Wednesday, October 30, 2013

E(thical)-Recycling...RE-USE, then recycle, and let's do something about it HERE, in Canada, not put it on a boat and ship it "away".


An Ethical Recycler?..., and teacher, and skill sharer? ....Do, go on. 

Ah the infamous electronics recycling....leading to more questions of .....What does my electronics tax actually go towards? Where are all these electronics going? Is it actually being recycled? Is it actually being recycled safely re: the health of those involved, and our environment? What is truly happening to it? How do we reduce the overall amount of e-"waste"? Why do we keep getting new cell phones and computers. Planned obsolescence? Stop the madness!....it's enough to spin you on a cycle of despair. . . so let's dial it back, and check out .....

Free Geek - First, any company that has the goal of re-use before recycle, has my attention. Second, when they do get to the recycling phase, they have a goal of doing it as ethically and clean as possible. Third, they provide the resources and an educational space for people to learn to build their own computers or tweak their existing ones (i.e. let's fix them before we toss them and buy a new one that is likely built to last an even shorter amount of time, seems to make perfect sense, right?), Fourth, they provide computers to organizations that would otherwise not be able to afford them, as she says in the video below "Helping the needy get nerdy"... 

Free Geek...where have you been all my life, I'm so glad we have been reunited.

Check out the below short clip for a great intro on what Free Geek is about, and their overall operations model. I'm sure looking forward to connecting with these fabulous souls, and helping to amp up my laptop computer which is about, o let's see...7 years old? I refuse to allow it to be disposed of, it's still operating just fine - just needs a few tweaks, and some love and care.



My heart is so thankful that places like this have come into fruition. Humans are rad, and this just reinforces that point. We all have such fantastic gifts, and ideas to share with the world - let's keep on keeping.

Thanks to my friend for showing me this organization. I was asking her if she needed any cables that I have plenty of (some never even used, just duplicate adapter cables and usb cords..as I'm sure everyone has many in their homes, piling up), and low and behold - Free Geek. Love it! Here's what they accept

I believe we all want to do good, and we can do good - if you have an idea, roll with it, and be a game-changer. What's your changer?

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