Alex Lin

By Theo Goode
 Table Of Contents

1) Teenage Activism
2) E-waste
3) Alex Lin
4) Passing A Bill
5) What Has Alex Lin Done?
6) What Can You Do To Help?
 Teenage Activism
A teen activist is someone who works for something in their
community or in the world. Some teen activists -like Malala Yousafzai- work
for human rights. Malala in particular works for education for women, but
her work is more dangerous than some other activists (she has a target on
her back, put there by the Taliban, a terrorist group)! The work of Alex Lin
though, is not as dangerous. He is working towards the banning of
electronic dumping or e-waste. While all teen activists are different, and all
have different goals in mind, they all want one thing. To be a cause of
positive change in the world.
 E-waste
E-waste (electronic trash) is very harmful to the planet. First, all
electronic devices have harmful metals as key parts, second all of these
toxins get into the environment, and finally, all of these things now in the
environment find their way into us. All electronics have harmful metals.
Theyre what allow your phones, tablets, and computers run. Some of
these harmful metals are zinc, nickel, barium, chromium, and lead. These
are all poisonous metals. Lead even gives its own condition, lead
poisoning. Did you know that there are four pounds of lead in a monitor and
three ounces of harmful metals in a cell phone? Now, all of these toxins
get into the environment how? Well, when you put your phone in the
trash it gets into a landfill, at the landfill it is burned, melted, or just left to
disintegrate. Then all of these toxic metals get into the soil, air, and ground
water, which we drink. As for how these poisons get into us, well, now that
theyre in the soil they get into our crops and we eat them, and when they
are in the air we breathe them, and finally, when they get into the water we
drink them. These are the reasons why e-waste is bad, all electronics
contain toxic metals, these toxins get into the environment, and finally, all of
these toxins get into us.
 Alex Lin
Born in 1994 in Westerly, Rhode Island, Alex Lin had a pretty
average childhood. But in 2004 he found a Wall Street Journal article that
told him about the growing e-waste problem. Alex wanted to do something
about it: he was on the path to teen activism. But Alex has been working
towards the banning of e-waste dumping for longer than just his teen years
(first he was a tween activist), he has been fighting e-waste since fifth
grade! Since then he has lobbied the Rhode Island legislature and
successfully banned the dumping of electronic waste in Rhode Island,
recycled/ refurbished 300,000 pounds of electronics, and set up seven
media centers in developing countries like Sri Lanka and Cameroon. Hes
Alex Lin and hes just 22 years old.
 Passing A Bill
This bill to ban electronic dumping in Rhode Island had been in
the works for four years, but it was Alex and his team who shoved it over
the edge. First, they looked at the original bill and came down to one thing:
it was too complicated. So, they went back to basics: e-waste is bad for the
environment and we can make money from recycling it. In 2006, Rhode
Island passed the bill, electronic dumping was now illegal, and Rhode
Island was the fourth state to make it so.
 What has Alex Lin Done?
When Alex first heard about this e-waste problem he asked his town if he
could hold a recycling drive: his team collected 21,000 pounds of e-waste
in the first day. Now he has overseen the recycling and reusing of 300,000
pounds of electronics, he has also set up media centers in developing
countries like Sri Lanka and Cameroon, he has banned the dumping of
electronics in the state of Rhode Island, and he has set up a permanent
electronics that takes about 5,000 pounds of electronics per month! And
something tells me that hes just getting warmed up. Who knows? Maybe
hell make e-waste illegal in all of the U.S.
 What can you do to Help?
First, NEVER throw away your old electronics, recycle them or give them to
someone/place that needs them. If they still work and youre just upgrading,
keep them! Its always good to have a backup for all of your important
information. If it doesnt work and youre going to recycle it make sure you
either wipe the harddrive clean or physically break it into pieces. Even
though its broken, people can still get into your personal information. So
never throw it away, always swipe your drive, and then recycle it. There!
Youre now helping to reduce e-waste.
 Bibliography
Cardoni, Salvatore. "Alex Lin, Teenage Activist." TakePart. N.p., 05 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Mar.
2017.
Living on Earth / World Media Foundation / Public Radio International. "E-waste Youth
Activist." Living on Earth. N.p., 03 Jan. 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
Carroll, Chris. "High-Tech Trash." High-Tech Trash - National Geographic Magazine. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
LeBlanc, Rick. "Electronics Recycling and E-Waste." The Balance. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar.
2017.