Press Releases
Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - Arts & Events
Author Speaks About High Tech Trash and Persistent Pollutants
CONTACT:
- Steven Fountain, Department of History, 360/546-9227, fountain@vancouver.wsu.edu
- Sheri Byrd, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360/546-9602, byrds@vancouver.wsu.edu
Vancouver, Wash. - Elizabeth Grossman, author of "High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health" will be speaking at Washington State University Vancouver at 3 p.m., Nov. 7 in the Administration building room 110.
Grossman will be speaking about the problems generated by electronic waste and her current work on how plastics are changing our health and the world's chemistry. Her research methods and process as a freelance writer, articulate the environmental issues posed by high tech manufacturing and disposal, and the effects of plastics on human development and behavior.
From the manufacturing process to their end in "closet landfills" at home or "recycling" with hammers and open fires in China, India, and American prisons, Grossman follows computers through their life cycle and finds surprises at every stage by taking a closer look at "the global and local movement and impacts of persistent and pervasive pollutants-synthetic chemicals that emerge from finished products as well as from industrial and waste sites and which are changing the world's chemistry on both a cellular and landscape scale."
Perhaps most interesting of all, Grossman also looks into potential solutions to these issues of through "green chemistry" and engineering with alternative materials.
For more on Grossman's work, see http://www.hightechtrash.com and her current research on plastics and human development at http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/02/bisphenol/index_np.html
WSU Vancouver is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205, or on C-Tran Bus route 19 from the Salmon Creek Park and Ride. Parking is available in metered spaces and in the Blue Lot for $3 per day. WSU Vancouver offers 14 Bachelor's degrees, nine Master's degrees, one Doctorate degree and more than 35 fields of study. Visit us on the Web at http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu.
Photos: Elizabeth Grossman and her book cover. Click thumbnails for high resolution images.
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