1. UNDESIGNING FOR THE DUMP
Canadian Academy
Presented by Annegret and Georgia at the Kansai Cluster
Global Issues Network Conference, March 17th 2012
Edited for upload by Stephen Taylor

2. What is the life cycle of an electronic product?
What problems occur along the way?
How do our choices impact others and the world?
How can we un-design for the dump?
(http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

3. What are the problems?
Where are the problems?
Who is affected?
Where is there conflict?
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

4. Design
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

5. Resource Depletion
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

6. Pollution
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

7. Toxins
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

8. Consuming too much
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

9. Constant new products
Images taken from Apple (http://www.apple.com/macbookair/, http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/)

10. E-Waste
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

11. Recycling
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

12. Major Questions
1. How should 2. What could we do as
designers undesign or consumers to solve
redesign for the dump? these issues?
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

13. Activity
• Undesign for the dump!
• Redesign an electronic product so it will not
cause all of these issues.
• Time: 10 minutes
Screenshots taken from The Story of Electronics, by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/)

14. Activity
• What five questions do you think consumers
should ask before buying a product?

15. Suggestions
• Ask questions before purchasing:
• Is it reusable or more durable?
• Is it made from recycled materials?
• What is the product replacing, what will happen to the old
product?
• Will it need special disposal?
• Will the manufacturer take the product back?
• Treat products with care so they last longer
• Update OS and software instead of the device itself