Our TV has a column of dead pixels in the top right corner, not overly distracting but mildly annoying. On the whole the TV is fine but in comparing the cost to fix those dead pixels and the cost to replace the TV, it would be cheaper to replace the TV. My question is, cheaper for whom?
The dead pixels in question.
It would be cheaper for me, the middle class American who can order one online to be delivered to my door. But why is it cheaper to get a brand new TV, when mine is otherwise fine?
It is because other people bare the cost. The people who mine the materials for the electronics, the people that build up the pieces of the TV, the people that package the TV, the people that ship the TV, and the waste produced at every step of the way. Other people and the planet bare the cost between fixing a few dead pixels and replacing the whole TV.
This is true for so many of the luxuries we have in American and for why it is cheaper for us to replace the old thing than to fix the problem. It is cheaper for us at the expense of everyone else along the way.
Why should we have electric cars and smart phones when the rechargeable batteries in them require cobalt mined by slave labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Why should we have cheap fast fashion when the workers who produce those clothes make pennies on the dollar? Why should we have any of the luxuries we have, and don’t need, when the production of them is at the expensive of other people and the planet?
My answer is that we shouldn’t. As Americans we need to take a good hard look at our consumption and the impacts it has on people and the planet. This is not to say that the harm done along the way is only the responsibility of us as individuals but we have a lot more power then we realize. The companies that produce products for us at the expensive of other people are not going to change their ways just because they are harming people and the planet, they know about the harm and they do not care, but we must care. We must change our habits so it is no longer profitable for them to exploit the way that they do. The only thing that capitalist care about is profit, so in order to change their behavior we must make the thing we find undesirable, exploitation of people and the planet, less profitable for them.
Don’t fall into the lie that it is cheaper to replace something instead of fixing it. Consider your consumption, do you need to buy something new or can you fix what you have? Do you need to buy this thing or can you find fulfillment outside of consumption?
It is not cheaper to replace it instead of fixing it when you look at the cost as a whole and not just the immediate cost to you.
Your Regular Worry Forecast 