Technotrash and the Future

Part of our job as teachers is to excite our students about computing and to show them how computers affect their lives, both now and in the future. These days, many of our students are (rightly) concerned about the environment and are aware of stories in the news about the growing problem of technotrash. As the latest technological gadgets are released, the obsolete technology is discarded and finds its way to landfills, where toxic and non-biodegradable components raise environmental issues. I ran across this interesting article the other day on Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150526123835.htm. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have developed a technique for building the substrate layer of computer chips from wood (technically, from a biodegradable cellulose nanofibril). Greener computers may be on the horizon.

Dave Reed
Chair-Elect, CSTA Board of Directors

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About Dave Reed

David Reed is the Director of Computer Science and Informatics at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. He has been involved in K-12 CS education for more than 20 years, serving as Chief Reader of AP Computer Science from 2004-2008 and on the CSTA Board of Directors since 2009. He was a member of the ACM/IEEE Computer Science Curricula 2013 Task Force and is the author of an introductory computer science text, A Balanced Introduction to Computer Science, which has been used in colleges and high schools.