The Computer

From eight o'clock in the morning until four-thirty in the afternoon, I sit in my office chair and stare into techno-space: my computer screen. Computers and technology are ingrained in to my, and millions of other peoples' everyday lives. But what are these magic mirrors really showing? Or not showing? The answer leads down a dark path to the other side of the world-- where children's blood is poisoned with lead and computer parts scatter the land like weeds. It is a world literally caught in a wired web that we have illegally forced upon them; a nightmare world that leaves only two options: poison or poverty.

When I originally thought to study the environmental impact of computers, I began by looking into how they are made and how their everyday usage effects the environment. I wanted to know if the screen I stared at or the tower that buzzed beside me were made in environmentally unconscious ways. Well, surprise surprise, they are. Like anything manufactured in a plant, computers play a part in the waste that is produced from using the Earth's resources as energy. But from what I've found, there are companies that seem to be genuinely and actively attempting to reduce the waste that comes from manufacturing and using their products. For example, the environmental portion of Apple's website states that:

• A 13-inch MacBook consumes only 14W in idle with the display on, less than a quarter of the consumption of a typical household 60W lightbulb.
• Energy-efficient LED display technology now ships with MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro. The MacBook LED backlit display uses 30% less power compared to conventional CCFL-backlit displays.
• The packaging for the fourth-generation iPod nano is 32% lighter and uses 54% less volume than the packaging for the first-generation iPod nano.

Another big-name computer manufacturer, Dell, now powers nine of its facilities in the United States and Europe with 100 percent renewable energy. They boast, "Dell’s use of renewable energy is part of its plan to reduce its facilities’ greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2015."

So there is now at least some level of environmental awareness in many computer companies, and obviously some action has been taken to improve in this respect. This gave me some hope. I began thinking about the positive effects of computers on the environment; how, with the internet and e-mail, paper-use has been greatly reduced. Furthermore, environmentalists use computers every day to map and track species, gather information and spread awareness. For me, too, it would be entirely hypocritical to shout the evils of computers while I utilize one to do so.

Though, as my research continued, I quickly discovered that there is still a major ongoing problem with computers that a lot of people are unaware of. For it's not only a matter of cutting down the energy used to make and use new computer products; it's also a matter (and maybe a much more important matter) of what to do with the old computers. Thus, my investigation quickly shifted from where computers came from to where they ended up. And where and how most of them end up is a horrifying and deplorable story.

Every day in the United States, 130 000 computers are thrown out. That's close to 4 million a month and over 46 million a year. And that's just computers. Add to that old cell-phones, printers, fax-machines, and scanners and you have an unthinkable amount of technological garbage. Known as "e-waste", it is the fastest growing stream of municipal waste worldwide, and it all has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, where it goes is usually where it will cause the most damage--developing countries that lack the resources and education to properly disassemble and dispense of these toxic parts.

The picture at the top of this entry was taken in Guiya, Hong Kong. Located in southern China, Guiya is reported to be the largest e-waste site on earth. Roughly one million tons of electronic waste is being shipped there per year, mostly from the U.S., Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Despite the Basel Convention Treaty, which the United Nations enforced in the late 1980s to try to regulate commercial waste disposal, significant amounts of hazardous electronic waste are being illegally imported into China where migrant workers separate and burn these parts for a mere eight dollars a day.

Conditions in Guiya are disastrous. Like something out of a science-fiction story, literally acres of computer monitors carpet the ground. Women heat circuit boards over smoking coal fires, pull out chips and pour off the lead solder. Men use what is actually a medieval acid recipe to extract gold from parts. Pollution has ruined the town so drinking water has to be trucked in. The health risks are obvious and severe. Scientists have discovered that Guiyu has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world, pregnancies are six times more likely to end in miscarriage there, and seven out of ten kids have too much lead in their blood.

Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist who was interviewed for a special on 60 Minutes, explains that, "These people are not just working with these materials, they're living with them. They're all around their homes. The situation in Guiyu is actually pre-capitalist. It's mercantile. It reverts back to a time when people lived where they worked, lived at their shop. Open, uncontrolled burning of plastics. Chlorinated and brominated plastics is known worldwide to cause the emission of polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins. These are among the most toxic compounds known on earth. We have a situation where we have 21st century toxins being managed in a 17th century environment."

It's difficult to imagine that there are people living in these conditions. For the children living there, this is probably all they will know. This is normalcy. But perhaps the most troubling thought is that we are the ones that have imported this catastrophe to them. What was once our burden is now theirs to bear. And why? The same. old. reasons. Because we're lazy and ignorant. Because companies can't make a profit on recycling certain parts correctly so they ship them to someone whose life is deemed of less worth. Because it's an easy fix to a difficult problem. Because out of sight, out of mind. And just like that, our waste becomes their homes.

The thing is, we can stop this buildup right now if we just use our common sense. If you have an old computer, cell phone, printer, etc. that you are about to throw away, don't! Give it to a relative, a shelter, a Goodwill, a Value Village. Put it on Kijiji or Craigslist or put an ad up in the newspaper. Throwing it out should not even be an option in your mind. If you can't get a response from anyone-- take your computer to a proper recycling depot. And when I say "proper" I mean proper. Make sure you research the centre to make sure that they do not in fact export their waste overseas. Some companies may say they don't but it's important you research it yourself. Ask questions and probe the regulations. You have a right to know that your waste will be taken care of responsibility and without any harm to others.

Lastly, I would strongly recommend people read this article on the 60 minutes website and/or watch the video of the news broadcast. Much of the information I gathered for this entry was from here and it has been extremely eye-opening.