With customers on average upgrading their phones every 2.7 years and less than 5% of materials available for reuse, phones create a monumental amount of e-waste.
That’s the issue Fairphone is trying to tackle. The manufacturer is focused on sustainability, relying on fair-trade sourcing and fair labor practices, and using recycled materials in its phones and modular components that can be easily switched out. The Fairphone 3 showcased this to great effect earlier this year, and now Fairphone is rolling out a new variant dubbed the Fairphone 3+ with exciting upgrades.
To learn more about Fairphone and where you can purchase the Fairphone 3 stop by their website. (Available only in Europe)
I will forever be grateful that I was introduced to the utility and beauty of hand crafted products early in life - from the symbolic motifs sewn into the coarse linen fabric of Croatian traditional wear to the colorful Kilim carpets that decorated the parquet floors in my grandmother's living room.
I treasure the memories of my grandfather teaching me how to protect myself against the "evil eye," the smell of the flower stalls in the open air market where my grandmother bought produce early every morning for the day’s meals and the summers spent at my great grandmother's where the village wags would come to gossip over thick, black Turkish coffee in her cool stone kitchen.
Someone noted that "For all of us that want to move forward, there are a very few that want to keep the old methods of production, traditions and crafts alive." I am a fellow traveler with those who value the old traditions and folk wisdom. I believe the knowledge they possess can contribute significantly to our efforts to build a more sustainable world - one that values the individual over the corporation, conservation over growth and happiness over wealth.
The Noah Project 