Vida Enigmática

"Who speaks for Earth?"

Who speaks for Earth?

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Is a ‘circular’ electronics industry possible?

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I think one of the biggest problems that humanity will face in the not–too–distant future is a lack of synthetic biodegradeable semiconductors.

Okay, so I’ve put that thought out there into cyberspace and now I suppose I should explain it. Why do I think this is going to be such a problem?

As we are all too much aware, human civilisation is fast becoming dependent on technology. You might say that the 1st world is already highly dependent on technology. And a big part of current technology includes electronics devices. Electronics drive everything from robots to computers. Without electronics, we go back to the analogue era. I’m sure that I don’t even need to explain that any further, do I? Without electronics, we’re screwed.

So earlier this year, I asked two questions on Quora:

  1. What are the main semiconductor compounds used today?
  2. What elements are used in the manufacturing of circuit boards and electronic components for consumer electronic devices?

It doesn’t make any sense to totally rely on something that we can only make in limited quantities, yet we are doing just that. Because the trouble is this: the way in which we produce electronic devices today is completely unsustainable. We mine the Earth for new minerals and the only element we recover from all of our electronic waste is gold (well, okay, we do sometimes also recycle lead and copper). But what about recycling all of the other elements that are used in electronic components?

Are we recycling tantalum? No. Are we recycling indium? No. Are we recycling gallium? No. Are we recycling arsenic? No. Are we recycling cadmium? No. Are we recycling selenium? No. Are we recycling tellurium? No. Are we recycling germanium? No. Are we recycling samarium? No. Are we recycling neodymium? No. Are we recycling niobium? No. Are we recycling antimony? No.

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Why do not more people care?

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Or do they just not know what to do?

What I personally find unbelievable, incredulous in fact, is most people’s indifference to what is happening to this world. Are people merely in denial or do they simply not care about what is going on?

I think we’re getting to the stage where the environment should be getting top priority in all the media outlets, not the lowest priority. Citizens of this planet should be very concerned. They should be talking about it more. Because the problems won’t go away by themselves.

So this ex-scientist repeats:
Without biodiversity, not only will we stand less chance of long-term survival (I’m talking about the centuries and millennia to come), but it won’t even be as an enjoyable world to live in… less natural wonders to look at and be inspired by and less choice of food.

What is wrong with Australian society today?

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I’m going to do this in point form because we are doing so many things wrong it isn’t funny. I think we can teach third world countries what not to do:

  • When someone is born, we say ‘congratulations’. For what? Contributing to overpopulation? For having ‘successful’ sex? For doing what every single one of our ancestors has done for the last few million years?
    How about congratulating people for not having kids? For breaking our genetic programming? Eh?
  • We give frequent flyer points to people for travelling more. We then reward those people producing more carbon emissions.
  • We cut down forests and then build coal mines in their place. We then send the protesters to jail.
  • We drive to work and then visit a gymnasium afterwards to exercise. Inside the gymnasium, we use machines that, instead of using the energy derived from our own motion, plug into electric sockets instead (powered by yet more coal).
  • We make houses with TRIANGULAR roof shapes and then put SQUARE solar panels on top of them.
  • We only vote once every four years, so unfortunately we contribute tax payments to governments schemes and government-approved projects that we haven’t even voted for.
  • We are trying to be more ‘sustainable’ society, but unfortunately many Australians secretly think that Australian indigenous Aborigines are ‘lazy’ when they are really experts in ‘sustainability’.
  • We encourage our younger generation to be hooked on consumerism by giving them mini trollies in hardware stores, supermarkets and shopping centres.
  • We put profit above all else, including the environment and our own health and sense of wellbeing.
  • We try to make second-world countries more like us when we should really learn to be more like them (because they are way more sustainable than us)