Do computers pollute?

[deadringerinc]

Check out our approach to landfill pollution at DeadRingerInc...

Here's Our main focus...

1-Recycle donations of old computer hardware,
so they don't end up polluting a landfill;

Alot of people are being more keen as to how their garbage can damage the environment. Heavy metals and other toxins leach out from computers that are thrown into landfills and end up getting washed into the water table.

2-Recondition those computers into Linux boxes,
using benchtesting and hard drive cleaning processes;

We breakdown and sanitize the computers using NSA/DoD grade data wiping programs to securely erase all data traces. After this process, we install one of the many free open source software Linux Operating Systems onto the rebuilt system, customizing it with free programs specific to the social center that it will be given to.

3-Donate those Linux computers to social centers,such as local pre-schools, community centers, or senior centers.

Giving back to the community! This helps people of all ages get the chance to use a free computer for learning, researching, getting creative...etc. You should see the smiles when they get to explore a free open source computer that can do everything they need, for free!

Contact us today to arrange a donation or to recommend a social center that would appreciate free computers. Monetary donations can be made securely and quickly through PayPal (Coming Soon) to help us maintain these outreach programs.

Volunteers Needed! If you're not a social or community center, we also redistribute recycled Linux boxes to those who volunteer their time and skills assisting our main focus.

[Cass]

Answer to your subject title is yes. In fact the US ships a lot of its computer waste to other countries such as India...

[shiela_robins]

Aside from pollution computers can also eat up a lot of energy, right? More use of energy means more fuel being burned which is bad in the end. Turn off those computers when they are not in use, or turn off the monitors whenever you can.

[dwest44]

Answer to your subject title is yes. In fact the US ships a lot of its computer waste to other countries such as India...

What exactly do you mean by computer waste? Computers that are still working but are over, perhaps, 3 years old. Or are these like useless, broken pieces and parts of computers just lying around the company basement and collecting dust, taking up space.

[moonus111]

All manufactured products pollute! So yes computers do too.

Anything that is manufactured uses energy, that energy more than likely comes from a non-renewable, fossile fuel, energy resource.

First raw materials must be mined, ore extracted (pun). Then those materials are made into components, or sub-products, or other base materials. These materials are transported (obviously using fossil fuels) between various factories that produce more complex items.

By the time all the items that are part of the finished product are brought together massive portions of energy have been utilized to make the end product. The only way to make computers, and all other products green is to replace the entire energy economy with something else...

Space power satellites can do this, there are obstacles, but it has the potential to save the world and it is doable.

Logan Knox

-The world is not dead yet, So I'm trying to save it.

[nrdthxpr]

All manufactured products pollute! So yes computers do too.

Anything that is manufactured uses energy, that energy more than likely comes from a non-renewable, fossile fuel, energy resource.

First raw materials must be mined, ore extracted (pun). Then those materials are made into components, or sub-products, or other base materials. These materials are transported (obviously using fossil fuels) between various factories that produce more complex items.

By the time all the items that are part of the finished product are brought together massive portions of energy have been utilized to make the end product. The only way to make computers, and all other products green is to replace the entire energy economy with something else...

Space power satellites can do this, there are obstacles, but it has the potential to save the world and it is doable.

Logan Knox

-The world is not dead yet, So I'm trying to save it.

You're trying to save the World with a technology solution. But our human dilemma is not technological, but biological and geophysical. The Earth was created as a huge mass of hot gases 4.5 billion years ago and it has been slowly cooling and shrinking ever since; and it is still slowly cooling and shrinking today. But our human prosperity is based on a growing economy and we want it to keep on growing forever. That is our dilemma: A growing economy on a shrinking planet has no future, unless it can grow into outer space, so astronomers are looking desperately for new planets to colonize and develop; but even if they found one, there would be no way for living beings to travel thousands of light years away from planet Earth. Meanwhile, ecocidal pollution goes on and on with business as usual.

[moonus111]

You're trying to save the World with a technology solution. But our human dilemma is not technological, but biological and geophysical. The Earth was created as a huge mass of hot gases 4.5 billion years ago and it has been slowly cooling and shrinking ever since; and it is still slowly cooling and shrinking today. But our human prosperity is based on a growing economy and we want it to keep on growing forever. That is our dilemma: A growing economy on a shrinking planet has no future, unless it can grow into outer space, so astronomers are looking desperately for new planets to colonize and develop; but even if they found one, there would be no way for living beings to travel thousands of light years away from planet Earth. Meanwhile, ecocidal pollution goes on and on with business as usual.

One of the things that I like to think about is the Gaia Theory. It's very deep.... Basically humanity may be mother earth's " organ" we are capable of taking life to places it hasn't been before. I could type a long book here... If man goes to the stars:

1.) Planets will not be the way we live, hollywood has this wrong, we'll be living on extremely large stations

2.) We have to take life (plants, animals, birds, bees, algae, etc.) in order to breath/eat.

but that's all postulation... right now we're damaging mother earth and we need a better solution than continuing to use fossil fuels...

[nrdthxpr]

One of the things that I like to think about is the Gaia Theory. It's very deep.... Basically humanity may be mother earth's " organ" we are capable of taking life to places it hasn't been before. I could type a long book here... If man goes to the stars:

1.) Planets will not be the way we live, hollywood has this wrong, we'll be living on extremely large stations

2.) We have to take life (plants, animals, birds, bees, algae, etc.) in order to breath/eat.

but that's all postulation... right now we're damaging mother earth and we need a better solution than continuing to use fossil fuels...


Your suggestion that "humanity may be Mother Earth's "organ" is an instinctive macho concept that presumes it must dominate everything around it, including this entire planet and all the Cosmos outward forever. As such it is irrational and very destructive. Instead, we men should accept the contribution of women to soothe and calm our male passion for conquest and live at peace with each other and in balance with the planet that supports us.

There is a very great example of this idea in Beethoven's 4th piano concerto, 2nd movement, in which the string instruments represent the dominant male principle and it drives forward forcefully, while the piano represents the female principle that softly remonstrates for a more gentle attitude. The dialogue continues until the female theme gathers strength and by the weight of its moral power overwhelms the male theme, which retires to an assenting admission that she is right. It is as though Beethoven had overheard an argument between his mother and father and set it to music. I listened and it has become part of my inner self as I look for sheros as well as heros in the struggle to save our planet and ourselves.

[moonus111]

careful on the flame, it's getting heavy.

I was trying to talk about the very subject you are. I put it in the wrong words due to my desire to reduce the length of the post. A good read through the Gaia theory will quell any question that it is a macho concept.

Gaia hypothesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis)

Mother earth is weighed down by us, in the same way a ... ahh just read up a bit and maybe we can grasp what each other is saying.

I never though of Beethoven's like that...

[nrdthxpr]

careful on the flame, it's getting heavy.

I was trying to talk about the very subject you are. I put it in the wrong words due to my desire to reduce the length of the post. A good read through the Gaia theory will quell any question that it is a macho concept.

Gaia hypothesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis)

Mother earth is weighed down by us, in the same way a ... ahh just read up a bit and maybe we can grasp what each other is saying.

I never though of Beethoven's like that...


I'm familiar with the Gaia concept and I agree completely. You and I agree on almost everything except the role of technology and space travel. I see it as macho Man's attempt to escape from the death symbols that haunt his dreams. But we must not allow ourselves to be led by any marketable technological advance, yet that's what is happening and it's part of the reason we are so close to ecocide and extinction.

[vanessalane]

Re: Do computers pollute?

Computers don"t pollute in the obvious sense, but the 1 billion-plus personal computers in the world do use a lot of electricity. The sources for that power are usually polluters. It"s hard to know which computers are the most energy-efficient since the industry changes so often, but a good indication is the Energy Star label found on some units. Apple, Acer and Toshiba have been noted for reducing the use of harmful materials in building their computers. And many electronics stores have started recycling programs to keep electronics, including computers, out of landfills.

[dorothykinder]

The topic is really worth discussing.. more over if we manufacture computers by using low end components with high efficiency.. then that might be worth helpful. Also, Places like India has a lot of health care issues... land filling of components and copper wires leads to rise in diseases and further affects the human body.

Green computers; which are more environment friendly must be manufactured. A healthy and happy earth can make a health living on this planet.