Chris Berube

So this is part of a movement that is called the right to repair.

So the Right to Repair movement, it basically says everybody should have the right to fix their own stuff.

It's right there in the name.

It is in the name.

Good name.

It's a good name.

It's very descriptive.

And one of the leaders of this movement is a woman named Gay Gordon Byrne.

She has a lot of public speaking about this subject, including a TED Talk that now has two and a half million views.

Gay Gordon Byrne is the head of this group called the Repair Association.

And their argument is, look, if we truly own something, we should be able to fix it.

And this argument has picked up a lot of followers.

There are people fighting for this in Europe, in South America.

And actually, one of the people out there advocating for it pretty loudly is our farmer, Jared Wilson.

Actually, it has been pretty successful the last couple of years, and it's been pleasantly surprising to see this movement developing.

Europe specifically, there has been a lot of movement on this.

So in 2024, the European Union passed a directive saying every member state needed to have a right to repair law by the summer of 2026.

So that is this coming summer.

And that will require manufacturers to offer repairs for all household appliances, including washing machines, even smartphones.

So pretty soon we'll have a pretty good idea of how that's being implemented in Europe.