Comments on: Executive Recycling probably kills kids in China (Updated)

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:25:32 +0000

You didn’t sound snarky to me, Lex, and that’s not how I interpreted it.

By: Lex

Lex — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:14:57 +0000

Brian, what i don’t get is how/why we people have ended up valuing just about everything over people. Damn the consequences for the children, there’s gold in them thar old televisions. It just kills me.

BTW, i hope i didn’t sound snarky. I certainly didn’t mean it. I said it because the story had a personal connection for you; that is, you tried to do the right thing by recycling your television and it turned into this horror show. Or maybe i was transferring, because i feel my involvement in the wrongs of this world all too acutely and all too often…even without having to watch them (as directly as you) on 60 minutes.

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:44:31 +0000

Yeah, it upsets me more than my post revealed, Lex. I’m an electrical engineer – I design and build things every day with all those toxic materials in them, and to see them being burned in the open, watching them using an acid leech bath to extract the gold (that’s then almost certainly boiled off into the town’s air, leaving the gold behind), watching little kids doing work in the “recycling” yard that adults would need protective gear and a building with carefully controlled airflow, exhaust and water discharge monitoring, and probably things I’m not even thinking of right now to do safely…. Well, I’m a little upset by all that.

This is one of those situations where my general agreement with the ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” runs smack into my desire for poetic justice.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:00:39 +0000

The amazing thing is that Broomfield really tried to go with a good company. They toured the plant, looked at shipping invoices, checked state and federal records, etc. Even with all that, we all got screwed.

By: Lex

Lex — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:10:44 +0000

It’s getting harder and harder to trust, and nothing’s worse than getting the rug yanked out from underneath you when trying to do the right thing.

We may have a sulfide mining project for nickel going into a much used, and sensitive, area right outside of town. Many are, or course, dead set against it…across the spectrum. But one of the arguments “for” it (quotes because its a tepid “for”) is that if we say no, Kennecot will just go somewhere where nobody’s watching and and do whatever they want. The argument makes some sense, but only if we have any actual power to stop them.

In any case, i’m sorry, Brian, because i have a feeling that this upsets you more than your post revealed…

By: Josh Catone

Josh Catone — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:53:38 +0000

This doesn’t really help after the fact, but in the future you can use http://versionista.com/ to keep an eye on changes at pages.