RSS feedRecycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla
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| Adopt a gorilla at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International |
The Zoo’s conservation project website explains:
“Cell phones also have had a direct effect on wild populations of gorillas. A critical component of cell phones and other small electronics is a substance called coltan. One of the few places in the world where coltan is found is the forests of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo—right in the middle of gorilla habitat. As a result of mining for coltan, critical habitat has been destroyed and gorillas have been displaced or even killed by poachers. By recycling your phone with Zoo Atlanta, you will be helping to raise money that will go directly to help these populations of gorillas. First, donations to The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International will help further their work to protect gorillas. Second, the reuse of cell phones results in the need for fewer new ones, which in turn reduces the need for coltan mining.”
Some of the phones collected by Eco-Cell will go to charities that need them for emergency 911 use. Others will be recycled because they are no longer usable. But the majority will be refurbished and resold to first-time, low-income users in areas outside the US with compatible cell phone technology.
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, now The Gorilla Organization, is a non-for-profit organization committed to gorilla protection, science, field research, education and awareness, and economic development. The gorilla community was strongly affected by the conflicts in war-stricken Rwanda and the DRC. The organization is working together with both countries’ governments to conserve their gorilla communities.
On September 24, the organization held the charity event ‘The Great Gorilla Run’ in the City of London, where 650 people ran 7 km dressed in full gorilla suits in order to raise funds.