Thousands of years from now when future archaeologists or alien life excavate our planet they may end up believing that computers (not humans) were the first form of life here on Earth.
Over the years scientists have revealed that fossilized technology will replace fossil remains of humans and in turn will become the evidence of human existence. This means that in a million years, old laptops and computers that have been dumped into landfills across the world will be the history humans leave behind.
As we continue to incorrectly dispose of our technology by dumping in landfills and in the ocean, we create pollution but more importantly we change our geology. Due to the infinite amount of waste humans have produced over the years and the continued growth it has caused a geological age, known as the Anthropocene.
“The Anthropocene defines Earth’s most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or Anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans. The word combines the root “Anthropo”, meaning “human” with the root “-cene”, the standard suffix for “epoch” in geologic time. The Anthropocene is distinguished as a new period either after or within the Holocene, the current epoch, which began approximately 10,000 years ago (about 8000 BC) with the end of the last glacial period.[1]”
Different to past life forms like bones or footprints, we will leave behind highways, airports, cities and landfills. This is due to the mass quantity of technology and material that cannot decompose and are left to pollute our lands of toxic chemicals. We as humans have produced an ungodly amount of waste that thousands of years from now will be what we are defined as.
ERA is appealing to companies, organizations and individuals to make sure you rethink reuse. Let’s implement the waste Hierarchy ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ to ensure we are defined for more than just the toxic waste we leave behind.
At ERA, we reuse unwanted or used electronics and try to insert them back into the communities throughout Canada. If you have unwanted electronics that you need to dispose of email [email protected] or call 1866.9.EWASTE and let our team ensure these devices do not creep into landfills.
[1] Anne-Marie Doucet, Owen Gaffney, Marika Haeggman, Fredrik Moberg, Félix Pharand-Deschênes, Sturle Hauge Simonsen, “Welcome to the Anthropocene”, 2012, http://www.anthropocene.info/