Note: I updated this post from last year, because Jim Puckett has twice accused me of mudslinging in the past week, and I saw the link to the Chicago Patch article was gone. JUST the one article is missing, by the way, the one where BAN insults me personally. I didn't mean to raise it to a new publication date. But not sure how to put it back onto last year.
Continue below if you like the rerun / refresher.
See the article below for the apology offered to Willie Cade and I. Here's the quote:
That's the issue. Apologizing for calling me a liar isn't enough if you don't also make an effort to allow the person to defend the truth of their statement. Of course if Don "has seen it", I'd like to know about it as that's a very specific claim to make to a reporter.
I educated Basel Action Network about the Contract Manufacturing, SemiKnockDown or SKD capacity in Asia and Latin America. BAN objected to "elective upgrade", when a factory removes, say, a 512k RAM and replaces it with 2Gig, saying the upgrade is "transboundary movement". We offered that the replaced or upgraded part be properly recycled, e.g. at Dowa in Japan. BAN said that was not enough, the part had to be replaced prior to shipment, meaning if the factory MIGHT upgrade a board or chip or memory, that chip must be removed prior to shipment... in which case the item is no longer "fully functional" or "tested working", and the discussions broke down. But this has NOTHING to do with "E-Waste Chernobyl".
This is about Alter-Globalization vs. Anti-Globalization.
So this isn't over. I made a gracious offer to prove to Donald that we don't dump on the poor, that the factories we deal with are state of the art. If BAN is disagreeing with them on a technicality, make that technicality known, and use an argument which acknowledges a Chinese man who has 1200 employees and makes 5,000 CRT monitors per day just MIGHT be professional and talented enough to do something besides burn them in a ditch surrounded by children.
I've focused on CRT monitors, but this is true of cell phone recycling, capacitor-plague Pentium IVs, and other high tech "ewaste" exports. Remember this photo journey in TechTravels (follow all 4 in the series).
The apology to ME isn't important. The concept that prohibitions and boycotts will improve slums, or that trade creates slums, that is a bad concept. That is the policy issue.
Continue below if you like the rerun / refresher.
See the article below for the apology offered to Willie Cade and I. Here's the quote:
"They will lie right through their teeth," Summers said. "It's amazing — I've seen it. Robin Ingenthron is known as a really crazy guy — sorry, I don't like dissing folks, but he is a huge outlier."
...Summers then criticized Ingenthron and Cade for promoting the "myth that there are all these wonderful high-tech facilities in China,' adding more harsh comments about Ingenthron's character.Here's the dilemma. Don apologized (see below)... to me. But the problem isn't insulting me. The problem is calling the factories in China "myths". To withdraw calling me a crazy liar without confronting the veracity of the statement isn't really good enough. I have invited Donald Summers to come here and let me PROVE to him that the CRT tubes in the Hong Kong segment of CBS Wasteland did NOT go to Guiyu.
That's the issue. Apologizing for calling me a liar isn't enough if you don't also make an effort to allow the person to defend the truth of their statement. Of course if Don "has seen it", I'd like to know about it as that's a very specific claim to make to a reporter.
A person who harms another's reputation may be referred to as a "famacide", "defamer", or "slanderer". The Latin phrase famosus libellus means a libelous writing.If I continue to accuse Basel Action Network of "famacide", it is not because they attack ME. It's the geeks of color, who I genuinely admire, and who I genuinely think have been defamed in the American press.
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| Ingenthron invites Summers, too, for a brew |
This is about Alter-Globalization vs. Anti-Globalization.
So this isn't over. I made a gracious offer to prove to Donald that we don't dump on the poor, that the factories we deal with are state of the art. If BAN is disagreeing with them on a technicality, make that technicality known, and use an argument which acknowledges a Chinese man who has 1200 employees and makes 5,000 CRT monitors per day just MIGHT be professional and talented enough to do something besides burn them in a ditch surrounded by children.
I've focused on CRT monitors, but this is true of cell phone recycling, capacitor-plague Pentium IVs, and other high tech "ewaste" exports. Remember this photo journey in TechTravels (follow all 4 in the series).
The apology to ME isn't important. The concept that prohibitions and boycotts will improve slums, or that trade creates slums, that is a bad concept. That is the policy issue.
Watchdog Consultant Apologizes for Personal Attacks in E-Waste Exporting Article
A consultant for the Basel Action Network has publicly apologized for his "stupid personal attacks" against two recycling company owners.
Recent statements from a BAN consultant prove exporting really is a hot button topic in the recycling industry.
Robin Ingenthron and Willie Cade weighed in on the environmental risks of exporting and the relevancy of the Basel Convention in a Sept. 21 Patch article. After the article was published BAN Consultant Donald Summers had some harsh words for the men. Words he says he regrets.
"In the heat of the moment, regarding an issue about which there are strong passions on both sides, I made improper comments about Willie Cade and Robin Ingenthron," Summer said. "I completely withdrawal these comments about their character, apologize publicly to both gentleman, and regret confusing the genuine policy debate at issue here with inappropriate and stupid personal attacks."
BAN founder Jim Puckett said he was out of the country when Summers' comments were published, but issued a statement separating the watchdog's views from the consultant's.
BAN disassociates itself completely with all statements made to you by our business consultant Mr. Donald Summers.We did not and would never authorize such statements and do not hold them to be true. Donald has apologized to all affected parties for his statements.
Cade said he accepts Summers' apology.
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A consultant for the Basel Action Network was fired up after reading a Patch story about exporting hazardous materials to foreign countries.
Donald Summers said he helped BAN set up the E-Stewards Certification, raise money and recruit businesses, and took exception to the final installment of Patch's five-part examination of the conflict between InterconSolutions and the Basel Action Network. In particular, Summers disagreed with what recycling business owners Robin Ingenthron and Willie Cade had to say about exporting and the Basel Convention.
Read Ingenthron's and Cade's comments on exporting recyclables in last week's article "Where E-Waste Lands: Laws, Stigmas and Truths."
Summers sent an email to Patch calling Ingenthron and Cade huge supporters of "dumping on poor people."
Rather than making any division between BAN and Intercon, Summers made the split between BAN's E-Stewards Certification and the older R2 Certification:
Here's how I look at it: we've got two sides, each saying the other is wrong. So, then you take it to the next level: who has the most credibility?
The E-Stewards Certification has the endorsements of over 70 (environmental) groups, major corporations such as Samsung and Alcoa, cities like Seattle and San Jose, and it has all the largest recycling companies, the ones with the capital to invest in the expensive equipment to do it right.
On the other side, you've got R2, which is backed by the trade association. You need to understand that e-waste recyclers are basically junkyard operators. So many of them are these little tiny shops that are OK with dumping — they aren't sophisticated. And they are represented by a trade association, ISRI, that, like every other trade association, fights for the lowest common denominator. Recall how the tobacco industry used its trade association and it all becomes clear.
Summers then criticized Ingenthron and Cade for promoting the "myth that there are all these wonderful high-tech facilities in China,' adding more harsh comments about Ingenthron's character.
"They will lie right through their teeth," Summers said. "It's amazing — I've seen it. Robin Ingenthron is known as a really crazy guy — sorry, I don't like dissing folks, but he is a huge outlier."
Summers went on to refer to Ingenthron and Cade as "green-washers," which are companies that falsely portray themselves as environmentally friendly.
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