(August 6, 2022 at 9:12 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote:(August 6, 2022 at 8:47 pm)Belacqua Wrote: I think people buying in thrift stores know that the used stuff may have been produced unethically. The point is that this damage has already been done.
If you buy something used, the damage has been done once. If you buy something new, it has been done again. The goal is to reduce the damage.
Can you expand what you mean by damage here? Initially, I thought your analogy still applied to new items—whatever bad environmental practices went into producing some jeans from Zara, were done before you made your purchase.
Sorry -- I wasn't clear.
I meant to say that producing and selling the thing originally is what harms the environment and the laborers. Once the thing is in circulation that damage is in the past. Therefore buying used items has two benefits:
1) two people (at least) get the benefit of the clothes without increasing the production costs, and
2) the clothing doesn't go into the landfill.
So if you have a chance to buy something old instead of something new, you are covering your body without having to repeat the initial production issues.
If we could somehow quantify the harm done, we could say that making a new pair of jeans causes harm rated at 100.
If 30 people each buy new jeans, then the damage is at 3000. But if 30 people wear, in succession, the same pair of jeans, the damage remains at the original 100.
(Maybe I just made it even less clear...)
