IT Technologies and its Global Impact By: Envirocitizens

Goal

To make a documentary that

focuses on the positive and

negative effects of IT waste and

how it's impact affects environment

as well as people around the world.

PLANS

• Three short films and interconnect them to the overall theme.– Title: Environment wars

• Episode I: Cameras• Episode II: Cell Phones• Episode III: Laptops

• Broadcast on youtube.com• Article-New University

Strategies

• Each member will be dedicated to one item or IT technology– Including researching facts and statistics per

item– Utilizing many resources regarding topic

• Each member will participate with filming:– Including interviewing students and

professionals– Filming shots for aesthetic purposes

Digital Cameras

A Revolution in Photography

• Popularity of Digital Cameras– How many of you have a digital camera in

your household? – According to a recent study from the

Consumer Electronics Association (CEA),

77% of American households now own at least one digital camera.

Digital Photography

• Digital photo processing – No film used and no cost for film and processing.– No hazardous chemicals are used for processing

photos – Chemicals are not released into environment, thus

preventing some toxic pollution

• Film processing (Non-digital cameras)– “Photo-processing wastes may contain silver which is

considered a toxic heavy metal by the Environmental Protection Agency.”

• “Any time you take your pictures to a photo processing center, that film is run through batches of chemicals. These chemicals are environmental hazards, and once they are used to process film, those chemicals must be discarded. All film photo processing centers use these chemicals.”

• “Many of the chemicals used to develop photographs are corrosive and can cause skin, eye and lung irritation.” (EPA)

Digital Photography

• “With digital photography, we no longer need to use all of those chemical solutions for developing photographs.” – (Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor)

• How do film processing companies get rid of photo processing waste and chemicals?– “As an experiment, one day I went to a local film

processing company and asked what they did with their chemicals after they were done using them. The answer? "We pour them down the drain!" And that means these chemicals enter the water supply and go downstream.” – (Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor)

Reduction in Toxic Pollution

Digital Photography Reduces Pollution (Sveriges Radio International)

• “Experts here say the growing use of digital photography has helped clean Stockholm’s water, by reducing emissions of silver from photo labs into sewage systems.”

• “Tests have shown that silver levels in the Stockholm archipelago have dropped by more than half in five years. Ragnar Lagerkvist of the Stockholm Water authority says he is convinced this is primarily thanks to digital photo technology. He says most of the silver emissions come from photo labs, as well as X-ray plates from dentists and hospitals.”

Sharing Without Printing

• Does the ability to take more photographs mean more printing?– Has digital cameras led to more or less

printing of photographs?– “Most of the photos taken with digital cameras

stay in the digital domain (people don't print out all those photos).” (Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor)

How do you share?

• How do you share the photographs captured by your digital camera?

• Out of these choices, which one do you do the most– A. Print photographs and buy albums– B. Share them through the internet (Flickr,

Facebook, Photobucket)– C. Share by Email– D. Show them to people on your computer

• According to the CEA study, called Digital Imaging: A Focus on Sharing:

– Options that consumers use to share photos include: • 55% share by e-mail • 48% show them on personal computers • 40% post photos online, at sites such as

MySpace, Facebook, Photobucket, and Snapfish (shown above)

Sharing Without Printing

• Digital camera have allowed people to share photographs in new innovative ways, which requires no printing. These methods of sharing can be considered to be more environmental friendly, since they have reduced the need for printing on paper.

Cell Phones

Question

• How many of you would be willing to give up your cell phone right now? Why or why not?

Positive Effects

• A cell phone’s small size makes its disposal yield less waste than other electronic device.

• Huang &Truong, 2008.

• 70% of all cell phones are mostly re-manufactured for reuse in the United States, resulting in less waste.

• Blevis 2007

Negative Effects

• In the US, an estimated 128,000,000 cell phones are retired each year. Resulting in a large amount of e-waste.

Laptops

Positive Effects

• Education– Maine’s One-to-One Laptop Program– Microsoft’s Anytime Anywhere Learning

Project• Greening your laptop

Education

• Maine University – David Silvernail & Dawn Lane– Maine Learning Technology Initiative [MLTI]– [2002 – 2004] – MLTI provided all 7th and 8th

graders (along with their teachers) in the state of Maine laptops for educational uses

Findings

• Teachers– 15% increase in developing instructional

materials– Communication with colleagues increased to

70%– 6% increase in research from fall 2003 to fall

2003– Felt a sense of empowerment and ability to

engage students better

Cont.

• Students– More than 70% of the students surveyed felt

more engaged because they liked using computers

– Learned more about own writing– Attendance/Participation

Title

• Microsoft’s Anytime Anywhere Learning Project – 1996– Started by implementing use of laptops in 52

U.S. schools [1997]– By 2000, 800 schools participated in this

project

Findings

• Students– Reading/Writing improvements– Research/Analytical skills– Collaboration

• Teachers– Communication/Collaboration– Organization/Preparation

Problems and Solutions

• Problems?– Energy use– Material Consumption– ???

• Solutions– Recyclable Materials (Ex. EPEAT Gold)– Smaller Laptops– Longevity and Sharing

By EnviroCitizens, for ICS 5: Environmental Issues in Information Technology

• Cristela Reyes – Film and Media Studies • Amir Malik – ICS Major• Johnathan Fuentez – Informatics Major• Paul Espinosa – Environmental Studies