Which is greener, getting news online or reading a newspaper? For environmental expert and activist Sarah Westervelt, the obvious answer is the printed newspaper.
“It doesn’t take electricity to read my paper,” she said in a video posted recently at PBS'
Mediashift site. “I’m too informed about what’s going to happen to my computer when I’m done with it and too concerned about that” to rely on the Web for news.
4 comments:
I think this argument would be more effective if Westervelt was actually giving up her computer for a newspaper. However, it seems unlikely that she is going to avoid being a part of the full lifecycle costs of owning a computer just because she chooses to read a printed newspaper. My guess is that she probably still has her computer, so is adding a printed newspaper really a better deal?
It seems like if you're concerned about e-waste but not willing to give up all your electronics, best practice would dictate buying the least harmful electronic device and keeping the bulk product going with small internal upgrades for a long as possible.
The problem of electronic waste disposal is a tricky one. In rural areas such as where I live, electronic recycling centers can be far away and most people don't get to them. With the rapid growth in sales of electronics it is likely to become a serious national problem. The only foreseeable solution may be new technology that somehow breaks down the components into less toxic and persistent form.
Hi, the only foreseeable solution may be new technology that somehow breaks down the components into less toxic and persistent form.
latex-mattress-toppers
This article makes the worst arguments I've ever read. People don't go out and buy computers just to read the news obviously, we already have our laptops and smart phones that we would read an online paper on. Printed paper however are printed on materials from tree farms of monocrop trees that are terrible for the environment. Then they cut the trees,which requires gas guzzling machinery. Once the trees are cut they need to be shipped to a plant on huge gas guzzling trucks to be converted into paper, then they need to be shipped to the printer, and then around the country to readers. Not to mention the ink that needs to be produced and shipped. This article is stupid and not thought out at all.
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