Teaching Sustainability with Electronics

Submitter: Laura Barnes

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73121 Copy

Description

Title

Teaching Sustainability with Electronics

Issue Date

2015-01

Keyword(s)

• Sustainabilty -- Study and teaching
• Consumer electronics -- Environmental aspects -- Study and teaching
• Consumer electronics -- Product life cycle -- Study and teaching

Abstract

Changing perceptions about our place in, and relationship to, the rest of the natural world, is a crucial aspect of fostering sustainable behavior. Worldviews shape decisions. Lack of awareness, confusion, or apathy toward the effects of our actions on the greater system to which we belong, can be seen as the root causes of many of our collective environmental, social, and economic problems -- in other words, as threats to sustainability. However, the concept of “sustainability” can seem abstract and complex without context to make it relatable to an individual’s everyday experiences. Electronic devices permeate our society, and serve as a point of interest and familiarity in discussions of sustainability issues. Considering the impacts of the production, use, and disposal of your smartphone, for example, can be more engaging and comprehensible than out-of-context discussions of issues like rainforest destruction, climate change, etc. One of the goals of the Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is to use examination of the product lifecycles of electronic devices to teach concepts of sustainability and systems thinking.

Publisher

Champaign, IL : Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

Series/Report Name or Number

Sustainable Electronics Initiative Fact Sheet

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73121

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