“Where Do Old Cellphones Go to Die?”
Article in IHT/NYT by LEYLA ACAROGLU
Published: May 4, 2013
See the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/where-do-old-cellphones-go-to-die.html

“Americans replace their cellphones every 22 months, junking some 150 million old phones in 2010 alone. Ever wondered what happens to all these old phones? The answer isn’t pretty.”
Indeed, not pretty as I explain in my book Toxic capitalism. A lot of the e-waste ends up in China, with the dramatic impact on the health of the people involved in recycling, Chinese way, hence the “cancer villages”. The cover of my book shows the arrival yard of e-waste in a Beijing factory, one of the few that handles e-waste correctly.
I always try to buy “top of the line” electronics, so I can use them much longer than normally. I had a mobile that I used for at least five years (twice repaired). My old iMac, reaching ten years is still doing a good job for some of the software – even better than my now 3-year old MacBook Pro.
The article in the NYT also shows some frightening statistics about how many tons of e-waste is generated (computers, monitors, TV, printers and so on):

We should stop this madness.

See the article in SCMP:
26 April 2013 – Dozens pulled alive from Dhaka factory as toll hits 256
Screams filtering through the cracks in the concrete suggest more survivors awaiting help
Agence France-Presse in Savar
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1222144/bangladesh-factory-collapse-kills-124-injures-hundreds
“Toxic Capitalism” at work. Consumers are happy around the world to buy all the cheap stuff from countries such as Bangladesh, ignoring where and how it was made, then criticize the horrible conditions. The companies involved strike it rich while the workers suffer, or worse, perish. Once more hypocrisy from the West as long as they do not enforce the due diligence of the complete supply chain. The horrors will not stop as long as the West does not change its habits of over-consumption and not paying a fair price for durable goods. Shop till you drop and waste our planet. Never mind the workers in Bangladesh, China etc.

They certainly don’t make ’em like that anymore. Call that quality and durability” as I preach in my book Toxic capitalism. Of course you could say, bad for the economy, no business for the car makers. On the other hand, look at all the jobs generated by the owner, using servicing for the car. Jobs are jobs.
Got this sent by my friend Ginny, thanks dear.
This man owned & drove the same car for 77 YEARS. Can you imagine even having the same car for 77 years!
Mr. Allen Swift (Springfield, MA.) received this 1928 Rolls-Royce Piccadilly-P1 Roadster from his father, brand new – as a gift in 1928.
He drove it up until his death in October 2005 – at the age of 102!
He was the oldest living owner of a car that was purchased new.
Just thought you’d like to see it (great car, at least it still has character, not like all the new ones that all start looking alike).

It was donated to a Springfield museum after his death.
It has 1,070,000 miles on it, still runs like a Swiss watch, dead silent at any speed and is in perfect cosmetic condition. That’s approximately 13,896 miles per year. 1,070,000 that’s miles not kilometers!

See the SCMP article of 21 February, 2013 by Ernest Kao
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1155528/environmental-watchdog-admits-cancer-village-phenomenon
In my book I mention several of the cancer villages and why they exist (e.g. the manufacturing of jeans, jewelry, lingerie …). The term refers to villages, often located close to industrial parks or factories where villagers get sick with cancer.
I also share the opinion that water pollution and scarcity in China is the major threat and the topic is a large chapter in my book. Now it being confirmed again that water pollution is so severe now that close to 70% of the mainland’s lakes and rivers and over 90% of groundwater in urban areas are too contaminated for even animals to drink from.
About 40% of locations the ministry has been monitoring contained water deemed unsafe for human consumption, despite multibillion-dollar clean-up efforts by the government.
Severe chemical pollution in China’s water systems has caused the spread of “cancer villages”, the country’s top environmental watchdog admitted as the Ministry of Environmental Protection published a list of so-called cancer villages on the mainland.
It also confirmed that the levels of pollutants – including endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which interfere with human hormones – in China’s lakes, rivers and coastal waters had surpassed international levels and the situation was now “very grim”.
Levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), compounds resistant to environmental degradation and are a known carcinogen, were also reported at dangerously high levels. Many of the chemicals have already been phased out by developed countries, it said.
According to the report, 40,000 types of chemicals were being used in China and about 3,000 of them contained “poisonous, corrosive, explosive or combustible properties” (see full report in Chinese)
In 2010, investigative journalist Deng Fei created a widely-circulated Google Map graphic illustrating the locations of at least 100 cancer villages across China. Recent estimates put the figure at 400.

View 中国癌症村地 China Cancer Villages Map:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=209600870352189728478.000469611a28a0d8a22dd&ll=29.568591,112.286465&spn=22.144692,16.301284&t=m&source=embed
Hopefully, improvement is on the way.