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What about the larger cost to the environment? Is it worth having rare earth minerals mined by literal slaves in Africa and China? Is it worth the energy asso
by naturalgradient 9y ago
What about the larger cost to the environment?
Is it worth having rare earth minerals mined by literal slaves in Africa and China?
Is it worth the energy associated with transporting the resources, processing them, assembling the device and delivering it to you?
All for the convenience of not pulling out your phone while you are tying your shoes?
I do not understand this uncritical consumption. $30 may be 'a steal', but think about whom you are stealing from.
- sethhochberg 9y agoThat seems like something of a defeatist argument, considering everything from the phone the person would be pulling out of their pocket to the pants the pocket is in to the shoes that are being tied to the door they're getting ready to walk out of was probably, in some form, produced by an unfair labor market or a company who has a less-than-stellar environmental record. Removing a single consumer electronic device from your life isn't going to impact those global markets - they're problems best tackled at a different scale.
- Teichopsia 9y agothey're problems best tackled at a different scale. I'm curious. Which way?
- Odin78 9y agoI'm not sethhochberg, but if I had to guess: Government regulations.
- naturalgradient 9y ago'Removing a single consumer electronic device from your life isn't going to impact those global markets' <- Indeed it will not. Only if society begins viewing owning and using resources differently (which will happen eventually once certain resources get scarce), change will happen. This is why I am so pessimistic about humanity. It's an outrageous opinion to sacrifice even a bit of convenience for not using resources. I see the angry downvotes pouring in on my previous post because (unsurprisingly) people get angry at having their consumerist lifestyle criticised.
- euyyn 9y agoFor the record, I downvoted you and am not angry at all about your posts.
- naturalgradient 9y agoAnd how is this contributing to the debate?
- Teichopsia 9y agoIf you were to cite verifiable sources I would say this is a fair point.
- naturalgradient 9y agohttps://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon+Echo+Teardown/33953 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon+Echo+Teardown/33953 Hardware teardown of an early generation echo. Worst, all of this is electronic waste in a few years. We all do this and just by design, smartphones and laptops are not made to last. We accumulate such a staggering about of waste considering the energy/resources used to produce this. The larger problem is that technology enables us to consume more, so I don't see how technology can ever solve the problem unless a serious shift in perception happens.
- iak8god 9y agoI'd guess Teichopsia was more interested in sources about slave labor, energy costs, and environmental impact. E.g. [https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-is-what-we-die-for-child-slaves-made-your-phone-battery https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-is-what-we-die-for-child-... | This Is What We Die For: Child Slaves Made Your Phone Battery]
- jack6e 9y agoGreat article a few years ago from the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-...
- apple4ever 9y agoYes, yes it is.