What's Inside Our Electronic Learning Devices?

In education, students rely on the physical infrastructure of cloud-based computing, like iPads and laptops, to complete their work. Their work is then stored in large-scale data centres – all of which rely on rare earth elements and minerals like lithium, which are “indirect polluters” in this cloud-data centers, devices, and minerals extraction cycle. Undoubtedly, the extraction has many environmental and ethical consequences. As mentioned by Crawford (2021), “there are seventeen rare earth elements… embedded in laptops and smartphones” (Crawford, 2021, p. 33). Since our technology and infrastructure depend on these minerals, it is not surprising they have a severe environmental impact on Earth’s landscape where “pockets of lush forest huddle amid huge swaths of barren orange earth” (Crawford, 2021, p. 35). Moreover, as Buss (2018) states, mineral extraction is heavily linked to human rights abuses and violations; Buss further emphasizes that this demand for minerals affects Central Africa, as various groups financially aid armed clusters, prolonging violence and harming the most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the demand for cloud-based systems in education fuels the supply chain, emphasizing the hidden cost of digital learning. This concern for sustainability is echoed when we recognize that “the cloud is the backbone of the artificial intelligence industry, and it’s made of rocks and lithium brine and crude oil” (Crawford, 2021, p. 31). As a result, educational institutions have a significant role in the environmental impact of cloud-based infrastructure. As Watershed (2023) report states, since all the hardware within the cloud requires a variety of resource-intensive materials, we need to rethink our extraction practices, make them more sustainable, reconsider the adoption of the cloud in classrooms, and raise concerns over ethical treatment of people collecting it. As such, the Gates Foundation, while advocating for sustainability and educational innovation, must recognize that their agenda and efforts come with quite clear, yet hidden, environmental and ethical costs. I feel like continued investment in cloud-dependent tools like Microsoft 365 without accountability may result in not just financial but also reputational damage, should the Foundation be seen as ignorant to unsustainable and exploitative practices which their investment produces as a result.