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In India, more gruesome e-waste tales

Posted by: Adam Aston on March 10

There’s been a lot of reporting about the growing flow of dead PCs, monitors and electronic junk from the US to China. Till now, most of this coverage has focused on a series of Chinese towns where peasants cook, hammer and yank bits of metal from this junk, spewing a toxic mess far and wide. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition turns the spotlight on India, now, with equally gruesome footage. I doubt it would take much digging to locate similar, or worse, operations in Latin America and Africa. Check out the Indian footage here:

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Reader Comments

Robin Ingenthron

March 11, 2009 08:20 AM

This is a more balanced film than some previously hysterical releases. Like WR3A's 2007 video, it focuses on the need to invest in and improve working conditions. A trained eye can see a lot of very technical skill (see the way the rebuildable CRTs are carefully stacked, vs. those that are broken) which is being rewarded and creates sustainable jobs in areas which need them. The best response is Fair Trade. The "coffee boycott" idea of the 1980s was headed to failure, Fair Trade Coffee was a success. Another film that covers the trade from a different angle is available http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho43ulYtBEI from WR3a.org

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In Green Business, BusinessWeek Energy & Environment Editor Adam Aston and Associate Editor Heather Green cover the green scene from New York, with Senior Correspondent John Carey in Washington D.C. and correspondent Mark Scott filing from London. Keeping on top of the business aspects of energy, the environment and climate change, their focus is the technologies, policies, markets and people that are shaping how the earth's resources will be used in the century ahead.

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