When I began watching this video I was shocked to find out the location of the city where it takes place. This heartwrenching story is happening very close to where I am taking my vacation this May: Guiyu, Guangdong Province in China. I am staying with my cousin who works at Shantou University which is very close. When I finished the video I immediately emailed her to let her know that I would be taking a day trip to see it for myself.
Something about this just made me snap inside. It's maybe the final straw of realization that I have been living at other people's expense. The only reason I am living my oh so comfortable life is because other people are suffering. I feel like everything I have is tainted. How in God's name did we let it go this far? But the more important question is, now that I know the truth, what will I do about it? And if everyone else knew the truth, what would they do about it? I think it's all too far away. Out of sight and out of mind. I'm going to bring it to them, if I can. The least I can do is take some pictures of what I've seen, and show everyone I know. I want to say, "Can you see what we're doing now? To these people? And to our environment?" 70% of the 20-50 million tons of e-waste/year ends up in China, with most of the rest ending up in other third world countries such as India and Africa. But this little trip is definitely not all that I am going to do. My life can not be the same after this. My heart just won't let it. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to the thing that I want to do for the rest of my life; as in, my "mission," my career. At the beginning of this year I realized I wanted to be in Environmental Science, but I didn't know what I wanted to focus on. I was too interested in too many things, I couldn't figure out what was most important, I couldn't figure out where I was most needed, what I could actually help with....but somehow I feel like I'm growing closer all the time.
I can see everything now. I can see how everything is so intricately connected. As I mentioned in my last blog, I did a research paper on brominated flame retardants for Environmental Chemistry. They put them in our electronics to keep them from catching fire, but they are persistent organic pollutants...bioaccumulative, difficult to degrade, toxic...and released when heated. This means that when our televisions, hairdryers, etc. are on, BFRs are being released...and I thought that was bad. Now my heart is breaking for these people who are burning these circuit boards to get the metals off...and are breathing them in all day, not to mention the heavy metals, and other toxic chemicals, with all their synergistic effects. From production to destruction, our lifestyles are the destroyers of other people's lives.
Bodeen, Christopher. China's e-waste mountain growing. November 19th, 2007. Found at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/article798844.ece Retrieved on: April 7, 2010.
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