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April
2008
PC Magazine
The Green Issue: Can We Stay Green?
Featuring Intercon Solutions
Can We Stay Green?
Our society´s do-god urges are often wrapped in evocative images that make real impact. Remember the hat-wearing bear begging us to prevent forest fires, or the solemn American Indian - a single tear running down his leathery face - contemplating the littered landscape before him? We later learned that the guy wasn´t actually a Native American, but that´s beside the point. We bought the image. As a child, I picked up littler wherever I saw it, and as an adult I continue to feel disdain for people who throw their garbage wherever they please. Will our latest green craze have the staying power of that old Indian or Smokey the Bear? I don´t think so.
Americans have a habit of embracing and then discarding fads with alarming speed. But global warming is no fad. It´s a real problem, and it grows worse by the day. I´m worried that we can´t sustain the momentum, since in going green we are swimming upstream against our own unquenchable thirst for new tech products.
It´s not that we´re not trying. I recently interviewed a rep of recycling firm Intercon Solutions. Intercon takes technology products from U.S. companies and, using the still-voluntary environmental management system set forth by the International Organization for Standardization under the ISO 114001 guidelines, breaks them down intro their basic components and reusable materials. The company doesn´t burn or bury anything in landfills. Instead, it reclaims materials for reuse, from plastic scrap (for use in wood-plastic composite lumber) to refined precious metals (for making new electronics).
Computers are the easiest tech items to break down into reusable materials, whereas monitors and televisions - which constitute the bulk of products Intercon receives - have the lowest recycling values. Monitors and televisions are now such a big part of the recycling picture because our love affair with flat-screens and HDTVs has exploded.
I applaud Intercon and other companies´ efforts to help us recycle electronics, but our desire for new technology far outstrips our ability to recycle and reuse. While we´re trying to go green, someone (guilty!) is showing us the new iPod touch or teasing us with the best-ever all-in-one PC. Your digital camera may be great, but wouldn´t a more powerful one be letter?
The Chinese are finally closing the gap with the West, not only in their craving for technology but also in their ability to afford it. The problem is that China already has a horrific track record when it comes to discarded tech products. We´ve all heard reports of rivers flowing with old monitors. Now that the Chinese have the bug, soon they´ll all have laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, PCs, and digital cameras - which they´ll be upgrading before long.
Even altruistic green ideas like One Laptop per Child may ultimately turn gray. For every OLPC XO laptop that is properly demanufactured, I bet ten will end up in landfills.
Let´s also keep in mind that every gadget we use consumes electricity and thus contributes to global warming. Most tech products still get their juice the old-fashioned way. And if they don´t plug into the wall, they use batteries, which, even if rechargeable, must eventually be disposed of.
So how do we stay green, given our passion for gadgets? We need to be more aggressive and realistic. The next global environmental treaty should set standards for manufacturing, product life spans, power consumption, and recycling. We need a long-term alternative to shipping garbage from one place to another. And we must cut back our consumption drastically. Does that mean enacting laws against heating above 70 degrees and air conditioning below 70? Maybe. It also means that each of us needs to think about our carbon footprint holistically. It´s not just about our cars, heating systems, and SC. It´s the products in our hands, in our pockets, on our desktops, and right in front of us.
Going green in certainly he right thing to do today. Staying green after the spotlight of public attention has faded is a bigger challenge.
The Green Issue
PC Mag has caught the green bug. In this special issue, we introduce our Green Approved award for computers that raise the bar for environmentally friendly technology. You´ll also find stories on running greener business products, how to recycle your old PC, and at the bottom of almost every editorial page, a clean-tech tip or fact. Just remember, talking about the need to go green in one thing, but it can´t hold a candle to actually doing something about it.
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