LeCain considers the three types of technofixes to be “1. The transformational techno-fix / 2. The relocational techno-fix / 3. The delaying techno-fix” (LeCain pg. 138). In the first example of his, the Ducktown example, LeCain shows how the first two fixes were utilized. The transforming fix was used by “transform[ing] the sulfur dioxide into sulfuric acid” (LeCain pg. 141). The relocational techno fix “allowed them to sell the erstwhile air pollutant to fertilizer manufacturers” (LeCain pg. 141). The third technofix was accomplished within the first two in this case. Just based upon this case study, we can determine that LeCain’s argument is in fact that technofixes, while useful in the present time when they are done, so rarely actually work and last due to the fact that people often only consider the immediate future and not 50-100 years down the line. Overall, LeCain feels that technofixes are in fact only temporary and we need to realize that though they worked back in the past for the times and needs present, they need to be changed with the times and “step toward the modern goal of harmonizing the divergent demands of technological and environmental systems” (LeCain pg. 150).
Knowing that mining produces waste does not change the fact that we do indeed need copper and other minerals. If we suddenly stopped, we would just have to find other ways to supply what these minerals did with other natural or even unnatural things. I agree with LeCains argument though, that we need to find a way to work with the times and think not only about the present but about the future and the consequences we might accidentally take forward into the future.