289

But in reality, what happened is

that they want to protect the, uh,

290

the, the economic, um, , it's part

of the business model to make things

291

difficult and expensive to repair.

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, , so now that this, this new law,

they have to make the documentation

293

and tool available to everyone.

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So there's more.

295

Competition.

296

And then as a consumer, you have access

and you have a larger choice of where you

297

take your electronic device for repair.

298

So that is, I think

that's, um, that is great.

299

Is that the same thing as, you know,

you've heard of planned obsolescence?

300

Yes, of course.

301

Is that the same thing or

is that, is that different?

302

Um, I think planned obsolescence

is, um, is, um, product design

303

strategy, which is not very good.

304

And, um, and I think no manufacturer

would, would, um, would say that

305

they're doing it because it's, yeah.

306

So, so it's not the same thing, but I

bet a lot of them are doing it because.

307

I don't know.

308

Um, I have, um, I have a

blender that was from my uncle

309

when he got married in 80, 82.

310

Yeah.

311

Still working.

312

I have a still working.

313

I have a wok that was given

314

Yeah.

315

An electric wok.

316

And there's absolutely

nothing wrong with this thing.

317

It's great.

318

Yes.

319

Yes.

320

Yes.

321

So Plus, we should say what

planned obsolescence is.

322

It's when, um, when, when it's a plan

that the device or the appliance that

323

you buy is only going to last for a

certain length of time, rather than,

324

you know, in, in the olden times,

I'm thinking of sewing machines.

325

You'd buy a sewing machine

and nothing would last.

326

It would be passed down,

you know, in the family.

327

And, and now, uh, you buy a sewing

machine, and very often, uh,

328

they're, they're needing great

repair in a couple of years, and,

329

and it's very, very different kind

of manufacturing than it used to be.

330

It's all plastic and electronic

now, where it used to be,

331

you know, heavy, solid metal.

332

Yes.

333

Maybe, maybe we can create new

culturally acceptable repair parties.

334

So I love your story about the socks,

like get people getting together

335

because I know a few years ago there

were knitting circles in the U.

336

S.

337

So maybe we can do repair

circles, repair the sock circle.

338

Yeah, when you were talking about the

clothing, um, I never thought of it

339

connecting clothing and electronics,

but really, the, now we buy phones

340

like accessories, like socks or shirts.

341

It's amazing.

342

Yeah.

343

It's, uh, maybe we should stop and think.

344

I mean, definitely when you look at

the iPhones, there's one, I don't

345

know, every year or every two years.

346

Every year.

347

I mean, I don't know.

348

There's a new system here, I don't know,

that I just found out about from one

349

of our kids, where you can actually,

you're basically renting it for two

350

years and you give it back, and then

they give you another one, um, and then

351

they refurbish the one that you've given

back and rent it out again or sell it.

352

So it's, you're not stuck with something

that you're, you know, not that I've

353

ever changed a phone two years in.

354

But I thought it was an interesting

new solution to maybe reduce

355

some of that landfill waste.

356

Yes.

357

I was listening to, um, to the

radio the other day and they were

358

talking exactly about the same thing.

359

You know, when you have a baby and

you have special equipment to deal

360

with, you know, all this stuff, the,

the clothes, but not, not the clothes,

361

but you know, the food preparation.

362

And there was this lady was telling

the audience that she, instead of.

363

Of buying the thing to, the device

to make baby food that costs, I don't

364

know, something over a thousand euros.

365

She rent it for a fee every

month because she doesn't need

366

to, to, to have it, to own it.

367

And she just needs to use it for

a while, just for a while, for

368

the duration of the baby needs.

369

And so, that's very exciting.

370

That's, you know, there's the

swift in mentality and um, And

371

probably business will follow.

372

My daughter who, who's, um, little

one is now two, she was in a,

373

she's in a friend group and this

friend group shares everything.

374

So when, um, when the baby was born,

a whole bunch of that equipment

375

that's only used for a very short

amount of time was borrowed.

376

Um, and given to her and then she

has now passed on huge amounts of it

377

and given a lot of it away on a buy

nothing group, um, and shared it.

378

And, and so it's interesting because

there's a whole group of them having

379

babies and, and the stuff is going

from one house to the next, to the

380

next, because nobody needs to buy.

381

This, you know, I just learned about a

thing that's basically the same thing as

382

a Keurig only it's for formula I'd never

heard of it before But it's a it's a thing

383

that you put a puck in and my daughter

didn't have this but someone else in the

384

in the family Group has it and you you put

it in and it makes the water at exactly

385

the right temperature right into a bottle

That's perfect for for a baby to drink.

386

So you're not putting things in, you know

They've got glass bottles, which is good.

387

But I'd never heard of this thing

before, and it's a new invention, and

388

it probably costs hundreds of dollars.

389

Yeah, I don't know, I never looked,

I sort of went, oh, cause you know, I

390

feel like I'm totally out of this realm

of, um, all the stuff you need for New

391

babies, because it's all different,

but, um, but that sort of took me aback.

392

And I thought, Oh my goodness, I never

heard of this or thought of this.

393

Of course somebody thought of it.

394

I mean, how long do you need

something like that for?

395

And anyway, who knows?

396

New things, right?

397

So, I just appreciate that these things

are being shared around, like bought

398

once, kept in good condition, and then

are shared around amongst a whole group

399

of people, so that not all six or seven

of them are buying the same thing, right?

400

Yes.

401

That's perfect.

402

Reminds me of co housing, where

they share guest rooms and a large

403

kitchen if they have a party, or,

or a shop with the tools, yeah.

404

Yeah.

405

Yeah.

406

Yeah.

407

Yeah, which there is one

in I remember in Vancouver.

408

There is a small development where

they had all this There's quite a few

409

co housing places and people people

building more and more all the yes.

410

Yeah.

411

Yeah, he's sharing But I think,

you know, I think this exercise has

412

shown that , if we decide to look

at good news, we'll find good news.

413

So Initially, I thought I'll call to

action for today would be Oh pay attention

414

to good news, but then there probably has

moved into Sharing and co owning stuff.

415

Yeah.

416

That's all good news.

417

Yes.

418

Yes.

419

Good news is mentality shifting.

420

Yeah.

421

Thanks, Liki.

422

Thanks for the idea.

423

Thanks, Christina.

424

Thanks again.

425

That was wonderful.

426

Thank you, guys.

427

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Sessions, a podcast with carbon

428

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