ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Repair Cafes as a phenomenon with which materiality and consumption can be discussed critically in environmental communication classes. It highlights three relevant aspects of the material dimension of media technologies—production, consumption, and disposal—that become visible through Repair Cafes. In research on Repair Cafes, participants wanted to avoid buying new media devices, and thereby overconsumption of these goods, as they knew about the polluting and socially harmful production processes. Repair Cafes are a highly relevant phenomenon for research and teaching in environmental communication. While repairing is an old practice, Repair Cafes are new in that the repairing has become public and, therefore, the event itself provides an innovative setting for environmental activism as the activity can be used to educate, organize, and lobby for environmental protection. The chapter combines the theoretical discourse and practical experiences to underline the relevance of Repair Cafes in environmental communication pedagogy.
