Show #230 – Having Stuff Without Breaking the Planet With Prof Sandra Goldmark

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And on this week’s show!

You won’t think this is tiresome when you’re having to canoe to work in midtown,” said today’s guest Professor Sandra Goldmark to a director she was working with who thought her ideas on using more sustainable materials for a show she was set designer for on Broadway, were a nuisance! She went on in her personal life to have 3 household things break one after the other, and, unable to get them easily repaired, it was another big wake up call. A Ted talk, creating pop up repair stores in NYC and a book “Fixation How to have stuff without breaking the planet” later, Sandra is a wonderful inspiration for how we can go more circular. Why can’t we easily get things fixed? Often we experience guilt and shame for needing to buy a new ‘something’ or frustration that there isn’t an easy pathway to getting it fixed. Today’s show is going to help you feel inspired to take the next steps towards a more circular world.

The questions I asked Sandra:

• What was childhood like for you? Hippy parents, farmers, connected to nature or city life with a later epiphany? 
• You’ve worked in set design – was this prior to or post small apartment broken appliance epiphany? 
• Since that, have you thought about more workplaces that can radically reduce waste and transform their operations? (We can chat here because I’ve thought about and noticed many, and we could come up with a call to action for people listening and thinking about their local business/an industry that’s wasteful and start organising. 
• And as an extension of the previous question… Sustainable Business in the Pandemic Era? How businesses might expand their definition of revenue to include service, maintenance, repair, and reuse (ie. businesses can and should make money more than once from the same product!) 
• For people just jumping into the way of thinking we’re talking about with leading a low tox life, and with your work and latest book: What is a circular economy? 
• How can we ensure economic security through circular thinking? (I think one reason we’re so resistant in terms of industries, the ways companies run etc, is that everyone’s terrified the alternative will leave them jobless or with no money… so how do we build that confidence up in this as a way of the future?)
• I love the title of your new book – a woman after my own heart “Fixation: our relationship with our stuff, easy steps to a more sustainable and equitable pattern of consumption, and how our stuff “speaks!” – As an author, I’m always keen to hear from other authors: Why did you think this particular book needed to be born? 
• It’s been a strange time… people are throwing all sorts of phrases and ideas around “new normal” “post-covid” “reset” –  What’s our big opportunity here? how should we, as consumers, spend our money post-COVID world in order to save the planet?
• You have a pop-up repair shop Fixup in NYC: Where is it exactly? (featured in the New York Times, Salon, MSNBC, etc.) How has it created a movement for us to demand better “stuff”
• What our “stuff” is telling us … and how to move past the fad stuff purges that have popularized the past decade

Other helpful links:

Know more about Sandra and her story here: https://www.fixup.nyc/

You can get Sandra’s wonderful book “Fixation” on Booktopia and the Book Depository.

You can also find her on Instagram @sandragoldmark and on Facebook

This week’s show Sponsors

My Green Pod

My Green Pod Ltd is an independent, family-run UK business, founded by Katie Hill and Jarvis Smith. We want to share the real stories behind the brands and people working tirelessly to offer ethical alternatives to mainstream products and services.

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Our Hero products and services are the most effective and enjoyable alternatives to mainstream options that we can find. We use them in our home and we use them on our family. They’re also from companies that are working in co-creation with the planet – intentionally operating in harmony with nature and in service to the wellbeing of their customers.

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Republica Organic pioneered and paved the way to sustainability. They’re an ethical company that ensures Third World coffee farmers are guaranteed a fair deal whilst not compromising on taste. They’re a multi-award winner due to their sustainable commitments and work including a Best for the World B Corp – since 2015.

Make your food choices delicious and ethical. –  Jacqueline Arias

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