Online Activity

For an online activity I watched the ewaste video "eDump" found on http://www.babelgum.com/118286/edump.html. This documentary talks about the ewaste that is being imported and dismantled in developing nations such as Guiyu, China. Companies send there ewaste here because it is cheaper and there are less strict laws on pollution and workers health. It cost approximately 1/15 the cost to dismantle a computer in China compared to the United States! For these companies that build the products it is all about money and only doing things that you are required by law to do. So if there is no incentive for them to make more environmentally friendly computers then they are not going to. The level of pollution that the dismantling of ewaste creates is not good for anyone and that is why the companies choose to take advantage of developing nations. The pollution that comes from this includes acid being dumped in rivers, toxic chemicals being released into the air, and massive amounts of garbage. I think that not only China but developed nations need to stick up for the direct victims of ewaste. This is definitely a major issue because environmental pollutants will eventually affect everyone and we only have one planet. I believe that more money needs to be invested by the producers of electronics into new technologies for greener components that are safer to disassemble. Even if we start by making safer ways to disassemble the components so that we can save human lives. The hardest part is getting the companies to do this because they don't want to invest in something that won't make them any money. We need to help them realize that it is wrong and that they should have some sense of product responsibility.