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  Marilyn Terrell

  16 years ago

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  These gadgets are very cool.
  I agree with Footprint that the switchover next year from analog to HDTV will result in millions of perfectly good TVs being thrown away, most of which will probably be exported to China and Africa like most of our other electronic waste, where it will sit in dumps and leach harmful chemicals into the groundwater, while barefoot children climb over the debris looking for salvageable materials: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2008-01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text.html
  I hope future Greener Gadgets conferences will address this growing problem.

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  theo

  16 years ago

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  Green Cell - glad to see that some people liked the idea as much as we did. More at:
  www.RichBrilliantWilling.com

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• 

  Footprint

  16 years ago

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  So the Greener Gadgets conference was in full swing in NY today, and I just wanted to see if any huggers have any thoughts or solutions about tech trash?
  
  I spent a pretty good portion of this week all riled up about the DTV switch. As far as I can understand: as of Feb 2009 analog TV �waves� will no longer exist. Our local news has been saying that non-DTV�s will not work anymore, which isn�t exactly the case, but I am sure it will give a lot of people an excuse to go buy a new TV.
  
  I contacted Comcast (my cable provider) to ask about the change. They reassured me that my television will still work, but they will supply me with an analog to digital converter. The only set back they noted is that my TV will no longer be able to communicate with my remote control, same is true of my TiVo, DVR, or VCR (if I am still kicking it old school.)
  
  So this isn�t a huge deal to me, I mean I watch some TV, but I mean I have no problem getting up to turn on 30 Rock. I am however worried about how the average American will handle the switch. My prediction/fear is that there will be millions of perfectly good (and full of really gross chemicals) analog TVs discarded with no real education about recycling or safe disposal.
  
  C-net�s green tech blog says the reason for the change to DTV is simple: �The U.S. government has long been pushing for the digital television shift so that it may set aside a certain amount of the freed-up TV spectrum for use by emergency responders. It also expects to raise as much as $10 billion for the federal treasury by auctioning off the remaining spectrum to companies that say its inherent scientific properties will make for easier and cheaper broadband deployments.�
  
  C-Net goes on to predict: �Roughly 80 million analog TVs will get heaved out in 2008 and 2009, according to John Shegerian, CEO of Electronic Recyclers (ER), one of the largest e-waste recyclers in the U.S., and someone is going to have to dispose of those old TVs properly. The glass in the tube consists of about 22 percent lead.�
  
  So my way of making a statement is through design, so if you guys want to check out my new techno-trash stuff, please do at www.cafepress.com/yourfootprint.
  
  And let me know what you think: what should we as citizens, families, and members of society do to put a responsible end to techno trash.
  

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