another cranky old broad

The company we go through is Eco-Cell http://www.eco-cell.org/

They accept all models and accessories for recycling. They only pay for those that can be refurbished.

It's been a great project - so many people hang onto phones and don't know what to do with them. This way they are not only kept out of landfills they can be used to raise money for a good cause.

So, yes cell phones are evil, but so are Twinkies and they aren't going away either.

The second biggest harm is the radiation they add to our atmosphere.  In the U.S. the cell phone companies have bought off the scientists who then released phony results showing that there's no harm from the radiation.  However, honest studies done in the U.K. and New Zealand determined otherwise.

Jeff Hoffman

As mihan mentions, Eco-Cell is good option for getting rid of your old model...though it's best for the environment to just hang onto the old phone instead of buying the latest handset and feeding the industry's relentless product release cycle.

Then  VOIP phones operating through  wireless modems would replace cell phones.

If local and refional energy cooperatives owned the power utilities this system would replace cable tv, phone lines, cell phones,and broadcasting.

The efficiency gained in the use of the public airwaves and public right of way (for cables and phone lines) would boost productibity enormously.

When the internet bubble burst, these productive changes were sidelined in favor of old phone and cable company monopoly gaming.

Does anyone remember the old tv show "Star Trek" episode where The Enterprise approaches that planet that turned nazi vecause it was infected by the ideas of Hitler?

Spock says, captain I am detecting a signal.  It's an antiquated  form of analog broadcasting called television.  

When will analog communication become obsolete and be replaced with universal wireless internet.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

There have been many studies done with respect to tower kill rates in the United States.  The FWS estimates the annual level of kills at 4-5 million (http://www.fws.gov/habitatconservation/communicationtowers.htm).  The vast majority of the kills come from nocturnal migratory birds.  When these birds come upon a tall lighted guyed tower in overcast conditions, the birds become drawn to the tower lights in the absence of starlight and will circle the tower until striking a guy wire.  Poorly placed towers, such as on ridgetops in migratory flyways (the large towers along the bluffs in Duluth MN are a good example), are a serious problem.  However, shorter (< 200') self-support or pole towers have a much smaller effect on migratory birds.

The FWS currently has a voluntary set of tower guidelines (http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/issues/towers/comtow.html)and is in the process of looking into further regulations based upon the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.  

Not to diminish the role of towers in avian mortality, but free-ranging domestic cats kill many more birds (http://wildlife.wisc.edu/extension/catfly3.htm) than towers.  Maybe instead of ditching cell phones people should get rid of Fluffy?

How about doing both?

Jeff Hoffman

I don't know which would be harder, telling people to get rid of their cell phones or their cats.  When the Conservation Congress here in Wisconsin attempted to classify feral cats as an unprotected species there was national beat-down in the press, and all these cat groups were all over the place.  That proposal was dropped as fast as possible.