How Green Is Your Smartphone?

By (author) Maxwell, Richard; By (author) Miller Toby
Description

Every day we are inundated by propaganda that claims life will be better once we are connected to digital technology. Poverty, famine, and injustice will end, and the economy will be “green.” All anyone needs is the latest smartphone. 

In this succinct and lively book, Maxwell and Miller take a critical look at contemporary gadgets and the systems that connect them, shedding light on environmental risks. Contrary to widespread claims, consumer electronics and other digital technologies are made in ways that cause some of the worst environmental disasters of our time – conflict-minerals extraction, fatal and life-threatening occupational hazards, toxic pollution of ecosystems, rising energy consumption linked to increased carbon emissions, and e-waste. Nonetheless, a greener future is possible, in which technology meets its emancipatory and progressive potential. 

How Green is Your Smartphone? encourages us to look at our phones in a wholly new way, and is important reading for anyone concerned by the impact of everyday technologies on our environment.

Table of contents
Introduction
1 Outsmart Your Smartphone
2 The Greatest Smartphone is the One You Already Own
3 Calling Bullshit on Anti-Science Propaganda
Conclusion: What Next?

References
Index
Review quote

“In this broad, informative, and surprisingly searing look into ‘smart’ systems, Maxwell and Miller make a compelling case for rethinking and redesigning digital technologies.”
Devra Davis, author of Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation

“Rigorously researched and acutely argued, this provocative book promises to take readers beyond their comfort zones, into the domain of environmental justice and sustainable development.”
Jack Qiu, Chinese University of Hong Kong

“How green is your phone? Encourage us to look at mobile phones from a new perspective, and also have important reference significance for thinking about the impact of daily life technology on the environment.”
China Media Research

“The strength of How Green Is Your Smartphone? is its critical examination of a wide range of issues generated through smartphone production and consumption. ... certainly left me thinking about the global impact generated by my own smartphone use.”
Media International Australia

“In How Green is your Smartphone?, the various issues around labour, environment and political economy are distilled clearly and concisely with a sharp focus. For teaching purposes, this is the book I have been waiting for. … In the spirit of a manifesto, Maxwell and Miller deploy snappy, no-nonsense language to alert us to the urgency of their call to action, namely the creation of a greener communication system.”
Prometheus

Biographical note

Richard Maxwell is Professor of Media Studies at Queens College, City University of New York.

Toby Miller is Stuart Hall Professor of Cultural Studies, Universidad Autónoma de México, Cuajimalpa, and Professor in Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London.