----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- Talking geographies, sustainability and the developing world in environmentalism.
I’d like to comment on what Lauren has pointed out that most consumers are unaware of the impacts of their e-waste. For many people in the developing world myself included, our “old” electronics somehow seem to find a second life - repaired, refurbished and reused. It’s a cycle that yes increases the number of years before they become e-waste but one that also removes us from having to directly engage with their disposal. Secondly, there is a very pervasive framing of the narrative of e-waste as being a problem resulting from electronic discards from high-income to low-income countries. I’m thinking for example of the documentary “Welcome to Sodom” (2018) that focuses on the infamous e-waste dump site Agbogbloshie in Ghana. There’s research on e-waste flows (Lepawsky, 2014) however that shows that while e-waste is still being imported into the global south, it is minimal in comparison the waste generated locally. To that end there’s a noteworthy initiative to try and localise environmental engagement through location based games by a project called Enter Africa. I'll highlight the Ghanaian contribution “Chronicles of Klinu” that takes the player to Agbogbloshie. https://www.goethe.de/prj/eaf/en/lbg/wor/21425112.html -- Kasyoka Mwanzia @kasmwanzia _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
