The business section of the Maryland Frederick News-Post reports on a business run by Frederick resident Lisa Collins:
Deep inside a dimly lit warehouse filled with towers of oversized cardboard boxes and piles of electronic equipment, three workers picked at personal computers.
They stripped the systems of metal and wire, separating elements and placing them in appropriate [...]
China’s Xinhua Online is reporting that China is facing increasingly severe environmental problems and will adopt measures to try to stall deterioration:
“We will strive to realize the general goals of basically stopping the deterioration of China’s environment and improving the ecological quality in some key regions,” said Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental [...]
The UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is to release new regulations forcing businesses to dispose of hazardous wastes, including many IT products, much more carefully.
Computer Weekly is reporting that
The Japan Times today has issued two simultaneous reports about Microsoft:
U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. has signed an agreement with the National Police Agency to provide technological information to help it investigate computer-related crimes, including cyber attacks, officials of the two parties said Tuesday.
And also
An organization called Microsoft Institute for Japanese Academic Research Collaboration [...]
The Financial Times of London is reporting that the Association of British Insurers will issue a study today:
Nick Starling, the ABI’s director of general insurance, urged the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations to take action on greenhouse gas emissions when they meet to discuss climate change next week.
āGovernments now have a chance [...]
The San Jose Mercury-News reports that Ted Smith, founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, will be stepping down from his post to leave room for new blood. Smith has been instrumental in convincing companies like Dell, Apple, and IBM to revise their policies about used computer equipment disposal.
Smith made Dell a scapegoat in his [...]
The Washington Post reports on a friendly competition between American Universities to embrace environmental responsibility. The article claims that universities have lagged behind even corporate America in terms of the environment, but are now playing an aggressive game of catch-up.
It is difficult to gauge how green academia has become, because no one keeps overall statistics on this aspect of the 4,100 U.S. schools’ operations. But across the country, college administrators are vying to outdo each other in environmental consciousness, sharing their strategies and boasting about their accomplishments. They are hiring “sustainability coordinators,” negotiating new purchasing contracts and building more energy-efficient laboratories and dormitory rooms.
“It’s almost like an episode of ‘Can You Top This?’ ” said Princeton University dining services director Stuart Orefice, whose cafeterias serve cereal grown without pesticides and ship students’ unused food to local pig farms. “It’s a good-natured competition, if you will.”
Full story here.
NPR’s Day to Day has an audio report exploring the conflicted relationship some environmentalists have with nuclear energy. Environmentalists traditionally oppose nuclear power because of the radioactive waste it produces, but nuclear has also been advanced as a potential solution to climate change, which is largely attributed to fossil-fuel-burning plants.
An article in the Nashville City Paper informs readers about the hazards of throwing away old computers and offers suggestions for disposal.
Another, in India’s Rediff, explores specifics about toxins that disposed computer equipment leak into the environment.
According to Ramachandra, certain computer parts contain highly dangerous components like, toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives.
These items, when burnt not only endanger the lives of workers, mostly child labourers, who set fire and then extract the metals but also the residential areas falling in the vicinity.
Some metals like lead, mercury, barium and cadmium pose serious danger to the health and environment. Lead causes damage to nervous system, kidneys and reproductive system in humans.
Information about responsible disposal of computer equipment can be found in our nascent “Techno-Waste” links section.
Evangelical Christians begin promoting an environmentalist agenda.