Green Consumption and Social Change: Debates over Responsibility, Private Action, and Access

Lorenzen, Janet A.

doi:10.1111/soc4.12198

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 199 publications

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“…On average, cell phones are used for <18 months and computers are used for <3 years before being replaced 1 2 . In fact, in 2007, it was estimated that over 426,000 cell phones (most of them were still functional) and 112,000 computers were discarded every day in the US, totalling 3.2 million tons of electronic waste generated per year 3 4 . These discarded electronics increase the demand for landfill space and may also cause some serious environmental concerns 4 5 6 7 .…”

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confidence: 99%

High-performance green flexible electronics based on biodegradable cellulose nanofibril paper

et al. 2015

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Today's consumer electronics, such as cell phones, tablets and other portable electronic devices, are typically made of non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and sometimes potentially toxic (for example, gallium arsenide) materials. These consumer electronics are frequently upgraded or discarded, leading to serious environmental contamination. Thus, electronic systems consisting of renewable and biodegradable materials and minimal amount of potentially toxic materials are desirable. Here we report high-performance flexible microwave and digital electronics that consume the smallest amount of potentially toxic materials on biobased, biodegradable and flexible cellulose nanofibril papers. Furthermore, we demonstrate gallium arsenide microwave devices, the consumer wireless workhorse, in a transferrable thin-film form. Successful fabrication of key electrical components on the flexible cellulose nanofibril paper with comparable performance to their rigid counterparts and clear demonstration of fungal biodegradation of the cellulose-nanofibril-based electronics suggest that it is feasible to fabricate high-performance flexible electronics using ecofriendly materials.

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confidence: 99%

High-performance green flexible electronics based on biodegradable cellulose nanofibril paper

et al. 2015

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“…The rapid and accelerating pace of innovation in this area leads to increases in the frequency with which consumers upgrade their devices, thereby contributing to the production of >50 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) each year (5,6). Furthermore, the anticipated emergence of electronics for internet-of-things applications, along with the continued proliferation of radio frequency (RF) identification tags and other high-volume electronic goods, create daunting challenges with the management of this e-waste (7,8).…”

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confidence: 99%

Materials and processing approaches for foundry-compatible transient electronics

Chang

Fang

Bower³

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Foundry-based routes to transient silicon electronic devices have the potential to serve as the manufacturing basis for "green" electronic devices, biodegradable implants, hardware secure data storage systems, and unrecoverable remote devices. This article introduces materials and processing approaches that enable state-of-theart silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) foundries to be leveraged for high-performance, water-soluble forms of electronics. The key elements are (i) collections of biodegradable electronic materials (e.g., silicon, tungsten, silicon nitride, silicon dioxide) and device architectures that are compatible with manufacturing procedures currently used in the integrated circuit industry, (ii) release schemes and transfer printing methods for integration of multiple ultrathin components formed in this way onto biodegradable polymer substrates, and (iii) planarization and metallization techniques to yield interconnected and fully functional systems. Various CMOS devices and circuit elements created in this fashion and detailed measurements of their electrical characteristics highlight the capabilities. Accelerated dissolution studies in aqueous environments reveal the chemical kinetics associated with the underlying transient behaviors. The results demonstrate the technical feasibility for using foundry-based routes to sophisticated forms of transient electronic devices, with functional capabilities and cost structures that could support diverse applications in the biomedical, military, industrial, and consumer industries.soft electronics | biodegradable electronics | transfer printing | undercut etching | hydrolysis S emiconductor technology is increasingly essential to nearly all aspects of modern society, with projections of market sizes that will exceed $7 trillion in 2017, equivalent to 10% of the world's gross domestic product (1-4). The rapid and accelerating pace of innovation in this area leads to increases in the frequency with which consumers upgrade their devices, thereby contributing to the production of >50 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) each year (5, 6). Furthermore, the anticipated emergence of electronics for internet-of-things applications, along with the continued proliferation of radio frequency (RF) identification tags and other high-volume electronic goods, create daunting challenges with the management of this e-waste (7, 8). These considerations motivate research into forms of electronics that can degrade naturally into the environment to harmless end products. Such technology is also of interest for other, unique classes of applications, ranging from biodegradable, temporary electronic implants to hardware secure data systems and unrecoverable, field-deployed devices (9-12). Sometimes referred to collectively as transient electronics, these types of devices can be constructed by using designer materials, such as specially formulated polymers or natural products (13-16), or clever combinations of established materials, well-aligned to existing ...

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“…Attempting to withdraw from gift giving strains social ties and was typically unsuccessful. Instead most interviewees compromised by negotiating the exchange of fewer gifts, giving less resource‐intensive gifts (services and experiences), and turning to green and ethical consumption like fair trade for gift buying (Carrigan, Szmigin, and Wright ; Lorenzen 2014b; Peattie ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Social Network Challenges to Reducing Consumption: The Problem of Gift Giving

Lorenzen

2017

Symbolic Interaction

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Social networks are typically associated with recruitment tactics. In this article, I offer an additional perspective on social networks as a constraint to social change and an under-recognized challenge to reducing consumption. I draw on 45 interviews with: voluntary simplifiers, religious environmentalists, and green home owners. Informants, failing to withdraw from gift-giving networks, instead (1) negotiate a reduction in gift giving, (2) green gift giving, and (3) attempt to transform gift giving into a tactic for lifestyle change. Rather than viewing social networks as channels for cultural cohesion, I argue that we need to better conceptualize the way culture and networks are co-constituted by tactics of influence within areas of contention.

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Green Consumption and Social Change: Debates over Responsibility, Private Action, and Access

Cited by 31 publications

References 199 publications

High-performance green flexible electronics based on biodegradable cellulose nanofibril paper

High-performance green flexible electronics based on biodegradable cellulose nanofibril paper

Materials and processing approaches for foundry-compatible transient electronics

Social Network Challenges to Reducing Consumption: The Problem of Gift Giving

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