Can Someone Explain Basel Convention? Part 2

So I just returned from the E-Scrap Conference in Orlando, Florida, held at the Orlando Hilton from September 30 to October 2.  The final session of the conference, moderated by Colin Staub, had 4 panelists.

Jim Puckett, Basel Action Network

Patricia Whiting, Whiting and Daswani Consulting

Craig Boswell, HOBI International (Texas)

Emmanuel Nyaletey, BridgeSolarPower.com 


First, what everyone basically agrees on.  "The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (hereinafter referred to as “the Basel Convention”) was adopted in 1989, in response to a public outcry following the discovery, in the 1980s, in Africa and other parts of the developing world of deposits of toxic wastes imported from abroad." (https://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Overview/History/Overview)

In general, the idea behind the Basel Convention was that industrialized nations shouldn't dump industrial hazardous waste on non-industrialized nations.  We can all agree that makes sense - industry makes money which should be spent on cleaning up the waste those industries make.  


Can Someone Explain Basel To Me?

The only thing that the Basel Convention does is infringe trade in scrap (which was not "waste" when the Convention was first written but later became a concern as a "loophole") between the "rich" (OECD) and "poor" (not OECD) people. 

Bring back the Negro Leagues to Make Recycling Great Again???



Because it certainly allows every Malaysian or Indonesian plastic recycler to buy whatever they want from the 75% of the world that is "not OECD."  The pictures, however sad, do not show anything not explicitly allowed by Basel Convention.

The Convention just advocates that poor people can buy from other poor people, but they cannot buy from rich people. Rich People (OECD) can sell used stuff to other rich people, poor people can recycle stuff from other poor people.

NO ACTIVITY IS CHALLEGED. Only IDENTITIES (nationality) are profiled.

It is purely segregation sold as a moral quality.  And fortunately, the Fair Trade Recycling board member Emmanuel Nyaletey will be on the panel to ask these questions to the audience... next to Jim Puckett of Basel Action Network next Wednesday in Orlando.




Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo: Lo-Fi Science Class with The Amoeba Pe...


I had written several paragraphs about the geniousness of simplicity - when a simpler answer (the planets and sun are not revolving around us, the planets and us revolve around the sun) is smarter than the more complicated explanation.

Somehow the text was deleted, so today I'm just serving up this nice Youtube explanation of how Galileo and Copernicus made everything simpler.

No Joy in Mudville: Mighty Trumpy at the Bat

I try not to politic much on this blog, and have long rolled my eyes at do-gooders on the left, but my long, long defense of "others" in "mudville" makes this too tempting.  Image generated by OpenAI ChatGPT .  Nods to Ernest "Phinney" Thayer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_at_the_Bat 1888 Casey at the Bat poem.  Make Debates Great Again.

Trumpy at the Bat



The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning left to play.
And when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Trumpy could but get a whack at that—
We'd put up even money now, with Trumpy at the bat."

But Flynn preceded Trumpy, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, and the latter was a fake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Trumpy getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Blake safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Trumpy, mighty Trumpy, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Trumpy’s manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Trumpy’s bearing and a smile on Trumpy’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt ’twas Trumpy at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Trumpy’s eye, a sneer curled Trumpy’s lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Trumpy stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped—
“That ain’t my style,” said Trumpy. “Strike one!” the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
“Kill him! Kill the umpire!” shouted someone on the stand;
And it’s likely they’d have killed him had not Trumpy raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Trumpy’s visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Trumpy still ignored it, and the umpire said, “Strike two!”

“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and the echo answered “Fraud!”
But one scornful look from Trumpy and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Trumpy wouldn’t let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Trumpy’s lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Trumpy’s blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Trumpy has struck out.

COP vs SOM: Officials And Parties and Plastic Sustainability

Let's look at the difference between between a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and a Conference of the Parties (COP) in the context of international meetings.

Key Differences

  • Level of Participation: SOMs involve senior officials below the ministerial or head of state level, while COPs involve higher-level representatives and decision-makers.
  • Purpose: SOMs are preparatory and focused on technical or preliminary discussions. COPs are decision-making forums where binding agreements can be made.
  • Outcomes: SOMs produce draft documents, recommendations, or preparatory work. COPs can result in binding international agreements or significant policy decisions.

SOMs are preparatory meetings focused on groundwork and technical discussions, while COPs are high-level, formal meetings where binding decisions and significant agreements are made.

I noticed that if you visit, photograph, or record either SOMs or COPs, a layperson would be hard-pressed to tell the difference.  A bunch of people with titles and badges from various countries show up and vote on language concerning a new or existing convention.

Here is a video of a Senior Officials Meeting for the World Trade Organization.