Hazardous E-Waste video- to show your students. Especially BIT
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Helen
Jun 27, 2009, 7:10:47 PM6/27/09
to otago sustainability
Very good video on E-Waste. Travel from Ghana to India. Irresponsible
recycling in the West creating digital dumping grounds in developing
nations. What is the true cost of your TV and computer??
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html
Also see the links on the left of the video. Interactive map of the
world showing global trade in electronic waste.
recycling in the West creating digital dumping grounds in developing
nations. What is the true cost of your TV and computer??
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html
Also see the links on the left of the video. Interactive map of the
world showing global trade in electronic waste.
Leigh Blackall
Jun 27, 2009, 8:49:50 PM6/27/09
to otago-sust...@googlegroups.com
What - a - freak - out!
A quote at 18:10:
Its utterly disgusting, I don't know how people like Jim keep going with their activism.
One thing we could do more of is reduce and reuse. For example, I personally own 3 computers, more than I need - but I kept buying new ones when I falsely believed the old computer was dead, and commercial software producers kept pressuring for hardware updates. The first laptop I bought was in 2001. I gave it to my mother in 2005 when I thought I needed something better for video editing. 1 year ago Mum was going to throw it out. It was literally taking 20-30 minutes to start, her internet was slowing right down, and she couldn't install browser updates. She agreed to give the free operating system Ubuntu a try before she chucked it in. I had heard it worked well on old computers. We installed it one night after dinner, she liked the colours and the start up sounds. It now starts in 30 seconds, connects to the Internet, is able to play Youtube and other modern things, and she says it runs faster. It shuts down quick too. 1 year later that old laptop is still used by mum, and the local IT guys in Byron Bay give her special service for being so cool as to run Linux on a 9 year old computer, with next to no computing know-how.
Warrington Primary school are reviving old computers with free software like Ubuntu, and then giving them away to parents, saving them a couple of thousand dollars and giving them more software then they could buy for that!
All this doesn't stop eWaste, but it slows the flow a little bit.
Great video Helen.
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Leigh Blackall
+64(0)21736539
skype - leigh_blackall
SL - Leroy Goalpost
http://leighblackall.blogspot.com
A quote at 18:10:
"But even Puckett realises its an uphill struggle, even if you have state of the art facilities, ... the free market will send it to the lowest common denominator - to the worst facilities, where people sit in the streets, picking through it by hand..."
Its utterly disgusting, I don't know how people like Jim keep going with their activism.
One thing we could do more of is reduce and reuse. For example, I personally own 3 computers, more than I need - but I kept buying new ones when I falsely believed the old computer was dead, and commercial software producers kept pressuring for hardware updates. The first laptop I bought was in 2001. I gave it to my mother in 2005 when I thought I needed something better for video editing. 1 year ago Mum was going to throw it out. It was literally taking 20-30 minutes to start, her internet was slowing right down, and she couldn't install browser updates. She agreed to give the free operating system Ubuntu a try before she chucked it in. I had heard it worked well on old computers. We installed it one night after dinner, she liked the colours and the start up sounds. It now starts in 30 seconds, connects to the Internet, is able to play Youtube and other modern things, and she says it runs faster. It shuts down quick too. 1 year later that old laptop is still used by mum, and the local IT guys in Byron Bay give her special service for being so cool as to run Linux on a 9 year old computer, with next to no computing know-how.
Warrington Primary school are reviving old computers with free software like Ubuntu, and then giving them away to parents, saving them a couple of thousand dollars and giving them more software then they could buy for that!
All this doesn't stop eWaste, but it slows the flow a little bit.
Great video Helen.
--
Leigh Blackall
+64(0)21736539
skype - leigh_blackall
SL - Leroy Goalpost
http://leighblackall.blogspot.com
Leigh Blackall
Jun 30, 2009, 8:29:17 PM6/30/09
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William Lucas
Jun 30, 2009, 9:28:58 PM6/30/09
to otago-sust...@googlegroups.com
HI Helen and Leigh
I enjoyed the docu too--if 'enjoy' is the right word. Probably not. Last night walking home, I heard on a podcast I was listening to that for each kilogram of electronic material produced 6000 kilograms of toxic waste was produced. Don't know where that fact came from, but even if it is an order or two of magnitude out, it is incredible. Incredibly bad.
Was talked into signing up for a new phone line package that provides free Internet for no extra yesterday evening too. Slingshot. May need to dig out the old computer and suss you out for Ubunto too.
William
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