SINGAPORE – For a sustainability project which encourages repair over disposal, it is perhaps surprising that many participants of Repair Kopitiam join for practical reasons instead of environmental ones.

Saving money, having fun, and meeting new people were the most commonly-cited reasons for joining the grassroots initiative that teaches people to repair damaged items like electronics and damaged furniture instead of throwing them away.

Only about 20 per cent of participants gave environmental reasons, said Mr Veerappan Swaminathan, co-founder of Repair Kopitiam.

Incidental sustainability – the act of being sustainable due to reasons not related to sustainability – is something projects and programmes should consider, he added.

“We have to reframe some of these projects and programmes, and meet where people are,” said Mr Veerappan, who is also the chief executive officer of consultancy Sustainable Living Lab (SL2) Group.

He was answering an audience member’s question about how climate conversations can be brought to the common man.

Mr Veerappan was a guest panellist, alongside National University of Singapore Assistant Professor Alisius Leong, at a live podcast recording of Straits Times’ Green Pulse podcast on Dec 2.

Over 50 people attended the free event at SPH Media’s auditorium. Kiss92 radio DJ Kim Anne Tan was the event’s emcee.

The panel was discussing whether individual actions can move the needle on climate change.

Joining them were The Straits Times correspondents Shabana Begum and Ang Qing, the podcast’s hosts.

The live recording of the Green Pulse podcast, which provides a South-east Asian perspective on climate change and environmental issues, was one of two podcast recordings at the sixth and final ST Podcasts Live series.

One topic discussed is whether the climate issue is solely a government issue, bey...