The power (& disempowerment) of Menstrual Hygiene Management
Development initiatives focused on menstrual health and sanitary pads in Southern countries actually disempower women as knowers and innovators.
Category Archives: Technology
No insides on the outsides
“The main goal and mission of a content moderator is to clean up the dirt.” — unnamed content moderator in The Cleaners (00:06:20). All systems must rid themselves of things. If they don’t discard, those systems face existential threats to their continuation. This is a fundamental insight of anthropologist Mary Douglas’s work and a core […]
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Mapping USA electronics manufacturing pollution
The US ‘tech sector’ has been a major source of toxicant releases. These interactive maps show the chemical legacy of electronic manufacturing in the US.
Benzene, PCBs, and industrial chemistry: A narrative bibliography
How the Benzene Tree Polluted the World in The Atlantic by Rebecca Altman, is a narrative exploration of the rise of organic chemistry, and the industrialization of the branch of chemistry based on the benzene ring. The piece focuses on the geopolitical forces shaping the production and global distribution of PCBs, a class of industrial chemicals that, though […]
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Virtual Waste: Flowing from a data center near you
Thinking with virtual data demonstrates that reduction of material waste alone does not mean a reduction of an overall environmental footprint on this planet.
On (not) seeing artificial light at night: Light pollution or lighting poverty?
By Dr. Sara B. Pritchard Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University So it began. This was the image that sparked my interest in light pollution and light-pollution science (Figure 1). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration released new images of Earth at night, including this one, on December 5, 2012, at the annual meeting […]
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Reorganized Organ: youth mentorship project
Are you an artist, musician, hacker, tinkerer, or generally a curious person, between 18 and 24 years?
Community repair: a pop-up alternative to the throwaway society
Consumers, fed up with having to throw away broken phones, toasters and other appliances, are instead meeting to learn how to repair them and to extend the lifetime of their products. These repair “pop-up parties”, where like-minded people can improve or learn new skills in a supportive environment, can prevent still-useful products from ending up in the bin, while saving money.
Call for participation: Enacting Environmental Data Justice
Held on Tuesday, August 29, this event will explore possibilities for data justice through a framework of environmental justice.
Repair and Software: Updates, Obsolescence, and Mobile Culture’s Operating Systems
What is the role of software in planned obsolescence and waste? It may play a greater role than hardware…
