Arcata’s Repair Cafe Combats E-Waste by Reviving Old Computers Today
This is a press release from the City of Arcata:
The City of Arcata, in collaboration with the Humboldt Repair Café group, invites the community to their third event for help with repairing household items, electronics and more!
Old computers can get a new lease on life at the Humboldt Repair Café. The Repair Café is a free once-a-month event sponsored by Arcata’s Recreation Division where volunteers fix broken items brought in by community members.
Californians throw away 1.5 tons of e-waste per minute. Microsoft and Apple’s announcements that they will no longer provide updates for computers built earlier than 2018 (Macs) and 2019 (PCs) have prompted many people to throw their old computers away, but the Repair Cafe’s computer volunteers can prolong their useful lives by replacing slow and outdated operating systems with a non-proprietary operating system called Linux. Linux is used by Android, NASA, the FAA, the Pentagon, Amazon, Netflix and Twitter because it is faster, more efficient, more stable and less susceptible to malware than Mac and Windows.
Jessica Heiden is a Repair Cafe computer repair volunteer who worked full time in IT for 20 years. She says “Our home computers from 2011 and 2016 were too old to support Windows 11. I decided to try Linux and it was great! It was easy to use, just different, like getting a new car or phone. I prefer it to Windows 11 which adds a lot of extra ads and widgets that I don’t want or like.” Heiden also appreciates that Linux is produced and maintained by volunteers, not companies trying to sell new computers “so they aren’t going to add ‘bloatware’ and updates will always be free.”
The Repair Cafe will also have volunteers ready to repair bicycles, clothing, electronics, jewelry, furniture, lamps and small appliances. The next Repair Cafe is Sunday, June 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Arcata Community Center. The best part is that it is completely free!
For more information, please visit cityofarcata.org or call (707) 825-2202.
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Do you have the capability of installing a new fan belt on my DR 150 Walk Behind Weed Wacker?
This is fabulous!
The Repair Cafe is a great way to fix and reuse products. Hopefully this will help keep our area clean of thrown out junk.