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 –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 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, % 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 7 th and 8 th 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