Electronics in the environment: The good, the bad and the ugly

I was shocked (a phrase I don’t often use) to learn recently that the African nation of Ghana has become a dumping ground for Silicon Valley’s old computers. Maybe you already knew this, but I did not.

It came to my attention when I saw a TV report, with video footage showing mountains of discarded electronics gear sitting next to a village near Accra, Ghana. As the reporter strolled through piles of this stuff, she stopped to read labels and ownership tags. The discarded computers represented virtually every major and minor brand, and the former owners were a who’s who of Silicon Valley. The villagers were burning the circuit boards and other pieces to extract the copper — and polluting their air in the process. Runoff sludge from the site would find its way into a river that ran into the ocean.

It is worth four minutes of your time to watch the report, or alternately read the script. Some in the electronics industry are working to solve the recycling problem. Based on this report, they can’t solve it soon enough.

Another recent media piece is also worth a look by anyone interested in environmental sensitivity. The New Yorker magazine investigated carbon footprints; the title says it all – “Big Foot.” It explains that while reducing excessive carbon footprints is the right thing to do, doing it is a huge task. Just accurately calculating any product’s carbon footprint is a complicated order. Most of the examples were in food products, but the findings generalize to any and all products.

To end on a positive note, the New York Times reports this week on several new media players that run on solar power. This is the kind of inventive electronics design for environment that Technology Forecasters has been promoting for years.

The TV report and the two articles are all worth reading for those who want to get real – and find some hope – for the challenge of design for environment.

Posted by Bill Roberts, March 13th, 2008

Filed to Environment