Eric Lundgren is an environmental hero, whose California business diverts literal tons of e-waste from landfills, refurbishes it, and puts it in the hands of people who can make good use of it. Read the rest “Microsoft sends recycler to jail for reinstalling obsolete, licensed copies of Windows on refurbished PCs”
EU and Nigerian law both ban the export of e-waste to Nigeria, but a new study jointly authored by scholars from UN University and the Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Africa found that exported used cars represent a smuggler's bonanza for the illegal dumping of toxic waste. Read the rest “The used cars that Europe sends to Nigeria are filled with illegal, toxic e-waste”
The swift replacement of CRT screens with flat panels created tons of extremely toxic e-waste, with dangerous tubes and leaded glass posing unique environmental and safety hazards for disposal workers and sites. Read the rest “Millions of lead-filled CRTs have been abandoned in warehouses across America”
New York is one of four states considering legislation that would guarantee your right to get your stuff fixed by independent repair centers, curbing manufacturers' attempts to limit access to technical documentation and parts, meaning you pay less to keep your stuff working, and that means that your gadgets don't become immortal, toxic e-waste. Read the rest “Right to repair is under assault in New York, and you can save it!”
German photographer Kevin McElvaney shot portraits of the itinerant pickers who work on Agbogbloshie, the toxic e-waste dump outside of Accra, Ghana. Read the rest “Portraits of e-waste pickers in Ghana”
UK artist Julie Alice Chapell's Computer Component Bugs sculptures are iridescent, intricate assemblage sculptures made from ewaste. Read the rest “Iridescent insect sculptures from ewaste”
Tim sez, "Our technological lives produce vast numbers of artifacts. Many of which become obsolete in a very short time. All of these relics, once vital to our daily lives, end up in drawers and landfills -- forgotten as soon as their usefulness is eclipsed. Electric Ecology, by Ruth Whiting is a series of oil paintings that investigates a mythical afterlife for the forgotten connective tissue of technology where plugs and cables live on in an imagined realm."
Ruth Whiting — Electric Ecology
(Thanks, Tim!) Read the rest “Electric Ecology: oil paintings of ewaste”
