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Written on 24th June 2008
3 COMMENTS 
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Research by Gartner shows that the number of computers in use around our globe has surpassed the legendary mark of 1 billion. So yes, that means in a world where 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day, there’s a computer for every six persons. Moreover, thanks to growth in emerging markets, the number of pc’s will probably have been doubled in 2014. As a result from these growing markets, more mature markets will then only count for about 30 percent of the next billion computers. Now that percentage is 58 percent.
When I read these first lines of the Reuters report, I immediately thought of e-waste. When I worked for a press agency in the United Nations headquarters last year, I covered this important issue. With the ever growing amount of mobile phones, iPods (see the Greenpeace manifest), flat screens, and … computers, the world slowly becomes one big dump place for electronic waste. As Gartner analyst Meike Escherich said: “We estimate … some 35 million PCs will be dumped into landfill with little or no regard for their toxic content.” Last year, Jeremy Gregory, a postdoctoral associate in the Materials Systems Laboratory and the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told me that “every year, the world generates 40 million metric tonnes of electronic scrap”.
www.greenpeace.org/apple
What struck me the most when I wrote a piece on this matter, is that the problem isn’t just a threat to nature, but also to our wallets. Normally, when it comes to money, companies are quite eager to collect some. But the reality is that companies throw away large amounts of valuable materials, like indium. The price of this metal – that’s used in more than one billion products per year – has risen six-fold.
Only a small amount of e-scrap is recycled. Last year, the European Union, one of the few regions with accurate statistics, generated 8.5 million metric tonnes of electronic waste, but recycling companies only handled 0.5 million tonnes.
The subject of my article was a new global public-private initiative called Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP). Amongst the 48 members are major high-tech manufactures, including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Dell, Ericsson and Philips, as well as U.N., governmental, NGO and academic institutions, and recycling companies. So I’d like to use the 1 billion celebration as an excuse to focus some attention on this upcoming threat to our planet.. and wallets.
Written on 16th April 2008
1 COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
If fashion trends come and go with the seasons, what will happen once global warming takes over and seasons cease to exist?
That’s quite a bold question. Yet RehashClotes.com revolves around it. It’s a web site where people can exchange clothes to save the environment. Sort of a fashionable recycling service. When the guys from Orpheux Design found out that only in America, an average person throws away an average of 67.9 lbs of clothing and textiles per year, they figured something had to be done. Therefore they started working on a “a worldwide movement to lower your consumption and create a greener Earth for everyone”.
So what if you’re not into the whole Al Gore global warming thing? RehashClotes.com still seems interesting for not so green fashion victims. And not just because you change the web site’s green-colored design into a brown or blue one (did they do that on purpose?), also because it’s a good source for second-hand, vintage or original clothing. What seems worthless to you, can be valuable for someone else. And naturally, this works the other way around as well. After some quick browsing through the RehashClotes’ archive, I already found some good items, not the dull and dusty things you’ll find at the Salvation Army.
I think Rehash is part of an interesting trend. Now we’re used to buying stuff online, we also like to hire and swap our goods online. Whereas we used to place classifieds ads in local newspapers or hang up notes is supermarkets, we now just browse to our favorite web service. Craigslist started this trend a long time ago by offering these services for major cities, yet geographical distances are getting less important. Why wouldn’t we swap clothes with someone who lives 1,000 miles away? Most of us trust the web now, and that leads to beautiful initiatives like Rehash.
Written on 4th January 2008
28 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Update: Virgle is an April’s fools stunt. Read the background here.
As Gizmodo wrote today, Branson is partnering up with Google-founder Larry Page. Their secret project, named Virgle, is ‘a scheme with an environmental bent’. “It’s an exciting project, says mr. Branson. “Page also hopes to devote money to renewable energy, and that’s an area in which we’ll definitely collaborate.”
Considering Page’s part in this, it probably is an Internet-based project. If so, we’re not surprised at all. Why? Because Branson told us in September that he is interested in any good pro-environment idea concerning the web.
We talked to Branson during the PICNIC’07 Green Challenge in Amsterdam. We asked him what could be the use of the Internet as a tool for environment quest.
“Funny that you ask me that question, since my company isn’t really active on the web”, Branson replied. “Although I think that the online environment community The Green Thing is really charming. I should talk with those guys later.”
The Green Thing is a social network build by well-respected and talented designers, copy writers and marketeers. They try to make people more aware of the environment by sending them a small monthly task – such as: turn the lights off when you leave the room.
Branson: “If they can present it in a fashionable way, it will probably have a huge influence on the lifestyle of a great number of people.”
He ended the conversation with an invitation: “If you guys have a good idea to contribute to my quest for renewable energy trough the Internet, I’d be happy to support you”.
Looks like Larry Page came up with a pretty good idea during their kite-surf sessions.
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
