The Digital Age was supposed to usher in an era of clean production, but as Elizabeth Grossman reveals, digital may be sleek ? but it?s any-thing but clean. Just think of the more than 3 million laptop batteries Dell and Apple recalled this summer out of fear they might explode. If you want to find out where those batteries go, the answers are inside High Tech Trash. Called ?eye-opening? and ?alarming,? High Tech Trash is the first book to examine the tech industry?s envi-ronmental and health impacts. Grossman investigates what becomes of the 35 million tons of electronics that we discard each year and the resulting toxic pollution. She exposes the damage caused by mining and chemical use in manufacturing high tech products, and offers solutions to what the Wall Street Jo u rn a l has called the ?world’s fastest growing and potentially most dangerous waste problem.?
High Tech Trash is part of a wave of change for consumers, companies, and governments. In the media, online, and at local events, Grossman is talking about her book, the explosion of high tech trash, and the solutions. The book has been called the tech industry?s Silent Spring. As Grossman wrote in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: ?A great many more changes are needed to make the industry ecologically sustainable for the long haul. Ultimately, we may have to spend a little more for our laptops and cell phones, but that price increase would be but a fraction of the cost to clean an aquifer or cope with the health problems creeping up the food web. Think of it as an insurance policy against future persistent toxic pollution, and it is well worth the expense.?
