Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Got a Digital Illustration that Shows Generations Working Together?

Got a Digital Illustration that Shows Generations Working Together?

CoGenerate recently teamed up with Fine Acts, a global creative studio for social impact, to launch an open call for illustrations showing generations working together for change.  We’re looking for illustrations that show older and younger people coming together to...

A New Conversation About Service That Crosses Generations

A New Conversation About Service That Crosses Generations

Can a single meal begin to bridge divides? Back in January, two major partners in CoGenerate’s work teamed up to find out. On the MLK Day of Service, Generations Over Dinner and AmeriCorps joined with senior living communities across the country to host more than 100...

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Ted Smith

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006

Improving the environmental health and safety practices of the global electronics industry

Silicon Valley may be ground zero for innovation, but it was also a potential environmental disaster area in 1982 when Ted Smith founded the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition in response to the public health threat created by hazardous groundwater contamination from high-tech manufacturing facilities in San Jose. After organizing the community to clean up the groundwater contamination, the Coalition pressured computer and electronics manufacturers to make more environmentally friendly choices and use cleaner production methods. Hewlett Packard and Dell Computers led the industry in actively promoting the Coalition’s Computer TakeBack Campaign, which Smith started in 1997 to get computer companies to recycle obsolete computers appropriately. Several states including California, Washington, Maine, and Massachusetts have now passed e-waste legislation mandating safer disposal and recycling. Today, Smith, 61, is the coordinator for the International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT) and is implementing a long-term strategy to promote sustainability within the global high-tech industry.