Eco-Friendly Electronics: Go Green With Your Wired World

green-electronics-council.gifIt’s ironic that in our youth media culture of “totally wired” teens, eco-enthusiasts haven’t mowed a green path uniting kids’ environmental zealousness with greener gear.

The TechSoup blog posts this great new online tool and forum thread which is ultra timely for me, since my laptop LCD screen just fried, and I’m temporarily hooked up to a clunky old 19” monitor the size of a boat anchor.

Yep, I finally need to spend some serious green on healthier computer systems rather than resuscitating this network of multiple old ones. (ah, the joys of nonprofit life) We all love our media, but lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium VI seeping into our bods and planetary landfill creates a conundrum, particularly for green teens, sustainable students, and back to schoolers who moonlight saving the world.

EPEAT to the rescue! A project of the EPA and the Green Electronics Council, it’s an easy-to-use site that allows you to see how your computer stacks up, rated in categories like materials selection, design for end of life, and energy conservation. It’s all in the name of building a better green machine…also see this article, “How to Buy A Green PC.”

Apple fans will be surprised to see that in the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, Apple ranked dead last, yet my own Lenovo (IBM Thinkpad) ranked first! But wait…

…Looks like a new update (ver 4) is just in this summer, with Apple inching up a hair and Sony sliding to last place; while Nokia nudged my Lenovo into the #2 spot for green machines. Amazing changes in just one quarter!

Check out this fabulous Web 2.0 site called “GreenMyApple” (to the core!) inviting Mac users to take action (“mAct”) so Macs and ipods become as clean as their design. Go for it kids, mobilize! Steve Jobs is already making some big changes.

As the Blogossary would say, “hat tip” to Beth’s blog for pointing all this out, as well as adding her own Green Geekery links to a few favorite host sites, cool blogslike EcoGeek, and cellphone recycling, and also raising awareness of shopper sites like MissionFish, which uses a portion of makes environmental donations via EBay’s Giving Works system, hmn…brain cells are churning on that one for Shaping Youth!

Now I’ll get back to the HSM post I was working on before I was so rudely interrupted by a “black screen” moment.

Standby…

You might also enjoy some of our previous Eco/Green postings on Shaping Youth:

The 11th Hour: Leonardo DiCaprio’s New Documentary

5th International Symposium/Youth Collaboratory: Digital Earth

Inspire Kids With Green Media: Kid-Vid & Games Galore

Green Media & Electric Cars: New Energy Shaping Youth

New Media Worldometers Help Data Click With Kids

Care2 Make A Difference? Social Media/Kids

Digital Activism: Kids Stump for Change (World Wildlife Fund)

Youth Atwitter On LiveEarth Concert 7-07-07

Teen Thrive Earth Fest: Social Media & Green Teens

Can Somethin’ Be Done About All This Consumption?

Inconvenient Truth Meets Digital Earth, Marketing Hope

Teen Second Life, A Virtual Learning Experience*

Media Savvy Kids and Nature Deficit Disorder

The Nature of Tweens: Wired Worlds & Outdoor Ed

Shaping Youth Through Nature, Media Unplugged

Crass Commercialism, Interactive ‘Tude (Bratz Dolls/Walmart)

And many more (yes, I promise I’m working on creating better categorization of all this content when our website finally goes live if not beforehand…) –Amy

(*features the Global Kids Digital Initiative nonprofit inside the TSL virtual world, looks like they just won a new grant, yay!)

Eco-Friendly Electronics: Go Green With Your Wired World

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Comments

  1. Video Gamer says

    You may want to add
    http://www.blackle.com/
    to your list of “green” sites.

  2. Thanks, VG…that’s a good one, makes a hilariously witty point even if I DO go blind reading the type in reverse out white!

    I’ll share that with some of the others…have you seen the “Ranger Rick booted off Facebook” for being a ‘non-human entity’ (Nat’l Wildlife Federation)? It was posted on the Green Miles blog? Ah, the irony…four fake Paris Hiltons but no room for a do-gooder critter…I responded a bit there in commentary too, as you can see: http://thegreenmiles.blogspot.com/2007/08/should-facebook-have-banished-ranger.html

  3. Oh, wait, one more for you, as long as we’re in the Green Geekery arena…Beth just posted on both of these with tons of links re: NPTech Tools you might enjoy.

    Check here: http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/08/ranger-rick-the.html

  4. Video Gamer says

    And this is exactly why I cancelled my facebook accout as soon as they let non .edu email addresses register. You think video games are bad? This site (facebook) is the end of world. There have seriously been MURDERS over comments on someones wall….. Its really unbelieveble. Im not a socially isolated person by any means, but I avoid facebook and myspace and all those other “social networking” sites completely. Like you posted in the comments on that article, its just going to turn into one gigantic ad for who knows what.

  5. Video Gamer says

    oh and did you hear? Manhunt 2 was revised and re-rated to be M. I wonder what they took out to get the M rating. The ESRB isnt allowed to say because they dont own the material. We will just have to wait for R* to comment on it. And on a side note, I hope they release the AO version or an unrated version on PC.

  6. VG: Interesting on the Facebook front. You’re not the only one, to be sure. The plethora of corporate media mavens are stampeding there per Ad Age’s “Would you let these people friend you” article here: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=119841

    Not sure if you can access sans subscription, but let me know and I’ll post it if you want…it’s all about addies using Facebook for research.

  7. New post re: eco-friendly electronics in FastCompany today on the irony of green investment going…well…’brown’…despite all indications people would PAY for a healthier planet.

    FastCompany reported,

    “In the never ending cycle of green paradoxes, many consumers say they would pay more for green technology, but the VCs have slowed their investments there. Granted consumers were talking about home electronics and the VCs referred to alternative energy, but it still shows how market forces aren’t suddenly going to solve our climate problems.

    A survey released this week by Forrester Research found that 12 percent of Americans would pay more for consumer electronics that use less energy or were made by a company with a positive environmental image. An additional 41 percent are concerned by the environment but not sure they would pay extra for a green computer. That still leaves 47 percent who don’t really care. But it stands to reason that those who are willing to pay more for green products are probably the ones with the most buying power.

    In contrast, a recent column in The Nation highlighted how the investment community is losing interest in green technology in favor of private security and defense companies.

    There’s still a significant sum going towards clean energy ($4.2 billion to be exact.) But this year, companies focused on security and defense eclipsed the green tech firms, earning $6 billion — almost double what they made in investments last year. Naomi Klein describes how ridiculous it is that guns and border fences will protect us from disasters in The Nation:

    The ultimate expression of this second option is in Hummer’s new TV ads: the gas-guzzler is seen carrying its cargo to safety in various disaster zones, followed by the slogan “HOPE: Hummer Owners Prepared for Emergencies.” It’s a bit like the Marlboro man doing grief counseling in a cancer ward.

    I guess if Johnathan Goodwin retooled the engine that would make sense (see Motorhead Messiah from the November issue). But something tells me Hummer hasn’t created its own super fuel-efficient biodiesel model yet.

    While the majority of consumers have yet to show significant interest in putting solar panels on their homes or setting up wind farms, a large part of that is the high cost of alternative energy sources. That could change if companies that work in green tech received more funding and/or the government implemented policies that were favorable to such companies. If consumers are willing to pay a little bit more for a green computer they may eventually come around to renewable energy when the price is right.”

    See original post here: http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/12/06/sustainability_inconsistencies_in_the_green_market.html

  8. This chart sure changes fast! Here’s the latest scores from the greenpeace gauge:

    http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/electronics/how-the-companies-line-up

    And here’s a great host of electronic waste/recycling resources updated in Beth Kanter’s New Year’s resolution blog post:
    http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/12/computer-recylc.html

  9. Green electronics can reduce your home’s carbon footprint and water, gas and electricity consumption and also enhance a project’s LEED rating

  10. we must concentrate more on eco-friendly materials and practices to help save the environment.”*”

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