Hey Siri, how sustainable is my smartphone?
Every day, we all use a range of seemingly trivial devices on which modern life relies. Our smart watches, phones, laptops and every quick Google search rely on a set of geopolitically critical materials. Even disposable vapes, which are thrown away as if they were worthless, contain many of these materials.
Thinking about this, we tend to focus on the decades of scientific achievement that we can hold in our hands. Consumer electronics have revolutionised our world. The batteries they depend on are the centrepiece of the energy transition, something that can store electricity and release it on demand. Woven into the shadows are the trivialities of this feat. There are people and ecosystems whose existences are tied to these technologies, their stories woven into just one ›100% charged‹ message.
This seminar dives into what is in a smartphone, covering a high-level introduction to material contents of consumer electronics and mapping where each material comes from and its journey across the globe. This will then continue to discuss batteries and why they are fundamental to portable electronics. Once we understand what’s in a smartphone, we can start to think about what the impacts of those materials will be, covering the ways of measuring impacts such as life cycle assessments and ecological footprint. As well as environmental implications, we will consider the social, economic, and geopolitical effects of materials, including the concentration of supply chains and in particular China. There are some technological innovations to discuss that attempt to diversify these supply chains.
The last few days will focus on energy use, decarbonisation and AI, and the implications of this for the world, including climate justice andinequality. We will discuss positive digital opportunities and improved health outcomes in clinical settings using AI, but also negatives like ›brain rot‹ and radicalisation online, and the overall requirement for policy. We ask what is sustainable materials usage and for whom does that apply?
This seminar will also include a trip to a battery laboratory, where participants will be able to picture what these materials and their development look like. This week will focus on collaborative group work, discussion, and understanding how each participant’s own specialism interlinks with materials. Whilst the focus of the week will be materials, the week will be extremely interdisciplinary, and no prior knowledge is required.
Am Montag beginnen wir mit einem gegenseitigen Kennenlernen und einem ersten Einstieg ins Thema. Am Dienstag bearbeiten wir nach einer allgemeinen Einführung gemeinsam die Texte und diskutieren sie in Kleingruppen. Für den Mittwoch sind ein Ortstermin oder ein Expert*innengespräch sowie eine gemeinsame Diskussion angedacht. Am Donnerstag folgen voraussichtlich eine Stadtführung und weitere Ortstermine, gegebenenfallsstarten wir auch schon mit der Diskussion möglicher politischer Maßnahmen, mit der wir dann am Freitag das Seminar gemeinsam beschließen.
Seminarleitung: Isabella Stephens
