Many of the technologies we use every day consume a lot more resources and power than they need to, and using and manufacturing them can create a mess. Here are a few of the ways that technology can harm the environment:
Pollution - Air, water, heat and noise pollution can all be caused by producing and using technology
Consuming resources - Non-renewable resources, including precious metals like gold, are used to make technology. Many others, such as coal, are consumed to generate the electricity to use technology. Even some renewable resources, like trees and water, are becoming contaminated or are used up faster than they can renew themselves because of technology.
Waste - Manufacturing technology creates large amounts of waste, and used computers and electronics get thrown out when they break or become outdated. Called "technotrash," these electronics contain all sorts of hazardous materials that are very unsafe for the environment. They need to be disposed of using special methods.
Disrupting ecology - Clearing land where animals used to live to build factories and allowing pollution to contaminate the food chain can greatly affect the environment's natural cycles.
Health hazards - Using toxic materials that can harm our health can cause cancer, and technology addiction can lead to other health problems like obesity and carpal tunnel syndrome.
You can encourage manufacturers by choosing to buy more energy-efficient and less hazardous electronics and by supporting companies that make protecting the environment a priority. You can also do your own part to reduce environmental impact by not being wasteful and disposing of your electronics safely and properly.
Melissa Yu on 22 Oct 12When we're looking for new smart phones we often look at things like speed, convenience, size and other features. When we see all these new smart phone products in stores we don't really stop and think about who made it. All we see is this polished, new phone and that's all we ever try to see. However, this article forces you to look past those pristine products and see the hidden reality. This post shows the rankings of various phone brands based on their impact on human rights, animal rights, the environment and other ethics. Out of a possible score of 20, all the brands fell quite short with the highest score being 10.5. It brings up the various human rights violations of different companies and makes you wonder why such successful companies like Apple are still setting such a low standard for labor conditions. Living in our comfortable first world country, we don't see all the human rights violations and abuse that occurs in other countries. I was surprised to learn that in a Nokia factory, many people were hospitalized for lead poisoning after being told that lead wasn't harmful. The lives of these workers are put at risk every day, as they work to create our smart phones. This article makes you think a lot about our world's reliance on technology. In our country, we only see the positive side of technology. Around the world though, there's a whole other side to the story. People work in dangerous conditions and are abused often while they create our smart phones. It really makes you see these products in a whole other light. After reading this article, I see more when I look at a smart phone. I wonder what happened to the people that made this phone or how they're living now. Our world is changing because of the introduction of technology. It has made our life so much easier, but we have to remember that this can sometimes come at the cost of another human or animal's dignity and sometimes even their life.
