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PRESS RELEASE
Next Spring, Christopher Swain will dive into the Atlantic Ocean in Boston, Massachusetts, and begin an 800 mile swim to Washington, DC, as part of an environmental education campaign designed to protect the world’s oceans.
Swain, a forty year-old father of two, explains it this way: “We live on a water planet. If we want to live healthy lives, we need to go the distance to protect and restore the waters that we all depend on. I’ve decided to do just that: go the distance--all the way to Washington to plead the case of the oceans.”
The ocean swim is part of Swain’s TOXTOURTM project, a campaign to collect and recycle, ethically, one billion pounds of used electronics: the used computers, TVs, telephones, etc., commonly known as “e-waste.”
Earlier this year, as a warm-up, Swain trudged 100 miles through northern New England carrying a 62 pound backpack of used electronics.
Swain, an environmental educator based in Massachusetts, was the first person in history to swim the entire lengths of several dirty waterways including the Columbia River, the Charles River, the Hudson River, and Lake Champlain—all in support of clean water.
Swain conceived of the TOXTOURTM as a way to keep used electronic devices—which are full of toxic chemicals and heavy metals—from fouling the world’s waterways and ecosystems. “High levels of heavy metals and dangerous chemicals aren’t just affecting human health,” says Swain. “They are affecting ocean life as well: dolphins and whales routinely show dangerous levels manmade toxics.”
In addition to leading carbon-neutral, Ethical Electronics Recycling EventsTM and cross-curricular projects in schools from Vermont to Pennsylvania, Swain recently developed a product called the ToxtagTM, which eliminates the carbon and toxic footprints of a cell phone.
Christopher also speaks to all-school assemblies and then works with teachers and students in small groups, to develop ways to make our everyday choices more ocean-friendly.
Swain has survived collisions with boats, 12-foot waves, lightning storms, class IV+ rapids, toxic blue-green algae, Lamprey Eel attacks, and water contaminated with everything from human waste to nuclear waste. He has made presentations to over 52,000 North American schoolchildren. Stories about his environmental efforts have reached a worldwide media audience of more than two billion people.
Christopher is the author the “Healthy Design Initiative” and the “E-Waste Code of Ethics.” His official support vehicle is a vegetable oil-powered 1999 Ford F-250 pickup truck.
“Borders and labels aside,” Swain says, “We are one people in one watershed. We are islanders, surrounded by ocean. And in the end, every choice we make affects not only our oceans, but our entire world.”
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Calendar Item
ETHICAL ELECTRONICS RECYCLING EVENT TO BENEFIT OCEAN ALLIANCE
What: ETHICAL ELECTRONICS RECYCLING EVENT
Where: Patagonia retail store, 346 Newbury Street, Boston, MA. All are welcome!
When: Saturday, August 9, 2008, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. RAIN OR SHINE.
Description: Ocean Alliance, a nonprofit organization, will be collecting Televisions (all sizes), CPUs, Monitors, Keyboards, Drives, Cables, Cords, Peripherals, USB Media, Copiers, Printers (including cartridges), Fax Machines, Scanners, Laptops, Stereo Equipment and Speakers, CD & DVD Players, Telephones, Remote controls, VCR's, Projectors, Digital cameras, PDAs, Radios, Answering machines, Camcorders, Electric Typewriters, Video Game Systems, Pagers, Microwave Ovens, Toasters, and Magnetic Media like Zip Disks, audio tapes, and floppy diskettes. The event is part of TOXTOUR’s nationwide campaign to collect and recycle ethically one billion pounds of electronics waste.
Cost: Attendees will be charged an ethical recycling fee of $1 per pound. Nothing collected will be tipped into landfills, incinerated, or dumped in developing countries.
Benefits: Net proceeds will benefit Ocean Alliance.
Contact: Christopher Swain, TOXTOUR Team Leader, 617-233-4120, or info@toxtour.org
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Calendar Item
What: Ethical Electronics Recycling EventWhere: Lake Champlain Waldorf High School (LCWHS), 735 Ferry Road, Charlotte, Vermont. All are welcome! When: Saturday, May 31, 2008, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. RAIN OR SHINE. More Information: As part of TOXTOUR’s nationwide campaign to ethically recycle one billion pounds of electronics waste, LCWHS will be collecting Televisions (all sizes), CPUs, Monitors, Keyboards, Drives, Cables, Cords, Peripherals, USB Media, Copiers, Printers (including ink and toner cartridges), Fax Machines, Scanners, Laptops, Stereo Equipment, DVD Players, Cell phones, Remote controls, VCR's, Projectors, Digital cameras, Tape players, PDAs, Speakers, Telephones, Two-way radios, Answering machines, Camcorders, CD players, Electric typewriters, Game systems, Pagers, Microwave Ovens, Toasters, and Magnetic Media like Zip Disks, audio tapes, and floppy diskettes. Cost: LCWHS will be charging an ethical recycling fee of $1 per pound. Nothing collected will be dumped into landfills, incinerated, or exported to developing countries. Benefits: Net proceeds will benefit the Lake Champlain Waldorf High School Environmental Club. Photo Opportunities: Small mountains of electronic waste in containers and on pallets. School kids and volunteers weighing and tallying used electronics. Interview Opportunities: Faculty, students, and attendees. Christopher Swain. Media Contacts: Christopher Swain, TOXTOUR Team Leader, 617-233-4120 or .
Rich Hatfield, Head, Science and Math Department, LCWHS, 802-425-6195.
Sue McGovern and Paul Morrissey, McGovern Communications, 781-648-7157.
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PRESS RELEASE:
TOWER SCHOOL TO HOST MAY 17 ETHICAL ELECTRONICS RECYCLING EVENT
How could you dispose of your old TV’s, computers, cell phones, and other used electronics if you didn’t want them tipped into a landfill, incinerated, or dumped in a developing country? You could bring them to the community Ethical Electronics Recycling Event that Tower School is hosting on Saturday, May 17, from 11 am until 2 pm. Organized by Science Teacher Russell Wells, in partnership with Healthy World Workshop’s TOXTOUR campaign, Saturday’s event at Tower School focuses attention on the global problem of used electronics (commonly known as “e-waste”). “Our students learned that most used electronic devices in America are thrown away with household trash, burned in municipal incinerators, or shipped by unethical “recyclers” to dumping grounds in China, India, and Nigeria, where children often pick them apart searching for tiny amounts of sale-able metals,” explained Mr. Wells. “Obviously, this is a disaster for human and environmental health.” In response, Wells and his students decided to host an ethical electronics collection event on their campus. They partnered up with Christopher Swain, of 84 Pleasant Street, who is leading the nationwide TOXTOUR campaign to ethically recycle over one billion pounds of used electronics. In order to cover the cost of ethical recycling and carbon-neutral transportation for the used electronics they collect, the students will set up a weighing station at Saturday's event, and charge attendees $1 per pound to recycle their electronics. Cash or checks will be accepted at the event. Net proceeds will benefit Tower School’s environmental programs. All are welcome, so load up your used electronics TVs, computers, cell phones, fax machines, printers, video game consoles, stereo equipment and peripherals and head down to Tower School at 75 West Shore Drive in Marblehead, MA this Saturday. Clean those old monitors out of your attic, and help build a healthier world at the same time! For more information, please contact Russell Wells at (781) 631-5800, email: rwells@towerschool.org, or Christopher Swain at (617) 233-4120, or visit: www.toxtour.org. See you on the 17th!
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