Social Impact of Technology Assignment

1. Quinton Kenney- 200225599
Technology Will
Destroy our Planet:
The Impact of
Electronics on the
Environment

2. How Technology Impacts our
Environment
Production of Electronics:
• Habitat loss due to clearing of land to access
resources.
• Emissions from equipment used during extraction
of raw materials, production of the electronics and
the transportation of the electronics.
• Untreated waste water discharge from plants
producing electronics.

3. How Technology Impacts our
Environment
Use of Electronics:
• Energy use required of the product
• By products of the product

4. How Technology Impacts our
Environment
E- Waste:
• Illegal export of electronic waste to under
developed countries such as Ghana and parts of
China.
• Plastics in electronics are burned off to reveal
precious metals. The smoke from the plastic is
harmful to humans and the environment.
• Runoff from electronic waste lands contaminate
water sources.

5. Aspects of Technology
Impacting the Environment
Metals:
• The extraction of metals is harmful to the
environment as the raw materials are often
located deep under an untouched piece of
nature rich in wild life. The extraction process is
often harmful as machinery is in and out of the site
as well as the mining operations themselves.

6. Aspects of Technology
Impacting the Environment
Metals:
• Many metals used in electronics such as lead, iron,
nickel, zinc, cadmium and many are toxic to
human health as well as the environment.
• Batteries contain lead, nickel, cadmium and
mercury. People tend o through out batteries in
their normal garbage and they contaminate
landfills with their heavy metals.

7. Aspects of Technology
Impacting the Environment
Plastic:
• The production of plastics require the extraction of
oil. The extraction of oil disrupts species of the
environment by the extraction process and the
moving of machinery.
• Tailings ponds at certain oil refineries cause
migratory birds to become ill as the birds land in
them not knowing that harmful contaminants are
in the ponds.

8. Responsibility for the Impacts
on the Environment
Government Responsibility:
Currently there are very few regulations or laws in
place to aid in the issue of electronic waste while
there are laws pertaining to waste and the
environment. This makes it difficult for North
Americans to get rid of cheaply. This is why electronic
waste is sent over seas where environmental policies
are more relaxed.

9. Responsibility for the Impacts
on the Environment
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is an organization
that helps make people aware of electronic waste scams and to
make sure that electronic waste is dealt with properly.

10. Responsibility for the Impacts
on the Environment
Manufacturer Responsibility:
• Many manufacturing companies will not take
responsibility for the impact of their product once
it is out of their hands as for the cost and effort
required to retrieve the items.
• Although many manufacturers do not take
responsibility for their products after the sale, there
are some companies willing to take rseponsibility
such as Samsung.

11. Responsibility for the Impacts
on the Environment
Manufacturer Responsibility:
Samsung takes responsibility of their products after
the sale by providing locations to drop off out of
commission products. Samsung then properly
recycles what is collected and uses the raw materials
in their products.

12. Responsibility for the Impacts
on the Environment
Consumer Responsibility:
• When it comes down to it, it is the consumer who
has the overall choice to buy from an
environmentally responsible company such as
Samsung or any other company portraying
environmental awareness.

13. What Can Be Done to Lessen
the Impacts of Electronics to
the Environment
Awareness and Education:
It is important to make more people aware of how
their electronics impact the environment, by
understanding here the raw materials for the
product are retrieved, how the product is
manufactured and what happens to the product
after it is disposed of.

14. What Can Be Done to Lessen the
Impacts of Electronics to the
Environment
Personal Choices:
Make personal choices to buy from environmentally
aware companies and make sure your electronic
waste is being recycled properly instead of being
pawned off on another country to suffer from the
impacts.

15. Bibliography
EIA. (2013). Energy consumption in homes by end use. Retrieved from
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10271
Geep. (n.d.) The Responsible Alternative. Retrieved from
http://www.geepglobal.com/Service/CommodityAnalysisSale.aspx
Riebel, P. (2011). Five environmental impacts of electronic communications.
Retrieved from http://www.risiinfo.com/techchannels/environment/The-
environmental-impacts-of-electronic-communications.html
SAMSUNG.(n.d.). Global Compliance Scheme. Retrieved from
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/environment/takebac
krecycling/takebackrecyclingprograms.html
UNEP. (n.d.). Anticipating the Environmental Effect of Technology. Retrieved from
http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/publications/integrative/enta/aeet/index.asp