E-waste! It's the future. And as memory and processing becomes cheaper, devices have shorter and shorter life spans, which means that we produce more and more ewaste every year, an estimated 50 million tons.
Where does it all go?
As you continue to research your devices for the Object Lesson assignment, we will move ahead into the remaining two stages in the life of an electronic device. We're doing this slightly out of order, looking at e-waste and recycling today, and then something about the living history of devices for Friday.
Because electronics may contain harmful and toxic chemicals, burying them in landfills is not necessarily a good solution, since those chemicals may leach into drinking water. Recyclying is a popular alternative, but it's not a perfect or safe solution either. To learn more about this, I'd like you to watch two videos in order to compare how each use the audiovisual modality differently.
After you watch both videos, consider the difference in tone and structure between the two. Both use rhetorical appeals to convince you of the importance of the topic. The PBS segment appeals to logic and morals, so what modes of persuasasion get used in E-Wasteland?
Between the two, which is more effective? Why? Are both pieces attempting to persuade viewers of the same things? If so, what do they want us to do?
Discuss these things in the new #discuss-e-waste channel.
That PBS segment talks about Goodwill, which is certainly one option that's available locally. But what else is there? There are battery recycling drop off points around campus, but who picks that up, and where does that go? Does the Stafford County landfill accept electronics for recycling or burying?
Do some research and see what you can find in your area. Add your findings to this Google Document and let us know in what you find in #general-chat.
By now, you've hopefully chosen an electronic device to sacrifice for the Object Lesson assigment, so regardless of whichever of its stories you're telling, try and find out what substances (metals and minerals) are in your device. You will probably need to do some research, and again, share those findings in Slack.