4 ms·

The Toxic Effects of Electronic Waste in Accra, Ghana (2019)

27 points by bonefishgrill 3y ago

Syonyk 3y ago
It's slave labor (or close to slave labor) during production (Cobalt Red, Dying for an iPhone are some good overview books on the matter, though you can dive in further if you care), it's working against the "owner" of the device (who often doesn't actually have much in the way of access) during life, collecting behavioral surplus to sell to people who'd like to influence the owner (Zuboff's book on Surveillance Capitalism is a good read here, though the recent Means of Control book looking at the data flows from adtech into government is a useful one too), and it's burned in a third world country at end of life. Maybe digital consumer tech was a bad idea. At least the way we've gone about it.
- throwaway48476 3y ago
  There's only slave labor because the political situation has prevented the investment in mechanization that every other mine has gotten.
notnmeyer 3y ago
i coincidentally just watched something about this last night, https://youtu.be/LGBqUM29vic?si=6h_-JwbhbVdKqejA https://youtu.be/LGBqUM29vic?si=6h_-JwbhbVdKqejA very interesting, pretty sad
s4mw1se 3y ago
just think about all the keyboards that will get thrown away because people upgraded to one that has a copilot key.
true_religion 3y ago
It’s funny that this news is getting traction but the fact that for the past 5 days, the entire country (and 4 others in the region) was without reliable internet due to 4 undersea cables simultaneously being cut didn’t receive any attention.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
aaron695 3y ago
[dead]
krmboya 3y ago
The perpetual chase for quarterly growth means companies churn out products for consumers in developed economies who discard their older toys for the new shiny ones. So much waste is generated and a lot of it is shipped to poorer nations, in some cases via govt applied pressure (like in second hand clothing). It's now up to these poorer nations to figure out how to deal with the waste. Developed nations should step up right to repair campaigns and punish planned obsolescence by manufacturers to push back against this churn generated by the chase for endless quarterly growth. I've never seen planned obsolescence feature in discussions about excess carbon dioxide emissions

27 points by bonefishgrill 3y ago

It's slave labor (or close to slave labor) during production (Cobalt Red, Dying for an iPhone are some good overview books on the matter, though you can dive in further if you care), it's working against the "owner" of the device (who often doesn't actually have much in the way of access) during life, collecting behavioral surplus to sell to people who'd like to influence the owner (Zuboff's book on Surveillance Capitalism is a good read here, though the recent Means of Control book looking at the data flows from adtech into government is a useful one too), and it's burned in a third world country at end of life. Maybe digital consumer tech was a bad idea. At least the way we've gone about it.

throwaway48476 3y ago
There's only slave labor because the political situation has prevented the investment in mechanization that every other mine has gotten.

notnmeyer 3y ago

i coincidentally just watched something about this last night, https://youtu.be/LGBqUM29vic?si=6h_-JwbhbVdKqejA https://youtu.be/LGBqUM29vic?si=6h_-JwbhbVdKqejA very interesting, pretty sad

s4mw1se 3y ago

just think about all the keyboards that will get thrown away because people upgraded to one that has a copilot key.

true_religion 3y ago

It’s funny that this news is getting traction but the fact that for the past 5 days, the entire country (and 4 others in the region) was without reliable internet due to 4 undersea cables simultaneously being cut didn’t receive any attention.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

aaron695 3y ago

[dead]

krmboya 3y ago

The perpetual chase for quarterly growth means companies churn out products for consumers in developed economies who discard their older toys for the new shiny ones. So much waste is generated and a lot of it is shipped to poorer nations, in some cases via govt applied pressure (like in second hand clothing). It's now up to these poorer nations to figure out how to deal with the waste. Developed nations should step up right to repair campaigns and punish planned obsolescence by manufacturers to push back against this churn generated by the chase for endless quarterly growth. I've never seen planned obsolescence feature in discussions about excess carbon dioxide emissions