High-Tech Trash by Chris Carroll: National Geographic Magazine January 2008

I was highly disappointed with this article by Chris Carroll. I am a big National Geographic fan, but I thought this article was not only dull but also poorly written. Maybe I am being a little bias since I read it after seeing Exporting Harm, but it seems to me that it was a less informative version of that movie. The pictures seem to come right out of the movie with the scenes of large warehouses filled with computers and Chinese men and women slaving over hot stoves to gather copper and other valuable metals. The article did not do a good job telling the public about the hazards that are in these e-waste dumps in China. The movie was a lot more informative and hit a nerve with me that the article did not. After the movie I felt for the people of China and other places that this dumping goes on too, but this article did not make me feel the same way. Which is unfortunate since plenty of people might read the article and not see the movie. Carroll’s words are not painting the picture and as a result people might not find the dumping of electronics to be a problem.

I’m no saint, I’m very sure that I have contributed to the cause by not properly recycling and throwing out electronics; now I will be a little more conscious of my acts knowing that they are affecting the less fortunate. I think its terrible that the government will not ratify the Basel Convention due to losing profits. It once again shows me that the propaganda video we first saw is correct. The government is being run by big business and until that changes normal people will not be able to have a fair say. We are lucky though that some people like BAN and Creative Recycling Systems are taking matters into their own hands and trying to make things better overseas. People fighting for a cause is the way that problems like this are shown to the public and eventually become solved.

Lastly, the article’s only really great point that was not in the video was the last paragraph. I didn’t even think that the high levels of lead all over China contribute to the high levels of lead in things like toys that get shipped to the US. It was a fantastic point brought up by Jeffrey Weidenhamer. The crisis we’ve started is coming back to us to bite us in the ass. Hopefully big business will take note of that and clean up their wrongdoings before more toxic imports come back and damage their company’s names.