Geographers like me are really interested in understanding landscape changes. I’ve been doing some research on how the infrastructure of digital life (e.g., data centers or semiconductor fabs) is inscribed into real locations, what that […]
Tag: environment
Defamiliarizing ‘Tech’
In our book, Discard Studies: wasting, systems, and power, Max Liborion and I write about defamiliarization and problem framing. in the context of the book we’re talking about how personal experience with garbage and waste […]
On Planned Obsolescence
Some months ago I was contacted by a journalist. Despite the interview, the story seems to have never run. Here’s what I was asked and how I responded. Journalist: Are products really designed to die […]
Precaution, PFAS, and Pattern Collapse
In 1854 in the Soho district of London England a cholera outbreak was killing people. You probably know this story. Its usually told with a physician named John Snow in the role of hero who […]
Chemicals and Coalitions
Chemicals are an issue over which a powerful coalition disagree.
Is Net Positive Water a Thing?
Semiconductors are the foundational building blocks of all computing devices–whether that’s an AI model, a car, a phone, or a cheap greeting card that lights up and sings a song. And making semiconductors needs lots […]
What is a sacrifice zone?
The idea of “sacrifice zones” has been around since the 1970s. Former US President Richard Nixon may or may not have written a secret order permitting such zones in the US.
Sorting Out In Berlin
While in Berlin, Germany for HKW’s Participatory Planet project, myself and other participants visited an ALBA sorting facility on the east side of the city. The site sorts ~140,000 tonnes per year of waste metals, […]
For a library system of electronics
More electronic devices are manufactured than are purchased. Supply exceeds demand. That’s a problem for brands because a surplus of goods can lead to falling prices for them. To stop that from happening brands create […]
What is insignificant impact?
US geopolitical worries, largely focused on rivalry with China, have given permission for the federal government to offer an overt industrial policy for semiconductor manufacturing. The US has embarked on a massively state funded program […]
Electronic Planet Research Lab 
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