I'm right there with you on a lot of this...you mention the Chinese "links" to Africa...that's an arena for the world leaders to step up to the plate and put some serious consequences in place for such behavior. But no, we give China Most Favored Nation status and increase our trade with them. *sigh* So much for curbing Chinese human rights abuses. Government grants are taxpayer dollars, so maybe a government grant in this case could be one of those "optional" programs like most states have ~ here in Vermont, we offer a lovely special logo on one's license plate, if one chooses to pay more for it when one registers or renews one's car. The money from the "conservation plate" goes to grants that various non-profit groups around the state who apply for the money to help them in their environmental pursuits. Hmmm....or the local firm could susidize its own production through the recycling of other materials it takes in, or has a program by which they provide volunteer opportunities for inmates, thereby reducing their employee costs...the possibilities are endless, if people just start brainstorming like this, instead of coming up with reasons why it WOULDN'T work. :-) Refurbished is good ~ we should be training our kids at the family level to treasure what they have instead of this "disposable thinking" they are in. I think that this is happening at the grassroots level, to some extent, but our consumerism mind-set is hard to break out of. I love asking our 10-year-old daughter, when she wants something, "What are you going to DO with it? What are you going to do with it when you're DONE with it?" Cheers, Kelly
--- On Fri, 7/31/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] What's wrong with growth (was: ESA position on sustainable growth) To: "Kelly Stettner" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, July 31, 2009, 12:17 PM Great ideas, Kelly ! I often wonder on these things -- recycling electronics in the US would work if either electronics were made here, or if the recycled stuff can be sent back to the factories in china, korea, malaysia etc. even japan does not manufacture electronics these days, except high end stuff. Even then its a hard road .. the thing is that manufacturing process lines are set up to use virgin materials in most cases. reusing circuits are seen as very hassly, since they must be very clean (no dust, grease etc), be in perfect working condition ( else customers will lose faith in the brand, be it a laptop or cellphone), and arrive in large enough quantities to not hold up continuous production. If the bulk citizenry were staunchly pro-environment, then they may prefer a company that recycles electronics. But this awareness is lacking, and meanwhile people want goods that will work perfectly for a small period of time before the fashionistas bring out the next year's models...and manufacturers like China are quietly forging links with Africa for access to more raw materials.. Its easier to recycle glass; plastics are harder; electronics is even harder due to the large mix of stuff inside the cute little ipods. Maybe the way to do so is local firms dissassemble used ipods etc, and refurb them, getting a grant from the govt so as to enable a low cost product - imagine, refurbished ipods for $30 as opposed to $149.99 ! cheers amartya
