Eco-Technology

So you'd think that since I'm blogging, I'd be pretty familiar with technology and computer stuff, right?

Wrong.

Yup. I will freely admit that I am a wide-eyed techno-newbie, gaping in amazement at all my new discoveries online. For instance, did you know that you can download movies? As in, buy them without a box? Amazon calls them "Unbox Movies." (How cute is that?) Amazon also sells mp3's (another thing I'm getting used to. Imagine -- buying whole CD's without the packaging or the trip to the store! Very eco-friendly.).

I'm also drooling over the new Amazon Kindle. Have you heard of this thing? I am a die-hard reader who'd like nothing better than to spend half of each day at my kitchen table sipping a coffee and devouring a book. This Kindle thing is a little hand-held, electronic device with a screen that's supposed to read just like real paper (no sore computer-screen eyes!), and you can download a gezillion different titles onto it. Imagine! I could take my whole library with me everywhere I go. And I wouldn't have to cut down trees to do it. :)

Again, I'm in awe.

I'm also starting to consider the merits of iPods, which I'd up to this point considered to be trendy, unnecessary money-wasters. (Confession: I was also afraid of them. They seem so mysterious.) But someone recently pointed out that they're actually very eco-friendly, too. No CD packaging... or shelves and shelves filled up with CD cases, taking up valuable space in my kitchen cupboards. No gas wasted driving in to the music store. Interesting thought, eh? To think that all those teenagers are actually saving the planet.

I guess the only problem with all this technology is its end-of-life cycle. Since we go through it all so quickly, upgrading to the latest and greatest models, a lot of perfectly useful things get thrown out and fill up the landfills. Plus, according to Greenpeace, some of them have pretty unfriendly electronic components that need to be properly disposed of. (Or better yet, phased out and replaced with something else.)

I'm not quite ready to go out and buy myself an iPod just yet, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with all these new things. (Okay, I realize that iPods aren't new. It just takes me a while to adjust. Give me a break.)