Solar Energy: The Next Tech Justice Battle

February 20, 2012 Leave a Comment

In the process of doing research for last week’s post on e-waste, we stumbled upon a fabulous film about renewable energy in Africa.  As our society has become more wired with all kinds of gadgets that have made our lives a lot easier, sometimes those of us living in the West take for granted the simplest thing that many in the developing world don’t have to work those gadgets effectively – electricity.

Specifically, one-third of the estimated 1.6 billion people living without access to electricity worldwide live in Africa. The lack of electricity is recognized as a major impediment to development on the continent, ranging from health care, education, water access, sanitation and women’s rights.

Of course, poor electrical access has a major effect on ICT development in Africa.  As a matter of fact, infrastructure for communications technology has not grown at the same speed as the growth in mobile phone ownership.  So it is not unusual for people to travel long distances for many hours just to charge a mobile.  Many people use generators to charge mobiles, which can be both very dangerous to the person charging it and harmful to the environment long term.  In other cases, mobile phone users might be charged a fee to re-juice their phones, which can cost as much as that person’s weekly pay.

So, it was pretty awesome to find the above film Burning in the Sun, which is currently showing in the United States on PBS’ AfroPop series.  The documentary stars Daniel Dembélé, a young entrepreneur who has come back to his village in Mali to start up a solar panel business called Afriq-Power.  In this short version of the film, we see Dembélé and his company building panels for an area largely without electricity.  The differences these panels make in the village are like night and day, as people are able to continue doing things after dark, like studying. Before the students in the featured school had electricity, every year only 20 percent of them passed their national exams.  After the lights were installed, the number jumped significantly to 97 percent!

It is also a great business model that other aspiring African entrepreneurs can learn from.   Most importantly, we loved the ideas of self-sufficiency Dembélé discussed in the film.

“Maybe the solution is to not give money to governments,” said Dembélé.  “Maybe the solution is to do micro-projects to help the people develop themselves.  Give small money to people and they will help themselves.”

Check out these updates on what Dembélé has been doing since the film here and here.

Filed under Africa, Tech Disparities, Films and filmmaking, Entrepreneurship Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 , , , , , , , , , ,

Global Wire Associates Launches New “Recharge E-Waste” Campaign

January 9, 2012 1 Comment

As many of you are still gushing over all the new tech gadgets you received over the holidays, you probably didn’t give a second thought about the “old” gadgets you just threw away.  According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, it is estimated that 20-50 million tons of discarded electronics – electronic waste or e-waste – are dumped into landfills around the world, mostly in developing countries, every year.  Electronics include old mobiles, televisions, microwaves, computers and more.  However, most of the time it’s not because these gadgets are broken; they’re being dumped in favor of newer versions.

For example, many of you may have traded in your iPhone 4, which came out in June 2010, for the iPhone 4S, which was released just last October.  According to Greenpeace, “the average lifespan of computers in developed countries has dropped from six years in 1997 to just two years in 2005, and mobile phones have a life-cycle of less than two years in developed countries.”

Landfills with e-waste create serious problems in the long run.  Toxic chemicals in electronics can leach into the land over time or are released into the atmosphere, creating severe health and environmental hazards in nearby communities.

Global Wire Associates is launching a new awareness campaign called “Recharge E-waste.”  Throughout the year, we will have special posts about the problem and possible solutions – reduce, reuse and recycle.  Check back here for more discussions about proper recycling, donating and/or selling of used electronics, turning electronics into art and design models and, most importantly, why you should resist the urge to buy any of the latest gadgets featured at the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CES) trade show this week in order to extend the life of the gadgets you already have.

We believe environmental hazards affecting marginalized communities is a social justice concern for all.  Also, because we take green business very seriously, we are going the extra mile with this e-waste campaign. Over the years, we have spoken to many of you through our trainings about the problems you are having with e-waste and other tech disparities in your communities.  We will be launching our own e-waste management program later this year with some other like-minded groups on how to effectively deal with this problem and bridge some gaps within our network.  More information will come on this program in the next few weeks.

In Solidarity,

Talia, Marjane, Philip and Maria

Filed under E-Waste, Global, Mobile Phones, Tech Disparities, Tech Life 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 , , , , , , , , , ,

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