The Right to Repair and Climate Justice
By Keduse Bekele for BST 293 A - Social Justice in STEM
The Right to Repair is a movement that intends to restore product ownership to consumers.
In the 20th century, many electronics and appliances came with repair manuals; and for anyone who requested it, schematics were also available to understand how the components on a circuit interact in order to do low-level repairs.
Today, finding repair manuals that come with a product or are available is something that has become increasingly slim. On top of that, obtaining schematics have become near impossible due to non-disclosure agreements and copyright laws.
Consequentially, manufacturers that make devices have the final say in whether or not a device can be repaired, who can repair them, and how much a repair costs -- no matter what is actually wrong with it.
It's not just repair, though. This also extends to how you use the device, even though you "own" it.
With Right to Repair legislation, we tackle many avenues of social injustice that have and are increasingly affecting our society.
In making repair more accessible and affordable, far more devices have a chance of a second life. This helps access to technology by allowing for more people who don't have as much financially to buy second-hand devices that are modern and functional.
As a result, we will generate less electronic waste which slows down our damage to the environment (climate justice). Since some of the waste that is generated ends up in developing countries to be scrapped for metals, we also find this to help with health justice.
I hope that this information finds as many people as possible and that our legislators implement legislation that makes fair repair accessible to everyone and at the same time equitably affects businesses that want to make products.
