High-Tech Trash (abstract) by Chris Carroll

It wasn't surprising to hear about how much trash humans produce, but I don't think about e-trash when I hear the word trash, I think garbage from the bathroom, kitchen, etc. I believed that all the phones we recycled were recycled safely- not shipped to places like Asia and Africa for people to sift through and sell for money; while increasing their chances of dying sooner because of all the toxins. THIS is a new "all-time low" I've heard about people, and it's disgusting. People are so greedy for money, that although they know the harm it does to sell electronics to under-developed countries, they go about and do it anyway.Someone told Carroll "All you can do is sell it to scrap people. What they do with it from that point, I don't know nothing about it." That's the problem with us, we don't care about how others are effecting our world if our hands aren't dirty in the end. Another man said "They said this stuff was all going to be recycled and put back into use. It seemed environmentally responsible. and it was profitable, because I was getting paid to have it taken off my hands." It seems as long as we benefit, we should only do our part and not worry about what happens elsewhere. Yes, some people don't know what's going on after they're done with their part, but it's our responsibility to be conscious of what's going on around us. If we are ignorant like this, it's only going to make our world worse. "It's not all that surprising things are coming full circle and now we're getting contaminated products back." Said Weidenhamer, but how far do we have to go before we realize that something is really, really wrong?

Lita*