What is Digg?116 Comments
- vw2005, on 07/06/2008, -3/+28Where's WALL-E when you need him?
- inactive, on 07/04/2008, -7/+31This is bloody appalling . . . For around $1.50 USD, around 60,000 local workers including children risk their lives and limbs to scramble for anything of value out of your old computer.
- bwdd, on 07/06/2008, -3/+21Just keep all your old computer ***** in the basement, kay?
- cygnus2112, on 07/06/2008, -2/+16My compassion doesn't cease at an invisible make-believe lines called borders. While it's true that we should take care of the problems locally, it's pretty damn ignorant to not give two ***** about the lot of other human beings.
But I can already see what your attitude is and realize your type of attitude is one of the main reasons people like this suffer in the conditions that they do.
"***** them" indeed. ***** you, buddy. - ivan423, on 07/06/2008, -1/+14They also heat old boards to melt and extract the lead, so they end up poisoning themselves by inhaling the fumes.
- cygnus2112, on 07/06/2008, -0/+13"China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/jun/19/ ...
"China 'now top carbon polluter' "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7347638.st ...
"Just in time for the Olympics: China now world's largest polluter"
http://www.greendaily.com/2008/04/15/just-in-time- ... - PhuzzyDay, on 07/04/2008, -1/+14I've contributed a share too. I makes me feel better, though, to know that newer computers are lasting longer between upgrades, slowing the trash. Of course, at the same time, more people are using them, which probably compensates anyway. This is terrible.
- Nudar, on 07/05/2008, -1/+13Isn't there a way to build a machine to do all the work?
- kanundro, on 07/06/2008, -1/+13In China, anything to do with safety is never paramount or even first priority. Government regulation and standards differ very much here in the states vs china. They have local agencies to deal with safety but a lot them are so ripe with corruption that they're pretty much useless (as demonstrated with the szechuan earthquake.)
It may very well be the fact that they didn't clearly understand the risks involved with what they were doing. Leave it to the Chinese government to be so informative and caring about occupational safety (which they won't and don't care). And chances are the people if they're doing that kind of work i'm willing to bank that they're not really well educated so that's another factor of them not knowing. Poor children... 82% hit with lead poisoning.... that's appauling. - LostRiot, on 07/04/2008, -10/+20that's a pretty ***** up attitude you've got there, I assume you don't give any of your money to charities based in the US either, well not until you're living in a mansion with more money than you ever need and no problems in life.
The problems of America are nothing compared to that of some areas of china and the developing world, they'd swap with you in an instant, but just because they didn't happen to be born on the same mass of land as you, you don't think raising awareness of their situation is important? - inactive, on 07/05/2008, -2/+10Brutal
- Rain12913, on 07/06/2008, -0/+6Well I personally dug him down because this article isn't about pollution, it's about human rights. While the United States does have millions of people who are exploited and suffering on a daily basis, you still can't tell me that China has a better human rights situation than the United States.
- yuanzhoulu, on 07/06/2008, -0/+6When it comes to improving human lives, I treat humans as one united species. I don't care about country borders when there is suffering, my help goes first to my family and friends, then those humans who need it most. "my" country is no closer to me than any other.
- SQLserver, on 07/06/2008, -0/+6I'm sorry, but what nerd(aka who on digg...) actually throws out computers??? I've NEVER thrown out a single piece of electronics above a resistor.
If there for some crazy reason absolutely no working parts, it is still fun to take apart and then smash it to pieces, and let it rest in the basement...
But almost all electronics have some fascinating parts that can be reused. - yuanzhoulu, on 07/06/2008, -1/+6achalemopias: china's situation is not necessarily worse than the US. both countries have problems to solve.
the US, for one, has about 4x greenhouse gas emissions per head than China from an article i saw recently. and i can tell you China's government will have a MUCH easier time implementing renewable energy than the US.
also, let's not pretend US is a human rights champion either. Patriot Act. Foreign policies. Police brutality stories. Unhealthy and unregulated working hours in many jobs. and over history, slavery, injustice toward women, dangerous industrial conditions, and other bad things. Just because China has some problems now doesn't mean they are a bad country; the government has problems just as any other and they may well correct their problems in the decades to come just as the US and others may.
meanwhile, this does not preclude my willingness to care about the civilians and people of any country. - ChileanGoD, on 07/06/2008, -2/+7^ And that's why, sir, we're the ***** species that we are right now.
- inactive, on 07/06/2008, -3/+8China's problems aren't caused by a lack of ressources. They are caused by inhumane policies and a complete disregard for all forms of life.
And let's not pretend China is a human rights champion. Tibet and Darfur come to mind. Not to mention that they are the world's top consumers of endangered species.
Help those who help themselves.
Don't help immoral or unethical regimes.
If Nazi germany had suffered from famine, would you send food to the regime?
And caring about your own before caring about others is only natural. In fact it's why we have races and different ethnicities and societies. If your kids were hungry, would you feed the neighbor's kids first? - DCJoeDogaswell, on 07/04/2008, -25/+30As bad as that is I have to worry about how bad things are here in America, we can't worry about other people UNTIL we get our own problems sorted out first. I know it seems cold but the truth usually is. We have a dying economy, oil crisis, war, drugs, education problems, etc, and you want me to worry about some village I will never set foot in my entire life, sorry but I can't do that. Go ahead and digg me down, but I want to fix our problems first.
- 007isbond1, on 07/06/2008, -0/+5but then you would need workers to dismantle and that machine when it gets too old.. conundrum
- Sliver85, on 07/06/2008, -0/+4Who the ***** brings a mac vs. pc debate into the comments for a story like this.
- hummingbird, on 07/06/2008, -0/+4I think he has a bit of a point. Think of how many countries are hugely affected by american policy. Think of how much power america has over the imf and the world bank and how those institutions have managed to help drive dozens of countries close to famine. Think of how american governments have helped to install military dictatorships all over the place. The way the world economy is changing though, america is less insulated from the world’s problems and it doesn’t look like that trend is going away. Improving how america works will improve the world imo.
- GordonClass, on 07/06/2008, -4/+8This is totally on the Chinese government. They have the power to change it.
- JoshChan, on 07/06/2008, -7/+11nobody forced them to do it. They do it because they think they are better off living on electronic waste than going back to the village to grow rice. This means the freedom of choice and the western people are fulfilling the duty to help them achieve freedom, and liberty.
- ubundriva, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Very nice of you to adeptly spin this around. Whatever goes wrong, blame the Chinese. You are talking like there's a way for the children to live safely in a city buried by electronic wastes, or it would be perfectly okay if those people sitting in the dump are perfectly trained on occupational safety.
- malaak, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Not having a basement, our old computers sit around in the garage, waiting to be organ donors when our current machines have components that go on the fritz.
- aenegeling, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3totally agree with you mate. hit the nail on the head.
- chedabob, on 07/06/2008, -1/+4There wouldn't be any waste in the village if America didn't put it there...
- kanundro, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Yeah and it sucks that china doesn't have an organization like OSHA mandating safety guidelines. But then again these people aren't working for a company but merely independently as scavengers which an OSHA wouldn't really do much for.
- mccraig416, on 07/06/2008, -2/+5As bad as things are right now for you as an American, I would have to agree with LostRiot that the issues you face pale in comparison to what a majority of the world faces every day. I think a balance can be reached whereby you can be aware and concerned of your own problems, while at the same time being compassionate and helpful to others around the world who don't have a voice. Remember, American's voices are louder and resonate more around the world then those in Guiyu, or other unfortunate regions of the world. Do what you can. Make people aware.
- hollyminkowski, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Old computers have nice switching power supplies that you can quickly rebuild for custom voltages...powerful and stable.
You can find many articles detailing how to do this...it involves rewinding small transformers, but it's easy.
There are always a few 12v and 5v cooling fans you can pull out and use.
You can get good USB sockets out of some cases...good for making custom cables.
The drive cables are good to keep...and always keep the pc's power cord as many devices use these cords.
Old hard drives can be used as external drives with a cheap USB 2 adapter cable.
Lots of good parts.... - zarvensha, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3Lets not worry about our neighbours lets worry about ourselves eh?
So if their house is on fire, stuff em?
And then the flames spread to your house, oh ***** eh?
What happens to your neighbour will affect you, one way or another, so help or pay the consequences.
Isolationist policies have never worked and never will, take a look at the country your TV,DVD player and computer were made, Welcome to the wonderful world of global trade.
One Planet, no choice sunshine - Wrangler76, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3"The BAN team found that much of the electronic waste came from places like L.A., as well as other American states."
Maybe you should do something about it then. Write to your government to tell them to stop exporting this *****. - Wrangler76, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3"The BAN team found that much of the electronic waste came from places like L.A., as well as other American states."
Thank god for American consumerism. - gn0stik, on 07/06/2008, -0/+3yuan, per capita carbon emissions is bogus considering that china has a third of the entire world population. If every person and every city in China behaved like Shangai, or HK, the earth would be well on it's way to becoming the next Venus.
As to US and Human Rights. If there is a country anywhere on the planet that is a Human Rights champion, it's us. In spite of the Iraq War, and Guantanamo etc. There is no other country on the planet that gives more money to Human Rights causes around the world than the US anually. Look it up.
The thing is, the best thing for both countries and the rest of the ***** world at this point, is to just stop doing business with them alltogether. Tax the ***** out of companies that ship jobs overseas, and give incentives to companies that move them home. This little problem would disappear immediately. Along with the soaring oil prices and impending economic collapse here within a single year. You worried about the environment? Bring the jobs home where we have regulation.
That town is nothing compared to the towns in china that mine lead. All these greenpeace ***** have no idea how to deal with these problems. These problems are there because we enabled them to with our global trade policies. Do you think that villiage would be in the condition it's in if we didn't have them manufacturing all of our electronics in the first place?
Same goes for india. Bethlehem Steel just closed down not too long ago because we were handing out contracts to indian governement subsidized indian steel companies to make manhole covers. For what? To save 2 cents on the dollar. And we lose an American company who's held this contract for ever. Pathetic short sighted idiots. END THE GLOBAL ECONOMY! - winmac96, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Aw, just look at the cutesy, cheeky, little trash collector. Man, that is just a disgrace to humanity.
- inactive, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2It is much cheaper to pay humans 1.5 USD a month. Why bother with a robot when you have a cheap, renewable labour source?
- chedabob, on 07/06/2008, -2/+4Good point, except America is contributing to the problems in that village.
- Harbinger67, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2I was expecting an article on 4chan.
- inactive, on 07/06/2008, -1/+3I feel sad for my Chinese peeps....I will not buy any electronics for one year to honor Guiyu....
- Wrangler76, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Oh. So it's COMPLETELY China's fault? Why is USA SENDING them knowing this is happening? I thought the Americans respected human rights and the environment! By doing this, they are supporting this injustice!
- WebWorker, on 07/07/2008, -0/+2They should make a movie about it and make me feel emotion for it too.
- cheezintern, on 07/07/2008, -0/+2They probably like eating..
- xtothepowerofx, on 07/06/2008, -1/+3i pity anyone whot diggs this up and agrees with this (im still hoping that JoshChan was being sarcastic). sooo... because we found some people that were poor enough that they would be slightly better off by goin through our garbage (because we are unfathomably wasteful) that we should consider sending them our waste as "help" ?!..
- yuanzhoulu, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2yup, exactly same in India, there's a reason why people still farm using oxcarts and children there.
- YZBot, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2It's worth more to sell the scrap. Besides, the metals would just end going back over there anyways. They are the ones manufacturing most of the goods we buy. If they don't want the stuff they should have import laws preventing it from coming in. The truth is, they want the stuff. They just have crappy laws regarding worker safety. That's on their hands, not ours.
There are machines that grind up the electronics and use chemicals to extract the different metals, and they do have and use those machines over there. There are however these isolated places where cheap labor is used instead mechanization. Again, they need to solve that problem over there. - Math, on 07/07/2008, -0/+2These are your problems. You just shipped them to another country so that you wouldn't have to deal with them.
- KingGorilla, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1I bet you do the same with regular organs too
- KingGorilla, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1A la Office Space
- homer082, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1Its neither country's faults (between China and US)..Its the electronics companies fault for not thinking about disposal or recovery of their products once it dies out. Every product regardless if it is from the electronics or even the automotive industry should at least make it a sense to put a GREEN in almost all stages of their products. Be it during the manufacturing stage or when it is on its end of life stage.
If China is the e-waste dump, India is also one of the disposal areas for old ships..Even hospital waste are ship outside the country not for proper disposal but because it is cheaper to have it dump somewhere..Japan actually do this..
I can say that nearly all industries has it fair share of disposing waste to other 3rd world country to lessen disposal cost or even retrieval.. - FuZi0nDET, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1It's not exactly common knowledge where you can dispose of old electronics properly. Its not like you can just dump it in with the rest of your recyclables on trash day. If companies are dumping electronic components in China then it is on both the company and the Chinese government for these deplorable hazards to peoples health. What's to say that when you drop off your e-junk for recycling that it actually gets recycled and doesn't end up in a town like this?
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