Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Encyclopedia
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), is a San Jose, California
based research
and advocacy
group that promotes safe environmental practices in the high tech
industry. The organization was founded in 1982 after leaks at manufacturing sites at IBM
and Fairchild Electronics were suspected of causing widespread birth defect
s and health issues in the Silicon Valley
The group is composed of high tech workers, community members, law enforcement, emergency workers and environmentalists. They aim to educate the masses on best practices for computer recycling
and promote corporate social responsibility
on subjects ranging from nanotechnology, solar, and consumer e-waste.
Ted Smith
, author of Challenging the Chip
, founded the organization, but Sheila Davis now spearheads their efforts.
Citizens at Risk is a thirteen minute documentary by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Chintan (India), and IMAK (India). It exposes the "global exploitation of the poor by a consumerist society and indifferent, irresponsible manufacturers exporting from the United states and other countries." The film was shot and produced in India and contains English narration. The film premiered at the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's 2008 benefit.
Nano Technology: On April 2, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) released a report exposing the potentially catastrophic impact on the health and environment of the community due to the nanotechnology industry that is running unchecked.
Digital TV Switchover
: June 12, 2009 is the deadline for the television industry to switch from broadcasting in analog format to digital. It is anticipated that this change will create an enormous wave of e-waste of up to 80 million televisions becoming obsolete and discarded.
India E-waste: To help address the global problem of electronic waste SVTC is teaming up with Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group on a research project to document the impact of e-waste on workers and communities in and around Delhi, India.
2006: A report exposing the abuse of prison labor in the e-waste recycling industry. For the first time, prison inmates and staff blow the whistle on deplorable health and safety conditions within UNICOR, a controversial government corporation operated under the Department of Justice that uses captive prison labor in a range of industries, including the dismantling of toxic e-waste.
April 2008: A report regarding the nanotechnology
boom and how it mirrors the Silicon Valley
semiconductor
boom of the early 1980s. According to the report, further studies, legal structure, and safety should be required of nanotechnology companies..
January 2009: A report entitled "Toward a Just and Sustainable Solar Energy Industry" was released, documenting and analyzing the environmental and health hazards of solar panel systems. It also included recommendations for building a just and sustainable solar energy industry.
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
based research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
and advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
group that promotes safe environmental practices in the high tech
High tech
High tech is technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology currently available. It is often used in reference to micro-electronics, rather than other technologies. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech or high-technology...
industry. The organization was founded in 1982 after leaks at manufacturing sites at IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and Fairchild Electronics were suspected of causing widespread birth defect
Congenital disorder
A congenital disorder, or congenital disease, is a condition existing at birth and often before birth, or that develops during the first month of life , regardless of causation...
s and health issues in the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
The group is composed of high tech workers, community members, law enforcement, emergency workers and environmentalists. They aim to educate the masses on best practices for computer recycling
Computer recycling
Computer recycling or electronic recycling is the recycling or reuse of computers or other electronics. It includes both finding another use for materials , and having systems dismantled in a manner that allows for the safe extraction of the constituent materials for reuse in other...
and promote corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
on subjects ranging from nanotechnology, solar, and consumer e-waste.
Ted Smith
Ted Smith
Ted Smith is the founder and former executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, co-founder of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology, and chair of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition steering committee....
, author of Challenging the Chip
Challenging the Chip
Challenging the Chip is a 2006 book on "labor rights and environmental justice in the global electronics industry". It is published by Temple University Press, Philadelphia. In three parts, the book looks at global electronics, environmental justice and labor rights, and electronic waste and...
, founded the organization, but Sheila Davis now spearheads their efforts.
2008 Documentary - Citizens at Risk
Citizens at Risk: How Electronic Waste is Poisoning the Path Out of Poverty for India's RecyclersCitizens at Risk is a thirteen minute documentary by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Chintan (India), and IMAK (India). It exposes the "global exploitation of the poor by a consumerist society and indifferent, irresponsible manufacturers exporting from the United states and other countries." The film was shot and produced in India and contains English narration. The film premiered at the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's 2008 benefit.
Projects and Investigations
2008: Nano Technology, Digital TV Switchover, and India E-waste.Nano Technology: On April 2, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) released a report exposing the potentially catastrophic impact on the health and environment of the community due to the nanotechnology industry that is running unchecked.
Digital TV Switchover
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
: June 12, 2009 is the deadline for the television industry to switch from broadcasting in analog format to digital. It is anticipated that this change will create an enormous wave of e-waste of up to 80 million televisions becoming obsolete and discarded.
India E-waste: To help address the global problem of electronic waste SVTC is teaming up with Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group on a research project to document the impact of e-waste on workers and communities in and around Delhi, India.
Reports
2004: "Poison PCs and Toxic TVs" details the growing amounts of e-waste piling up in the U.S.. The report includes information about the toxics contained in the computers and monitors and the hazards of improper disposal.2006: A report exposing the abuse of prison labor in the e-waste recycling industry. For the first time, prison inmates and staff blow the whistle on deplorable health and safety conditions within UNICOR, a controversial government corporation operated under the Department of Justice that uses captive prison labor in a range of industries, including the dismantling of toxic e-waste.
April 2008: A report regarding the nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
boom and how it mirrors the Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
boom of the early 1980s. According to the report, further studies, legal structure, and safety should be required of nanotechnology companies..
January 2009: A report entitled "Toward a Just and Sustainable Solar Energy Industry" was released, documenting and analyzing the environmental and health hazards of solar panel systems. It also included recommendations for building a just and sustainable solar energy industry.
See also
- Cancer AlleyCancer AlleyCancer Alley is an area along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in the River Parishes of Louisiana, which contains numerous industrial plants....
(in Louisiana) - Computers and the environment
- Green computingGreen computingGreen computing or green IT, refers to environmentally sustainable computing or IT. In the article Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices, San Murugesan defines the field of green computing as "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers,...
- Lauren OrnelasLauren Ornelaslauren Ornelas is an animal rights advocate for more than 20 years and the founder and Director of the Food Empowerment Project and .Ornelas grew up in Texas, where she became a vegetarian as a child. When in high school, she became a vegan and started her first animal rights group...
- Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction InstituteMassachusetts Toxics Use Reduction InstituteThe Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It was established in 1989 when the Toxics Use Reduction Act was passed by the legislature. TURI is located at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Lowell, MA...
- Sustainable Electronics InitiativeSustainable Electronics InitiativeSustainable Electronics Initiative is an initiative started in the United States in the summer of 2009 by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, which is a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign...
(SEI) - Sustainable Silicon ValleySustainable Silicon ValleySustainable Silicon Valley is a collaboration of businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations that are identifying and addressing environmental and resource pressures in Silicon Valley....
(SSV) - Silicon WadiSilicon WadiSilicon Wadi is an area with a high concentration of high-tech industries in the coastal plain in Israel, similar to Silicon Valley in California, in the United States. Silicon Wadi is considered second in importance only to its Californian counterpart...