feeling "brown?" retrocomputing is green!

Well, it's that day of the year again. The one where all the environmentalists come forth to commune with nature and promote measures to stop "global warming." Personally, no offence to anyone out there, I have some problems with the whole global warming thing; but enough of arguing. I do have one thing to say in support of the environmentalists:

What is with throwing away all the electronics?

I will wholeheartedly agree with the environmentalists on this one- why do people throw electronics away? They don't decompose easily, and I'll be the first one to admit that. They also frequently contain chemicals which really should not be placed in the environment. Not that a single computer by itself has enough toxic materials to kill really anything, but if you dump a million of them in one place to rot that's a problem. All electronics contain lead- the solder used to make electrical connections has to have lead in it. Even the ROHS (restriction of hazardous substances) solder has some lead in it. If it didn't have lead it would not work. Also the chips, by the very nature of their construction, contain some hazardous materials. LCD screens and CRT's both contain chemicals which really are not too healthy if you get a big enough dose. And like any machine, the whole unit has lubricants on the moving parts and heat sinc compound is also not a human-friendly food either, so to speak.

Now for the shameless plug- retrocomputing at least partly solves this issue. Why would you throw away a machine which could still be used just because it's old? Seriously. If I didn't like my machines so much I'd paint one of them green and put it on display today. Retrocomputing is recycling of computers- not breaking them down into little pieces to be thrown away or made into Tupperware or something, but actually using them for something good.

So, if all your chic friends are pretty green today and you are feeling "brown," then maybe it's time to realize that by avoiding the throw-your-old-electronics-away mentality you are actually doing the environment a favor.