I've come across dozens of documentaries and articles about recycling companies who claim to do their recycling locally, when in fact some of their items are shipped overseas. An exceptional video from CBS' program 60 Minutes looks at a small business in Colorado called Executive Recycling. This company has successfully spread the message to residents about the importance of recycling products locally, but they are caught on video shipping containers filled with cathode ray tubes (CRTs - from old tvs and computer monitors) to Hong Kong.
There is a particularly uncomfortable scene when they visit Guiyu, China (the worlds largest e-waste dumping ground), and the cameramen had to wrestle to keep their cameras once discovered by the owners of the recycling operation. It serves to emphasize the political nature of this issue. One thing I just couldn't understand at first was how these dumping grounds could be kept a "secret" for soo long. Slowly I'm learning that this is an issue of power, poverty and greed. Surprise, surprise... Jim Puckett, an environmental health and justice activist and co-founder of the Basel Action Network, is interviewed in the film. The reporter asked him why people continue to knowingly work in this hazardous industry. This is his response:
"Desperate people will do desperate things, but we should never put them in that situation. It's a hell of a choice between poverty and poison and we should never make people make that choice."
Here is the documentary for those of you that are interested:
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That's a pretty powerful quote from Jim Puckett... at the level of the peasant farmers features in the clip I would say it's not even a choice - it's about simple survival. Paradoxically, people take on these toxic activities in order to survive and keep their families alive.
ReplyDeleteAgree, Ashley and Stephanie.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought, Ashley, of contacting Jim and the other environmental activists to connect them with your blog and see if they have some other resources, particularly people such as environmental or occupational health researchers, who are supportive or interested. They might provide some good insights and connections.