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Auzina: Don't just buy #Canadian. Visit your local repair café too

Opinion by Aija Auzina, February 19, 2025

"We are living in unpredictable and shifting times. If we want to support Canadian businesses and not buy American, don’t buy the culture of complacency, greed and waste either. Change must be embraced with courage and responsibility.

"#Environmentalists are optimistically realistic. Members of the #Ottawa South Eco Action Network , #OSEAN, embrace doing what we can with what we have and finding friends to do it with. So if we can reduce waste by hosting a repair café, or teach people to mend the rips in their clothing, or help people plant a native pollinator patch in their garden, we will act on it. And finding friends in community, government and businesses helps us stand up to the wind that is no longer at our back, but in our face. Strength is in numbers.

"#ClimateChange is a part of the chain of the choices we make. Let that bracing wind in our face help us find the courage to do better. Come to the #RepairCafe or a #MendingCircle. Fix your personal items as a responsible owner does. It takes effort, work and a bit of courage. We can do this. We can do really hard things too.

"Another word for courage is political will. We need more of it. With provincial and federal elections looming, now is the time to know your own values and live by them.

"Ownership is a responsibility that the Feb. 22 Repair Café and the specialists from the #OttawaToolLibrary (#OTL) can help you with. Sign up on-site to have a 30-minute slot at one of the repair tables that will be set up in the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre’s Ellwood Hall. Enjoy a mug of coffee or tea while you wait, in the pop up café.

"OSEAN, a group of volunteers, is helping organize the event with Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr, and the good people of the tool library have the starring role. Come meet these influencers.

"How do we influence change? Be the example for others to follow. And where are we going? Toward a deep responsibility to our #nvironment. One step can be at the repair café, for instance with that toaster that stopped working.

"But we can’t stop working! Individual people and systems need to pivot toward responsible ownership, responsible living.The gale force wind gusts that rattle your windows and house over the last years show we have been negligent toward that responsibility. The fires in Los Angeles are also burning with that same message.

"We have not been living up to our responsibilities. Individuals, governments, industry, businesses big and small, still have not clocked the fact that we have our backs against the wall. We believe someone else will clean up after us. But mom will not come to your rescue. #MotherEarth is depleted and we did this to her. "

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/society-culture-and-history/social-issues/auzina-don-t-just-buy-canadian-visit-your-local-repair-caf%C3%A9-too/ar-AA1zlqXB
#RightToRepair #RepairCafesCanada #RepairCafes #SolarPunkSunday #SolarPunk #OttawaSouthEcoActionNetwork