The Environmental Cost of AI

I have been embracing AI and trying out a multitude of platforms: ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, Claude, Google Gemini, Canva's "Magic Media Tools," and more. Increasingly, AI is integrated into existing platforms for teachers, students, everyone. I've used it for planning a trip to Spain, for the scrapbook commentary of my pics from that trip, for recipes, for lesson planning, for photo creation, for revising & summarizing, and  on and on more. Additionally, I'm planning a one-day teacher professional development workshop for one day this summer--so I've been living in it a lot!

Along my research travels, I ran across this infographic from Educators Technology that Med Kharbach, PhD. It describes the environmental impacts of AI. With us all on our computers all the time, we don't think that one more website might have as big of an impact as it does. But clearly, as it shows below, it's not just the website. There's the energy consumptions, carbon footprint, mineral mining & resource depletion, multiple levels of pollution, and transporation costs. It's a lot to consider here while technology's innovation solves many of our problems, it also creates new ones too... all of which highlights the importance of addressing environmental issues and making it a planetary priority!

Images from https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1092111519614816&set=a.558590699633570

Reading via Paper or Digital Device?

With my goal of reading 52 books this year (which I officially surpassed on August 11th, and am now working toward my stretch goal of 75), the lion share of what I've been reading has been on my Kindle*. More specifically, the Kindle app on my phone as I don’t own a physical Kindle or e-reader (who needs yet another device). It's via the app, via the cloud, via my phone. My husband finds it humorous that I tend to opt for my phone versus my iPad. Years ago when I read Alison Weir's 643 page book Six Wives of Henry VIII, and he inquired it the book was 5000 swipes with 8 words per page. (It wasn’t.)

I’ve gone back and forth between “real” books and e-books.  For a long time, I needed print books because I allowed myself to get too distracted by emails, texts, Facebook, and more when I was reading online. But I've ebbed back and now this year, I’ve almost exclusively been reading books digitally on my phone. In some ways, the more I read, the more it has actually kept me off social media**. That's the beauty of a good book!

With the Kindle app, I’ve gotten used to my percentage indicator while tracking my book progress. I love that I can change the size of the font--a great accessibility feature! The portability is an amazing bonus as my phone is lighter than a book or 3--not to mention books add extra weight in my bag which means more weight on my knees (which is already a problem, let me tell you). I can easily pull my phone out my bag at a coffee shop, in the car while waiting at the carpool line, or even in a store line that’s winding on forever. I'm also a big highlighter and note taker when I read. That feature plus the built-in dictionary makes it very easy to bop back and forth between my books and notable notes. Additionally, I do like the ease of reading a chapter or two in the dark by dimly lit phone when I'm awake at 3 am, which happens more often than I'd like.

As a tech teacher, I often get Amazon gift cards, and they primarily to digital books--fiction and nonfiction both. I find it a good escape and a worthy hobby, so I chalk up the expense to that. 

But it all has led me to ponder…which is better for our environment? Print or digital? It's a pretty hot topic.

There are strong arguments that print books give your eyes a break from screens and the blue light and the fact that you process information more critically and slowly when reading print. We tend to skim more on devices (think texts, emails, and Facebook posts), so the content makes its way more into your memory when reading it on paper. The conversation broadens when you consider platforms such as Audible too, but that's a bigger topic than for here right now.

Paper books also give you a visceral experience affecting the senses: holding, page turning, and even the smell of the book! This all can add to remembering the content. And I will say, one of my favorite places in life is a bookstore. You can't browse in the same way in an online forum as you can in a brick and mortar bookstore. An additional perk of paper/printed books include if the book is printed on recycled paper. This, in turn helps to save not only the resource of new paper but the energy, water, and chemicals (and ultimately pollution) involved in creating new, virgin paper. Another con of paper books is the shipping that is involved in the process to get it to the store (and then to your house if you purchase it online). However, physical books can be passed along after reading, saving money, saving resources, and sharing ideas--all part of the 3 R's: reducing, reusing, and recycling. If you have nowhere to pass it along to, consider donating books to libraries, senior centers, or neighborhood Little Free Libraries.

Going digital eliminates the environmental issues of paper mill pollution and paper production's taking of trees, glues, and inks. The carbon footprint is better in those ways, however there is the cloud storage (not to mention creation) which requires computers, electricity, and environmental impact. Of course, these days too, computers are involved in print books too. I've seen this quote a few places: "If the internet was a country, it'd be the world's 6th largest polluter." Plus there's the materials (sometimes toxic) involved in the creation of these digital e-readers (phones included). Devices also need batteries and use electricity to be charged. One could argue that we have the phones anyway (as in my case where I'm reading off of my phone), but still the impact is there, especially when it comes time for disposal.  

For specifics on numbers related to the environmental impact of digital publishing at this article at CCCB LAB with the same name, written byMarta Escamilla Monelland Jordi Panyella Carbonell published in May 2021

Additionally, New Scientist's February 2021 post by Mike Berners-Lee entitled "Is It Better For The Planet To Read Online or In a Paper Format?" has some interesting points--including this quote which indicates a cost-analysis based on how much you read, which for me leads to digital.

"A typical paperback book has a climate impact similar to that of watching 6 hours of TV, at around 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). This unit is a measure of carbon footprint, expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same impact over a 100-year period.

E-readers are slightly better than paper books, as long as you use them many times. In my book How Bad Are Bananas?, I estimate their carbon footprint to be about 36 kg CO2e, so you have to read the equivalent of at least 36 paperback books (bought new, then recycled)in e-book format before the paper saving outweighs the emissions embodied in the device." ***

The moral of the story as stated elsewhere in the New Scientist article: "Reading books is a low-carbon activity, however you go about it." You can't be doing anything else (like driving or watching TV) while you are doing it. The library, used bookstores, and book swaps with friends are probably the best way to lower your environmental impact. My opinion too is to go with whatever format works best for you to read as much as you can.

So, whichever way you go about it, just read! For information, for new ideas, for the love of a good story, or just plain for fun!

*Yes, there are other e-readers like Nook or Kobo, but I'm going with my experience with Kindle. Additionally, for the purposes here, I'm lumping all e-readers together.

**At one point, I had taken social media off my phone, but between the 2020 election news and noise, Covid, pandemic, associated pandemonium, and more, I brought it back due to the plight of being human and requiring escapism in the midst of insanity.

***The following resource states the offset is 22.5 books per year. Additionally it quotes "Audiobooks may have a lighter environmental footprint, since readers generally listen on their smart phones with no additional device required." (This pairs with what I do--using an existing device and app to read your books: https://booksmakeadifference.com/green-books/

Images created at canva.com

Mount Recyclemore At G-7

20,000 pieces of electronic waste all in one place is sizable to begin with. 

Put those pieces together in an artistic installation--it causes people to take notice. 

Put them into the faces of 7 world leaders AND put them on the beach across the Carbis Bay Hotel in St. Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom where the G7 Summit is taking place--it makes national news.

Welcome to Mount Recyclemore!

Reminds me a bit about Mount Trashmore!

Mount Recyclemore was created by artist Joe Rush & musicMagpie (a second hand electronics store) with the help of 15 artists over the course of 6 weeks. It was first created in Rush's south London studio scrapyard then shipped to Cornwall to be erected in time for last week's G7 Summit. The G7 is the "Group of Seven" organization of leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the Summit was held during the 3 days of June 11-13, 2021. 

The reason behind this creation: to spotlight electronic waste, its harm to the environment, and the need for it to be more easily recyclable and reusable. It is especially true given that some of the worst e-waste heavy hitters being developed nations. E-waste leaches chemicals into the soil or water if sent to landfills, or becomes hazardous air pollution if burned. Both of these are major contributors to environmental destruction and climate change. Additionally, materials in phones, laptops, monitors, and other tech waste include precious materials from limited resources where the extraction process adds major impact to our planet. Especially when e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream right now.

Taking the lead from South Dakota's Mount Rushmore's 4 presidential faces, this structure highlights the following seven leader's faces (in order from left to right):

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
• Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
• French President Emmanuel Macron
• Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel
• U.S. President Joe Biden

With climate change and Covid-19 being two of the top issues of the Summit, Mount Trashmore as a creation of discarded tech becomes an important symbol for the environment. 

After the Summit's end on Sunday, June 13th, the plan is to move Mount Recyclemore to musicMagpie’s headquarters in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Image from https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/g7-leaders-mount-recyclemore-waste-sculpture-cornwall/; video from https://youtu.be/BChR8p51p2k

Recycling Conundrums: The Silver Lining

"Boy oh boy, you sure know how to bring someone down!"

I'm sure that was the general sentiment after reading my last post: Recycling Conundrums: The Dark Part. Reading and writing it, I was feeling it in the pit of my stomach (so I know you were too). But, it was all news that needed to be known. Cower away from it might have been what we wanted to do, but knowledge is power. We needed to become experts on what's going on in the recycling world so that we can make sense of it, and shape the system to serve us.

The good news is this is the Part 2--the bright side--where we can make actionable pieces to go forth and "clean up" our recycling routine to make sure we can get better at doing what we're doing with all the "stuff" that comes in and out of our house.

Here's a little laundry list of pro-active steps we all should take. The first 4 come from 538.com's 1/18/2019 post "How to Make Sure Your Recycling Gets Recycled." Then I added some more to the list. Knowledge is indeed power!

1. Learn Your Local Rules.
Not all programs are created equally. Know what you need to know for where you live.

"I had always figured that if I didn’t know whether a thing was recyclable, I was better off putting it in recycling than in the trash. But the phrase you’ll hear from recycling experts is now 'when in doubt, throw it out.' "

2. Clean Off The Food.
Waste of water? Maybe... but it might be worth the collateral loss of water to save the waste from the landfill. Cans, jugs, bottles, tubs. All of it. Crystal clear isn't necessary, but a rinse for sure. The last thing you want to do is get food scraps from your containers onto the paper products, contaminating those, making them harder--if not impossible--to recycle.


3. Break Down Your Boxes.
All those Amazon boxes (and other home deliveries) have upped cardboard's usage/creation rate 8% over the past 5 years, however recycled cardboard rates haven't kept up. Likewise, that includes taking off the tape, throwing out portions with labels, and even box-cutting them down to regular paper size. That feels like a lot of work that a lot of people won't do, but it'll get things more recycled, less-landfilled, than not.


4. Consume Less.
The no-brainer here. Less consumption means less is wasted. However, in our over-packaged world of sometimes plastic-wrapped apples, that does become harder and harder to do. The word "Reduce" purposely comes first in the "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle" trilogy. Actually, maybe "Refuse" should be the first word in a four-word mantra!


5.  Check out Waste Management's Recycle Often Recycle Right Myth Page.
The Recycle Often Recycle Right Myths Page is a clickable list of major things to consider when it comes to recycling. Perfect for the hands-on and visual learners out there! Additionally, there are videos, printable, school curriculums, and other resources on their website that will help you navigate "what goes where."

6.  Look into WasteDive.

WasteDive's "How Recycling is Changing in All 50 States" page invites you to search for your state and see what's changed. From their reports, the effects of the changes are "heavy" in 13 states, "noticeable" in 28 states (and DC), and "minimal" in 9. Where are things in your neck of the woods? There you will see not only the negative "side effects" of the changes, but also the "changes & solutions" per state.

7. Visit Insider's "Don't Recycle" List

Insider's article "17 Things You Should Never Recycle — Even If You Think You Can" is a great place to get a quick run down of those things that you should automatically trash.  I definitely saw a few things that I need to re-train my family on--paper towels being one of them!

8. Earth911's Recycling Guide

Earth911 has been a great go-to for years to learn where to recycling things--whether it's household or specialty items. Their clickable Recycling Guide will help set the record straight on how and where certain items can be recycled.

9. Investigate Terracycle

Terracycle has turned specialized recycling into an art. Look into their recycled waste streams and see what you want to invest your time in with them. I love their innovation to keep waste out of the landfill!!

It may be a little more effort, and a little more work, but if the goal is a cleaner, more protected planet, it seems like a small price to pay forward!

Images from https://recycleoftenrecycleright.com/myths/ and https://recycleoftenrecycleright.com/ and https://earth911.com/recycling-center-search-guides/

Reinventing Trash & Finding Beauty

In The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard talks about how we, as a planet, have an excess of...well...stuff. Whether it's bangles, clothing, shoes, kitchen gadgets, electronics, or any other "must have," we have become a materialistic society that wants
more, more, more!

So we spend our hard-earned money on it, we get it, we stock-pile it, and eventually we trash it... And the landfill grows.

But here are 5 short AJ+ videos of ways people around the planet are reinventing trash & what they do with it. All 5 are examples of innovation and ways to make trash recyclable, reusable, approachable, re-inventable, and a newly usable resource. From art to music to inventions, each of these examples illustrate how we can find beauty outside the landfill with something we might easily have just thrown away.











Reinventing Trash image created on www.canva.com
Story of Stuff image from http://storyofstuff.org/;
Videos from:
1. Bolivian Wall-E: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka6nEMPqF0Y
2. Haitian Teens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAVI-ny3OE0
3. Taiwain's Musical Solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMQ1NfjPauw
4. She Turns Trash To Art: https://youtu.be/z1jxPG2nl2s
5. Wearable E-Waste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv--ezAQOrY

Garbology Revisited

Garbage isn't sexy, but you certainly can learn a lot from it.

One go-to place for students to learn is My Garbology. The website opens with a clickable kid-sized quiz filled with an assortment of animated fun facts. Along the way, you need to sort out where the banana, the plastic bottle, and more should be deposited: compost, reuse, recycle, or landfill. Many of those facts and figures you click upon are startling in their statistics. Definitely good food for thought, and you will encounter a challenge or two along the way. There are also links to parents, students, and teachers, as well as many other resources on their site.

Another place to take notice of our over-consumption & garbage is the arts. Namely, the photography of Gregg Segal.  In his bio, Gregg details how he was taking pictures of his neighbor's garbage with his new camera at the age of 11. Early on, he had a vision of how garbage had an artistic quality about it. At the very least, he knew photography could capture a story worth telling, revealing volumes about our cultural values and beliefs. His work has been featured in many well-known publications

Some of his garbage/over-consumption series include:

7 Days of Garbage
Essential questions such as "where does the garbage go?" and "What happens when that space is maxed out?" were driving forces that led to this series of Gregg's. Especially when you consider that Joe "Average" American can self-generate approximately 29 pounds of garbage a week. Photographing this personalizes it and definitely brings the problem home. This series also brings home the idea that companies need to figure out a way to help with the excessiveness and build in their own circular construct of recycling to help the product go "cradle to grave"--from creation to safe and proper disposal.

  

Detritus

The vision behind this series is to highlight "a world drowning in excess." Detritus is seen as an iconic embodiment of our role as wasteful over-consumers. That "more, more, more" mentality. From Segal's description on this series: "Wandering the Earth, no place left for him in landfills, this dustbin refugee exudes pathos and regret, a vibrant reminder of our willful abuse of the planet."

Daily Bread

This series came out of his investigation of garbage. He started paying attention to both the food we were eating, and that which we were throwing away. Especially kids. Using food journals, he replicated the diets of kids, with some startling results. Makes you ponder as a parent what eating habits we are helping our kids build (and the associated health costs that processed foods lead to.)

To investigate some of his other thought-provoking series, check out his website!



Garbology definition from a google websearch https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=garbology+defined; "My Garbology" image from http://educade.org/lesson_plans/brainstorm-sustainable-activities-with-my-garbology; Greg Segal's images from his website: http://www.greggsegal.com/projects.php

Apple Recycling

It's no surprise to anyone--2 of my favorite topics are "eco" and "edtech."  

Hence this little world:  Green Team Gazette.

Earth911 reported today that Apple has put into place an iPhone trade-in policy, called "Reuse and Recycle."

How does it work?  Head to the Apple Store the next time you want to upgrade your phone--and take your old one.  The odds of getting a trade in (with a monetary saving toward your new phone) for it are on the rise.  In doing this, it catches Apple up to where other cellular providers/manufactures have been for awhile. (Apple does have a recycling program in place for iPhones/products that are in disrepair for awhile, yet at no charge--signalling the difference in this new policy.)

Given the fact that annually, 135 million cell phones (in the US alone) go to landfill (and even more to the junk drawer), this could be a major eco pro!  Check out the infographic below from Sprint.

Infographic from http://earth911.com/tech/cell-phone-recycling-infographic/; iPhone pic a screenshot from my phone.

You Had Me At iCloud

I've been fortunate enough to have iPads available in my classroom for the past year, and a few months of the prior school year.  As will happen, prolonged exposure to one at school let me to having one at home.  Then came the time to upgrade my phone.  That happened right about the same time as Apple introduced us to "the Cloud."

It goes without saying:  They had me at iCloud.  I officially become one with AppleNation. I love that my iPhone and my iPad sync and I can access information on both.  Yes, they had me at iCloud.

Here's a great infographic about Cloud computing and its eco-benefits!



Infographic from http://www.cloudinfographics.com/2011/08/cloud-computing-save-energy-save-green/

Day-Tripping at the Landfill

View more presentations from Vicki Dabrowka.

Here are some of the pics from both our trip to the landfill last week, and our previous trip on May 14th, 2009.  If you haven't seen the landfill, this is a quick way to take a peek.  You definitely get an eye-full!

To view, click the presentation or title above, or go to http://www.slideshare.net/thirdgrade/daytripping-at-the-landfill.

E-Waste Revisited

E-waste, as mentioned in our GTG October 15 "E-Waste Solutions," is the rubbish remnants that result from planned obsolescence of electronics as we come up with the newer, greater, electronic gizmo...whether that be phones, computers, movie players, or more.

In our idea that "it's got to go somewhere," we as Americans have become "NIMBY's."  What's a NIMBY, you ask?  It's someone who believes it is fine wherever...as long as it is Not In My Back Yard. So, who's back yard does it happen....check out the map:

For an eye-opening video about E-Waste dumping in other countries, and how we're really doing a number on our planet, check out this video snippet from CBS's "60 Minutes" episode "The Wasteland" on August 27, 2009 (from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9OKNajwtR0&feature=fvsr). To see the entire 12 minute video, go to http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586903n or

Note to self... 

1).  Recycle your E-Waste.

2).  Double check that your recycler is recycling it responsibly!

Map from http://www.onlineafrica.net/education/e-waste/ 

Picture from http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/10/video-chinas-toxic-wastelands-of-consumer-electronics-revealed/

E-Waste Solutions

As recycling expands, so do environmental waste streams.  And hopefully, "awareness" also expands.  This video from eCollective/ECS Refining, a new E-Waste recycling company in California is very helpful in this department.  

E-Waste...for those not "in the know" that "e" stands for "electronics."  In this age where the newest gizmo on the market makes us want to trash our older, now "not so cool" cell phone, computer, iPod, DS, PS3-2-or-1, DVD player, video player, TRS-80, whatever....we need to know what we need to do with this waste.  The trash can & landfill aren't the best options.  Especially when you consider the wasted resources that get thrown away (then need to be re-mined), and the landfill gets bigger, taller, more toxic. Or worse yet, the rubbish gets shipped to an undeveloped country where they can serve as OUR landfill. 

eCollective in California has a system in place that could work as a model for other areas to pattern from!  They provide an online database of places to drop off your e-waste.  Their ultimate plan--have an easy drop off within 10 miles of wherever you live! If they make it easy for you, how can you not take advantage of it?!  Move from 14% eWaste recycling closer to 100%.  Makes sense--good sense!

A quick Internet trip to the eCollective site will give you a list of the gadgets and gizmos they will accept for recycling. It will also give you these details:

"It is estimated that the world generates over 40 million tons of e-waste every year. That’s almost 12 pounds for every man, woman and child on the planet, every year!
Our need for the newest, coolest electronics has left a wake of waste, the fastest growing category of solid waste in the world. Most of our unwanted and obsolete electronics get stockpiled in our homes, offices, garages. What’s worse is that 80% of what isn’t in storage is getting shipped to developing nations and only the small portion of what is left over is getting recycled properly.  That’s why ECS Refining created ecollective, an organization of convenient drop-off locations for consumers and small businesses to recycle their unwanted and obsolete electronics."                               ~ Quoted from http://www.myecollective.com/Home/About

To learn more, go to  http://www.myecollective.com/ 

Pictures from http://myecollective.com/Home/Facts