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Ideally, Elizabeth Grossman’s High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
would be included in the box with every new high tech device sold. It is an extremely important book that explores an incredibly serious issue that has been largely overlooked as people around the world have adopted a variety of high tech devices without ever considering their environmental footprint. From the process of extracting the resources needed to produce a device, to potential health affects while using a device, and to the question of where it ends up once it is no longer, Grossman provides a complete and compelling study of the environmental ramifications of modern electronics.
Grossman’s book begins by looking at the raw materials that go into high tech devices, something that is rarely considered by the users of such devices. While users might be inclined to describe a device as primarily being made of plastic, Grossman explains that high tech electronics contain a variety of metals, chemicals, and plastics, many of which are either known to be toxic to humans, animals, and the environment or have not been tested in any meaningful way. Grossman, inspired by an investigation into he dumping of toxic chemicals from the high tech industry into a river in her hometown of Portland, visits a variety of locations around the world ranging from mines to recycling facilities to explore the environmental ramifications of high tech products and their disposal. Throughout the book, Grossman is very good at explaining that the issue of electronic waste–or e-waste–is a global problem that involves everyone from the users of high tech products to the Chinese villagers who “recycle” e-waste. Grossman reveals a variety of facts that are likely unknown to the users of high tech products including the amount of water used in producing microchips (Intel used 6 billion gallons of water in 2003), the fact that e-waste routinely gets dumped in unregulated landfills in third world countries, explains how in the United States prisoners frequently process electronics for recycling without being told about their toxicity, that the manufacture of one .07 ounce microchip (the size of one teaspoon of milk) can generate 57.2 pounds of waste, that there are a variety of toxic chemicals used in electronics, and that many of the components used in high tech products can be recycled.
In her travels, Grossman interviews numerous individuals who have a stake in the problem of e-waste and gets their perspectives on what can be done to solve the problem. She talks to mine operators, product designers, government officials, people living with the toxic effects of e-waste, and numerous others. While the majority of those with whom she talks agree that there is a problem, they often disagree as to the extent of the problem and the best approach for addressing it. Grossman explores a variety of legislative approaches, including recent measures enacted in the European Union that require that certain chemicals be removed from products if they are to be sold in the European Union. When the interviewees talk about reluctance to share product material lists or enact legislation that might “unfairly” impact business, it becomes clear that the issue is one that needs a commitment on a global level. However, action will likely need to be inspired by a large, industrialized country committing to act on the issue. The United States, because it is the biggest consumer of computers and the biggest generator of e-waste, should be obligated to take this role, but it has not done so as no widespread demands have been made asking it to take action.
This might be a role for those involved in movement for social change, as they could use their organizing skills to call for better policies for dealing with the environmental impacts of technology. Unfortunately, the environmental ramifications of computers and other electronics have largely gone unconsidered outside of a few groups involved in the environmental justice movement. While computers and other electronics have provided important tools to social change movements, those within such movements have largely failed in considering how computers impact the environment. Grossman’s book provides an illuminating exploration of the issue and a compelling case for pursuing strategies–from recycling to improving product design–that can help to reduce the ecological footprint of computers. However, for those involved in social change movements, there must not only be a push for improved recycling and design, but also an understanding that on a variety of levels–from their toxicity to the dumping of e-waste in third world nations–computers are not sustainable. To that end, social change movements need to consider both the impacts of our increasing reliance on computers for the work that we do as well as how we can incorporate this specific knowledge about the environmental impact of computers into a theoretical framework that recognizes that on a variety of different levels our current standard of living is not sustainable (see Derrick Jensen’s Endgame). However, such an approach need not take on a Luddite view of technology, but must realistically examine the environmental ramifications of new technologies and look at how they can be used strategically–and with minimal adverse impact–for the creation of a new world.
While Grossman’s book may not be the most compellingly written book reviewed by Media Mouse in our two years of doing book reviews, it is one of the most important in that it addresses an incredibly important issue that has been overlooked by not only the population at large, but the activist community as well. The environmental consequences of computers and electronics have largely been ignored as society has rushed to adopt the latest computer, iPod, cell phone, or PDA without considering the ecological footprint of new devices or how to dispose of old devices, the majority of which are riddled with a variety of toxic chemicals and materials. Of course, Grossman’s book does not provide an answer to the question of how we deal with e-waste, but it provides a number of ideas and brings attention to a largely ignored issue.
Elizabeth Grossman, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
, (Island Press, 2006).