Social Action proposal

                Electronic waste is classified as any obsolete phone, computer, camera, or any other type of technology that needs to be disposed of. Due to the increase of technology from the information-age, electronic waste makes up the largest amount of waste in the United States. The reason that disposing of electronics is a problem is because the chemicals and elements contained inside of the devices can be extremely dangerous to the environment and even to people if exposed. The common chemicals are : lead which is found in cathode ray tubes, arsenic which is found in older cathode ray tubes, mercury which is found in switches, anatomy trioxide as a flame retardant, cadmium in circuit boards and semi-conductors, chromium in steel as corrosion protection, cobalt in steel for structural strength, and the list goes on and on. The reason that these materials are used instead of environmentally friendly ones is because the factories that assemble the machines and devices are made to use these already so switching materials would be costly. It is also pricier to purchase the eco-friendly materials because they aren’t as abundant. If the materials are so toxic then why wouldn’t we just recycle them safely? This is the question that is maddening to me because we choose to export our waste to other countries knowing fully well that they are causing harm. We send our waste to third world countries for a price that is much cheaper than disposing of the waste correctly. As long as the choice is in the corporations’’ hands there will be tons of E-waste.

                The social action method that caught my eye guerilla art. This is the method of using art as a form of advertisement to inform the people about the issues at hand. It has been used in many ways but the most notable guerilla artist is Keri Smith. She has used art in many forms to get her message across. The most risky being graffiti. She would tag buildings leaving her beliefs and message behind informing anyone who walked by. I myself do not plan on defacing any building, but I think that there are many other types of forms that I can utilize in order to convey my message. I think that if I use sidewalk chalk to inform the students at John Carroll to not discard of their electronics dangerously my message could be heard. I plan on writing it in front of all of the major buildings and making posters that will inform the students about a safe place to discard phones and cables, printers, etc. I would write in chalk a saying asking the students if they know where their waste is going, and then also write the location of the disposable for them to discard their waste. The reason I think this could work is because personally I have learned about a lot of events from people writing  with chalk on the sidewalk and the posters will also be effective because if they are placed by the cafeteria where people stand in line it will give them a chance to be read by students.