Presented by Professor Joe O’Mahoney , Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University This seminar is part of the research and collaborative proposals element of the Cardiff WISERD Lunchtime Seminar series. If you are an external guest, please contact us (029 2087 9338) to confirm availability of places. For further information please contact WISERD.Events@cardiff.ac.uk

In April 2017, a “Repair Cafe” was founded in Cathays as a monthly event run by volunteers to fix things that would otherwise be thrown away. In the last twelve months, we have started / supported a further five repair cafes (Splott; Grangetown; Caerphilly; Penarth; Rumney). We are also Helping repair cafes in Liberia; Palestine and Malawi.

Similar to other organisations (e.g. “Library of Things” , “Toy Libraries”) Repair Cafes simultaneously appeal to middle-class environmentalists and impoverished individuals, as well as those who simply seek safe or rewarding community engagement.

Do these events make an environmental difference or are they simply a source for cost-cutting? Why is there so little co-ordination and communication among similar environmental groups both locally and internationally? How do people make decisions about how and where their ethical resources are best spent?