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Note that since April 2014, I am publishing these items in my blog at http://runninginfog.wordpress.com/.

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Selected Recent Presentations and Publication

Thought of the month ...

December 2008: At the UNESCO Conference on Water Scarcity, a scientist from Nigeria pointed out that there is a lot of electronic waste in the Niger Delta, polluting the water and endangering the supply of sufficient drinking water for the local population. This is an example of the global links of individual and company behavior to environmental and life conditions of people far away: The fact that a software company has chosen to produce software with rapidly increasing demands for more computational power turns laptops and PCs into valueless wast after only a years or so creating a huge amount of electronic waste because other company have chosen to produce laptops and PC that are a complicated mix of partly toxic materials that hard to disentangle, reuse, and recycle. Again other companies turn this toxic waste mountain into business by exporting it to countries like Nigeria and dumping it illegally and irresponsibly in a sensitive area affecting the life and health of many. Everybody involved in this long chain of actions shares in the responsibility for the water pollution in the Niger River Delta: The CEO of the software company, for whom a software developing strategy that would not turn computer useless at every new release was not a priority as a contribution to sustainability; the CEO of the hardware company, for whom responsible use of material in the production of laptops and PC that would allow the reuse or recycling of the hardware after a long-time use was not an asset of the company; the individual who did not make a responsible choice of software supporting the long-term use of hardware, and of hardware allowing reuse or recycling at the end of the life-cycle of the product; and the CEOs of companies involved in the often illegal export of the electronic waste to developing countries and the definitely illegal dumping of the waste in an area providing drinking water for many; the governments of the countries involved who do not enforce the laws that are in place and could be used to break up this evil chain.

After I made a comment at the conference reflecting the above thoughts, another scientist stated that a water footprint, similar to the ecological footprint could be used to emphasized the many water chains in which we all are involved in and that such a footprint would illustrate to us the impacts of our daily choices on the life and health of others. For me, another thought of the month.


If you have a story, thought, or picture worth to be considered as story, thought or picture of the month, please feel free to inform me about it by sending an e-mail to hpplag@unr.edu.