The Revolutionary Act of Repair

KALW hosts a conversation and hands-on experience about how and why to repair as a way to extend the life and usefulness of our things.
About this Event

What is the true value – and cost – of our possessions? Join KALW for a conversation about the merits of mending and rewards of repair. You’ll hear from Bay Area organizations that are helping extend the lives of our goods by supporting their reuse and repair — all while fighting waste and sharing skills. You’ll learn about policy wins, and current debates, in the efforts to fight planned obsolescence and ensure the repairability of products. And meet some of the folks who are growing the Bay Area’s repair communities.

Plus: Do you have a piece of apparel that needs mending? A lamp that’s on the fritz? We’ll have a team of repairers on hand who can help with small sewing or lamp repairs. Just let us know in your RSVP.

Claire Bonham-Carter has been working on sustainability issues in the built environment for over 20 years. Inspired by her friend’s Chiswick Repair Cafe in London, she launched the Haight-NOPA Repair Café in October 2025. Its goals are to help community members reduce resource use, build a repair culture, save money and give life to loved items. She is a consultant, primarily advising clients on climate adaptation planning. Earlier in her career she was a principal at the engineering firm AECOM, where she specialized in helping cities decrease their climate impact.

Cindy Navarro has an eclectic background, starting as a street artist in San Francisco in the 70s, making handcrafted leather. She later opened and ran an automotive garage, then became a biomedical engineer and finally a nurse, working for UCSF for almost 20 years. She then founded a healthcare service for elderly patients, allowing them to remain living at home. All along, she has been a fixer and a woodworker. Since first attending a Fix-it Clinic in 2015, she has been helping people learn to repair and keeping things out of the landfill.

Phoebe Schenker is the executive director of Reuse Alliance, a nonprofit that connects people and organizations across the North Bay around the principals of reuse, repair, repurpose and refill. Previously, she was chief planning officer of the Eames Institute, a nonprofit promoting the use of design to solve problems. Prior to that she was an architect and exhibit designer. Her award-winning projects include the Lands End Lookout in San Francisco. She received her March from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where her thesis was on the reuse of big box stores.

Moderated by:

Mary Catherine O’Connor is a radio and print reporter whose beats include climate change, energy, material circularity, waste, technology, and recreation. She was a 2022-23 Audio Academy Fellow at KALW . She has reported for leading publications including Outside, The Guardian, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera America, and many trade magazines. In 2014 she co-founded a reader-supported experiment in journalism, called Climate Confidential.

There is a $10 - $20 sliding scale suggested donation for this event. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.

Please become a KALW member today and receive your first drink on us at all 220 Montgomery events.

📍 220 Montgomery St., San Francisco, 2 blocks from BART/MUNI

🚪 Reception doors, and repair registrations, open at 5:00

🗣️ Discussion begins at 6:00

🪡 💡 Repairs start at 7:00

🆓 The event is free with an RSVP — and you are welcome to donate what you want

Please note:

• The event space is just to the left of the main entrance to the Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street
• We recommend taking BART/MUNI, exiting at Montgomery, and walking two blocks north
• Ride-shares can drop off and pick up directly in front of the venue
• If you drive, there are several garages within two blocks of the event location; free street parking is available across from the venue at 7:00 pm

Agenda

🕑: 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Doors & Art Show
🕑: 07:00 PM - 08:30 PM
Making A Scene: Exploring the Bay Area Comedy Landscape