Page 54 from: April 2015
54 April 2015
Let’s welcome The game changers
I N S P I R A T I O N By Kirstin Linnenkoper
Young entrepreneur Kyle Wiens
is ceo and co-founder of the
thriving online repair manual
business iFixit. He fi rmly believes
that ‘technology will make life
on Earth dramatically better – if
we take the care to do it right’.
His focus goes beyond simply owning
the newest gadgets available to man;
it centres around understanding
them. It’s safe to say that Wiens
knows every cog and bolt in a product
once he’s taken it apart.
Stopping the e-fl ow
His detailed ‘tear-downs’ are subse-
quently uploaded to the iFixit com-
munity in order to show consumers
how to turn potential e-scrap into
fully-functioning devices again.
Thousands of registered users have
eagerly followed in his footsteps,
resulting in a world-wide exchange of
technological insight. Also, all infor-
mation can be accessed for free.
‘Americans alone generate approxi-
mately 3.4 million tonnes of e-scrap
every single year,’ says Wiens. iFixit
hopes to counter that trend by ‘fi xing
the world, one gadget at a time’.
Top secret
Wiens has become a passionate
advocate in the so-called ‘cell phone
fi ght’, which he insists is not simply
limited to the phone unlocking
debate. The underlying copyright
issue has erected major hurdles for
engineers and technicians every-
where, spanning the automotive sec-
tor as well as the IT industry.
The Digital Age presents a two-fold
problem: products we purchase are
becoming increasingly complex;
while manufacturers have developed
a habit of cloaking product specifi ca-
tions under a veil of secrecy so items
can only be accessed using proprie-
tary tools and corporate software.
To boost the second-hand market in
the USA, the iFixit community now
promotes commercial repair services
available in the area. Wiens argues:
‘After all, it is best to postpone recy-
cling for as long as possible.’
www.ifi xit.com
Ellen MacArthur has literally
travelled around the world, sail-
ing the seas in her catamaran
yacht and weathering storms
during non-stop voyages lasting
up to three months at a time.
On February 7 2005, she set a record
for the ‘fastest solo circumnavigation
of the globe’ by completing the course
in just over 70 days – an accomplish-
ment which gained her international
renown.
Face-to-face with plastics
MacArthur chose to retire from pro-
fessional sailing in 2010 so she could
focus her attention on charity work
with a strong link to recycling. This
was no accidental development, says
the sailor, who vividly recalls the
large volumes of ocean plastics she
encountered during her time on the
open seas. Competing also showed
her what it means to rely on a fi nite
supply of resources given that food,
water and fuel on board her vessel
were ‘inescapably linked to success
or failure’.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation pro-
motes debate about sustainable
design and innovative technologies,
while working with businesses and
schools to accelerate the transition
to a circular economy. As MacArthur
puts it: ‘A circular economy is one
that is restorative by design, and
which aims to keep products, com-
ponents and materials at their high-
est utility and value at all times.’
100 000 new jobs
‘Over US$ 1 trillion a year could be
generated by 2025 for the global
economy and 100 000 new jobs cre-
ated for the next fi ve years if compa-
nies focused on encouraging the
build-up of circular supply chains to
increase the rate of recycling, reuse
and remanufacture,’ MacArthur says.
This conclusion is drawn from a report
conducted last year in collaboration
with the World Economic Forum and
McKinsey & Company.
MacArthur is also spreading aware-
ness to a young audience as a patron
of the Big Bang Fair – the largest
celebration of science, technology,
engineering and maths for kids and
teenagers in the UK. www.ellen
macarthurfoundation.org
To be human is to be inquisitive. In the words of former US president John F. Kennedy: ‘Change is the law of life.
And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.’ And so we read, travel and exper-
iment in order to hone our skills and sharpen our minds. This drive is a matter of instinct for some and we call
them everything from trend-setters to trouble-makers, but they are indisputably here to remind us that obstacles
are not fixed but can indeed be overcome. They are the game changers.
Kyle Wiens:
knowledge is power
Ellen MacArthur:
inspired by the open sea
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