iFixit Promotes E-Waste Recycling Through Repair

February 6, 2012 Leave a Comment

This post is part of Global Wire Associates’ Recharge E-Waste Campaign.

So, you have a box in the corner of your closet or in your basement piled high with broken or “gently used” electronics, gadgets and wires you don’t use anymore.  You are thinking about taking that box down to your local recycling center and (maybe) get a rebate for your good deed of saving the planet.  However, you would be doing a better deed for the planet if you learned how to repair and reuse your old electronics.

Leading the “repair is recycling” movement is iFixit, a website where you can find free repair manuals for virtually every electronic on the planet.  In the largely community-run site, users can both add information to guides and asks questions about issues not offered in the guides.  The website funds itself by selling useful service parts and tool kits for repairing electronics.  Self-repair not only saves money that would have otherwise been used to purchase new electronics, but it also helps the environment.

Even if you take your old electronics to recycling sites, there is no guarantee they will be recycled properly.  Most e-waste ends up in landfills throughout the developing world, where it wrecks havoc on the health of those who live near it.  This is partly because it is expensive and labor-intensive to properly recycle e-waste in many developed countries, as most environmental laws in these countries require e-recyclers to use environmentally friendly processes.

According to iFixit:

But labor is cheap in the developing world. And those pesky environmental laws don’t exist everywhere. Containers full of outdated electronics are regularly shipped to places like China and Nigeria where people scrounge through the dead electronics looking for bits and pieces that are useful. After scavengers pick out the worthwhile bits, ‘extractors’ start breaking things apart. They can make a living breaking down electronics harvesting copper from wires and gold from electrical connectors. But without environmentally friendly processes, the nasty chemicals from the extraction process seeps into the groundwater and remnant broken electronic scrap litter the landscape.

Here is a video from Greenpeace that explains the e-waste problem in Nigeria

Meanwhile, iFixit recently launched a new website – ifixit.org – for discussions on e-waste activism and specifically showcasing the arduous work of the brave extractors or “fixers,” like the Ghanaian man featured in the headlining photo above.  The website will eventually be a launching pad for a documentary film about the lives of fixers in Egypt, Kenya, Ghana and India.

Filed under Africa, Asia, E-Waste, Films and filmmaking, Tech Disparities Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

New Year, New Digital Activism Ideas for 2012

January 2, 2012 Leave a Comment

A new year means new beginnings in many ways.  A few weeks ago we asked you about your predictions on digital activism trends for 2012.  Below are the winners of our contest who will be receiving a Flip UltraHD Video Camera.

“I think citizen journalism will begin to be seen as just as valuable and legitimate as mainstream journalism in the new year.  When you look at all the movements from [the previous] year like Occupy and Arab Spring, much of the news was coming from protesters reporting from the ground with pictures and Tweets.  If it weren’t for the brave protesters in Syria recording the atrocities being committed by the government on YouTube, nobody would know what was really happening there.  I can see more professional journalists wanting to collaborate with citizen journalists on reporting stories.”

- Anjula Bhratt, Bangalore, India

“I am exciting about the growth of mobile technology and how it can help those of us in the developing world.  I have seen how mobile entrepreneurship has really taken off in my community, and online business in the developing world will only grow in 2012.  It is so easy for anyone to start their own business today with the lowered barriers for selling products and services.  For the past year I have been thinking about starting my own pocketbook business, and after doing the research, I realized how easy and inexpensive it would be to manage my website, social media and online purchases.  I will be officially starting my business later this year!”

- Lelia Rye, Paramaribo, Suriname

“I think more collaboration will happen in 2012, thanks to tools like cloud computing.  I use a lot of Google products like Gmail and Google Docs and Drop Box to collaborate with other activists in my local community.  But the recent global movements such as Occupy Wall Street and Egypt protests have made me think out loud why can’t activists worldwide collaborate more in the cloud on the same issues more often.  We can organize our own movements without the help of already established NGOs.”

-Fikru Abate, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“The digital divide will become smaller in the new year.  I am excited about the development of tablet devices like the Aakash.  These tools make technology more accessible to everyone.  I am excited about the new developments in bringing this technology to Africa and Asia and young students being exposed to ideas they wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.  I would like to see that world governments see the investment in supporting more mobile devices for our youth.  People need to understand that a digitally literate world is a better world for everyone.”

- Hugo Batko, Kiev, Ukraine

Filed under Africa, Americas, Asia, Mobile Phones, Online Journalism, Tech Disparities, Tech Life, Twitter, YouTube Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

What You Need to Know About the Stop Online Piracy Act

November 21, 2011 1 Comment

Recent events related to the Arab Spring have made many living in democratic societies take for granted their right to free online expression.  However, Americans might have a very rude awakening very soon if the U.S. government has its way.  Congress is actually debating a law that would give them the power to censor Internet content.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R.3261, was introduced recently by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors.

From OpenCongress:

This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infringement. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have “only limited purpose or use other than infringement,” and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. This bill combines two separate Senate bills — S.968 and S.978 — into one big House bill.

Proponents of the bill say “it protects the intellectual property market, including the resultant revenue and jobs, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites.”  Those supporters include the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, Netflix, AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

However, opponents say that the bill will not only censor expression, but it will also stifle job creation and innovation.  The many opponents include Internet companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook, as well as human rights groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch.

From a social justice perspective:

…This bill could also have a huge impact on the work of human rights advocates and whistleblowers who depend on online tools to protect their anonymity and speak out against injustice. Platforms created to provide anonymity software to human rights activists across the world, as well as next generation WikiLeaks-style whistleblower sites, could be major casualties of this bill—all in the name of increasing Hollywood’s bottom line…

So to put it simply, the Arab Spring would have happened differently – if it happened at all – if social media tools like YouTube and Twitter were not available for use by the protesters.  We probably wouldn’t have known the truth about Guantanamo Bay without the help of WikiLeaks.  Most people probably wouldn’t have even known about the causes around Troy Davis and Bank Transfer Day without the help of online petitioning.

Most importantly, the business operations for Global Wire Associates are threatened if such a bill is passed.  This bill undermines all the work we do with many activists worldwide.  Imagine the many people who will suddenly be silenced because they were speaking out against injustice.

If you live in the United State, please contact your congressman, asking them to oppose the bill.  You can also make your opposition to the bill known publicly here on this online petition.

Filed under Accountability/Transparency, Africa, Americas, Asia, Facebook, Global, Online Journalism, Twitter, YouTube Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Tech Entrepreneurs Harness Economic Power

November 14, 2011 Leave a Comment

Every November Global Entrepreneurship Week seeks to highlight innovators who drive the economy and advance society.  A new study produced by the Kauffman Foundation shows that while many young adults (ages 18-34) are eager to start their own businesses, they are hesitant to do so because of the economic downturn.

However, this same study shows that Millennials understand the importance of entrepreneurship to reviving the bad economy, and that in America 64 percent of Latinos and 63 percent of African-Americans expressed a desire to start their own companies.

Historically, communities of color have seen entrepreneurship as a social justice issue, as economic self-reliance equals financial freedom.  There is a growing number of people of color looking for opportunities in technology.  This week CNN premiered “Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley,” which follows a group of African-American entrepreneurs trying to pitch the next great start-up in the famous tech community.  About one percent of entrepreneurs who received venture capital in the first half of last year are black, according to a study by research firm CB Insights.  Many blame this small number on institutional racism, while others say it is a lack of interest among African-Americans to pursue careers in this field.  Nonetheless, the documentary shows that there is a growing interest in tech entrepreneurship among African-Americans and a new frontier is about to be opened up.

In Africa, mobile entrepreneurship have become key in economic development.   African women entrepreneurs are the driving force in this new economy.  Traditionally, African women work in agriculture, like Kenyan farmer Su Kahumbu, who knows first hand the challenges of raising cattle.  Kahumbu came up with iCow, “a mobile-phone application that allows herders to register each individual cow, and to receive individualized text messages on their mobile phones, including advice for veterinary care and feeding schedules, a database of experts, and updated market rates on cattle prices.”

“Eighty percent of Kenyans are farmers, and by that I mean people who make a living off of the land, and 80 percent of the food people eat comes from people who sell in the rural marketplace,” says Kahumbu to the Christian Science Monitor. “So, even though I’m not an expert in technology or development, I thought, why not take the gestation calendar of a cow and send it to agriculturalists, and that can help them increase their productivity, and also increase their savings.”

Learn about more tech entrepreneurs around the world at http://unleashingideas.org

Filed under Africa, Tech Disparities, Tech Life Tagged with , , , , , ,

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