Electronics do not biodegrade. Could we design electronics for their second life--and keep them out of landfills... longer?
We live in the technosphere like the mythic frog who doesn't notice that the surrounding water's rising temperature threatens its survival. Let's build awareness of technology's hazards. Let's ask: If our survival depend on limiting our technology use, what limits do we need to learn?
What I'm reading:
In "The Sky-High Cost of Deep-Sea Mining," Planet Tracker reports that deep sea nodules contain manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, iron, gold, zinc, lead, barium, silver and sulphides--elements necessary for computers, solar PV and wind power systems and electric vehicles. Because nodules take tens of millions of years to form, deep-sea mining would cause permanent habitat and biodiversity loss. Over half of the species living in the Pacific abyssal plains depend on nodules. Sound from a single nodule mining operation could travel up to 500 km. Within a 4-6 km radius, mining sound would exceed 120db, the threshold that can impact marine mammal behavior. Seabed mining is unlikely to reduce terrestrial mining-related deforestation significantly. Would financial institutions support a moratorium on deep sea mining?
John E. Young's extraordinary booklets, Mining the Earth and Global Network: Computers in a Sustainable Society , written in the early 1990s for Worldwatch, report on mining's potential impacts (destruction of wildlife habitat and human settlements; metal contamination of waterways; sulfur dioxide, arsenic, lead and other toxins emitted into air; abandoned mines). The greatest challenge to using less-damaging materials and creating more durable electronics lies in developing strategies "that allow poor countries to improve human welfare dramatically without using and discarding hundreds of kilograms of metals and other minerals per person each year. Roughly three fourths of the world's people now live in countries (without) the railways, roads, bridges, buildings and other basic infrastructure so essential to rich nations' economies." Finally, he observes that the greatest environmental benefits come usually from altering "production processes and consumption patterns, rather than through 'pollution control'".
Max Wilbert sees Thacker Pass as a spiritual battleground. If you don't know about the lithium mining at Thacker Pass, Nevada, check out: Click Here and Click Here.
In 1978, The Schumacher Center's Robert Swann outlined "Appropriate Technology and New Approaches to Ownership". He proposed technologies that are: 1) Simple to use, maintain and repair--and thereby promote local self-reliance. 2) Labor intensive (not capital and energy-intensive). 3) Constructed from local materials whenever possible and adapted to local needs. 4) Designed for less destructive environmental impacts.
Siemens Energy shares plunged by one third after it reported that its wind turbine components degrade faster than expected.
Sapien Labs just published "Age of First Smartphone/Tablet and Mental Wellbeing Outcomes". Children raised with smartphones may have diminished social capacity and resilience; they may harbor more frequent suicidal thoughts and aggressive feelings. The authors report that delaying smartphone acquisition seems helpful.
KATIE SINGER writes about technology's impacts on nature. She believes that if she's not aware of the problem, then she can't be part of the solution. She dreams that every user learns about the supply chain of one substance in their computer. Her books include An Electronic Silent Spring, Honoring Our Cycles and The Wholeness of a Broken Heart. Visit https://katiesinger.substack.com, https://OurWeb.tech and https://ElectronicSilentSpring.com.
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