Last summer, as California was going through yet another heatwave, our refrigerator called it quits. Some tinkering around revealed the compressor was the culprit. Fixable for sure. But every electrician we called told us it wasn’t worth it — between the labor charges and the cost of a new compressor, it would be nearly as expensive as buying a new fridge. Loath to add a repairable machine to the world’s ever-growing trash pile, my husband and I spent more than two months trying to find an electrician who would agree to fix the darn thing. We made do with storing our perishable foods in two iceboxes in the basement during that time. Eventually, we caved in and bought a new refrigerator.

Read more at Earth Island Journal.