Phones Never Die. They’re Eaten By Birds

Can we really call it progress when it creates so much waste? What if your phone — the one you’re using right now — was your last phone? Take a good look at it and imagine using it for the rest of your life. Could it even last that long? Could you? Probably not. Today I want to think about what that means. What happens to a planet and its people when technological progress is measured in product cycles. And what happens when there's no balance sheet to account for the other side of that — when every new product leaves billions of products and accessories and packaging behind…

Show Notes

My first cellphoneMy second cellphoneThis clip ended up on the cutting room floor, but here's Derek Zoolander's tiny phoneYou can learn more about the Agbogbloshie landfill by reading its Wikipedia page, looking at these photographs, or watching this documentary. Please watch it!You can learn more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch here."The Victims of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a clip from 60 MinutesProject Ara Demo at Google IO 2015Google Cancels Project AraThe FairphoneDanny Boyle interviewed by Marc Maron

Music

All music used in this episode was independently produced by r beny and licensed by Design Tomorrow for non-commercial use.

FeltFall Creek UnitFormation ProcessNovation PeakMariposaAlluvialNatomaSpindleIllumination Ceremony

Credits

Design Tomorrow is produced by Chris Butler at the Tomorrow office in Durham, NC.

You can follow the show on Twitter @dsgntmrrw. You can visit the show's website at designtomorrow.co, and you can email me at chris @ designtomorrow.co.

Thanks for listening, and remember, what we do and think today can create a better tomorrow.