 |
resources forexplore exploreresources for |
Dec. 12, 2008
|
Students in this class learn about how their lives and live styles are connected to people and places in other parts of the Earth. One example is the extraction of minerals such columbite-tantalite (also known as coltan) and cassiterite. Once refined, these minerals are used in cell phones, lap tops, DVD players, and other electronics due to their capacity to hold high electrical charge. Much of this coltan and cassiterite comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo where it is mined under dreadful conditions, contributing to deadly conflicts and human rights abuses. "After having watched a short video about one of these mines, many students were really shocked," says Professor Tschakert. "They had no idea about the connection between their cell phones and people's lives in Africa. What is important in this class is that students understand that there is something they can do to build sustainability into their own lives. Recycling is part of it." Students also learned about the Basel Action Network that, according to its website, is "the world's only organization focused on confronting the global environmental injustice and economic inefficiency of toxic trade (toxic wastes, products and technologies) and its devastating impacts." GEOG 30 is about making such hidden linkages apparent.
Over the next week, the students of GEOG 30 will decide what to do with the money they expect to get back from Eco-Cell for all the collected cell phones. Last spring, Dr. Tschakert's class donated the $1,000 received for the first round of recycled cell phones to an orphanage near Lake Victoria, Tanzania, after having watched the movie "Darwin's Nightmare." On the Web: www.eco-cell.org |
As part of a class assignment, 180 students enrolled in Dr. Petra Tschakert's GEOG 30 course
(Geographic Perspectives on Sustainability and Human-Environment Interactions) collected
1,500 old cell phones and hundreds of chargers. The collected items are now being sent to Eco-Cell,
a recycling company in Kentucky that helps fight electronic waste and protect the environment.
"It was fabulous seeing the students become active, bringing in bags and suitcases full of
these old phones. One student alone had collected 63 phones," says Greg Lankenau, one of the
two TAs in this class. Peter Howe (the other TA) adds that "sustainability cannot be
achieved by being a bystander. This class is all about getting involved."
Additional contributions came from Penn State's Eco-Action, State College's Friends School,
and members of THON, all three through truly engaged students in this class who wanted to
get even more people involved.