Shiny and Black
Em Ay See … Em Pee Three … 
The hard disk in my four-year old computer recently failed so I purchased a replacement hard disk that was advertised as green. For years I had naively assumed that the hard disk in my computer wasn’t such a major power hog … but come to think of it when it spins hard during an airplane ride my batteries do get worn out quite quickly. The marketing campaign for the disk claims that the savings in energy gained are equivalent to “taking your car off the road for 14 days each year.” It’s hard to believe that a little hard disk has that much impact on the environment.
One service that I installed at my work place is GreenDisk. There is so much technowaste around us like unused CD-ROMs, cables, and etc. GreenDisk has a convenient cardboard packaging in the shape of a trash can that when filled, you just close up, tape, and ship the box directly back to them with shipping fees prepaid.
There’s an artist named Chris Jordan on the theme of trash and other questionable human practices using the once popular photomosaic techniques in the 90s. Jordan does a good job of contextualizing the trash and how it can communicate differently as a visual system of millions that appeals to many. The impact of the message of course being more significant than the actual work.
I guess the most green thing I could do today is simply turn off my computer. Hmmm. Okay. Will do.
4 Responses to “Digitally Green”
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I´ve been writing a lot on this subject in my own blog, and curiously I’ve been relating this issue with some ideas from your Laws of Simplicity book: I relate this to economy, the way my parents taught me (not precisely the one you can learn in Wall Street) as a kind of synonym of simplicity: not to get something expensive if it is not made to last (a law not included in the book), not to have two things if one can do the job (1.-reduce), learn to master one thing and only buy a new one, requiring new mastery, if really needed (4.-Learn). Never consider something disposable just because you’re tired of it (Law 11 (proposed): Responsibility, simplicity is at first an Ethic, that’s later materialized in some useful object. A very simple object or device is meaningless without the corresponding state of the mind. Your book is great and clarifying from the start, when it says Design, Technology, Business and Life.).
There’s plenty more from my peasant family, with a knowledge so much like the one exposed in your book, but let’s keep it simple.
Congratulations and thank you for making contemporary an everlasting subject.
I am so sorry, but when in my previous comment says “meaningful” it should say “meaningless”. If you rather edit my comment, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Made those edits you requested, Best, John
Terms like technowaste really catch my eye - in fact the whole post is brilliant. I enjoyed reading it and I borrowed the conclusion for use on my own blog.
Thanks for sharing!