In the old days, when something broke or wore out, people fixed it. These days, we just buy a new one. My grandmother sewed patches on her husband’s old trousers. My grandparents’ record player lasted fifty years. Today, we replace our smartphones every five years. The result of this throw-it-out-and-buy-a-new-one mentality is huge piles of trash all over the world. Even in the oceans. Why do we do this? For one thing, we are lazy. It is easier to replace than to repair. Manufacturers are also at fault. They don’t want you to fix their products. They make more money if you buy a new one. What can be done about the global trash problem? As individuals, we can change our buying habits and learn to repair rather than replace. We don’t have to sew patches on our worn-out jeans, but we can use our smartphones a year or two longer and learn to repair simple devices. But what can we do collectively? You’ll read about that in this lesson.