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AP seminar
9/8/2020
The Environmental Consequences of Today's Smartphone
Phones are becoming a crucial part of our lives, most people use them for everything including entertainment, work and to schedule their days. We can use them to be more productive but we could also use them as a way of procrastination. Nowadays we rely more and more on our smartphones yet despite having almost all the knowledge we can ask for already on our cellular device there are many environmental consequences that most people are not aware of.
80% of the carbon footprint is created during the phone's production. The phones are made up of different precious metals that must be mined like iron, aluminum, and copper. This creates an enormous amount of solid and liquid waste that is extremely harmful for the environment. They can also be termed mine "tailings".
As the need for these metals increases for the production our smartphones so does the number of mine tailings dams. Mine tailing dams are tailings that are being stored in these vast structures. When done improperly or without proper supervision their risk of failure increases. Not to mention the mining efforts that also consume large amounts of fuel. The production itself is already detrimental to the environment and this is before the smartphone has even been made.
While the mining for materials to make the smartphone can be very detrimental another problem is todays consumer society. Everyone wants the newest models of cars, clothes, products and even phones. They want the sleekest, shiniest version that they can get their hands on, but if there is a new model every year then that must mean a new phone every year.
Sadly, this could be easily avoided or fixed but as consumers we always seek for what is "better". This ends up creating enormous amounts of waste. Not only does it help the microplastic problem but it also contributes to e-waste. Despite many of these products being capable of being recycled they are thrown away to create waste and then leak harmful materials like arsenic, mercury and lead.
Sources:
Environmental Technology. "How do Smartphones Affect the Environment?"
Patrick Byrne and Karen Hudeson-Edwards. "Three ways making a smartphone can harm the environment" phys.org,
Cali Carting. "The growing problem of E-waste"