Last week, between snow shovelling, I posted a little blog with a video of an interesting cover of Outcast's Hey Ya, by Obidiah Parker. While shuffling around youtube for the link, I happened upon some African pop videos, and got arrested by Nneka Lucia Egbuna. According to her Wikipedia biography, Nneka was raised in Warri, a petroleum ("resource curse") pothole turned "cosmopolitan city" of 312,000 in the delta of Southern Nigeria.
Nneka grew up in Nigeria, but went to university in Hamburg at 18... a big cultural gulf. In the theme of gangstagrass / cultural melting pots and urban music, I listened to several of the songs on her "Soul is Heavy" album last night and this morning.
I'm posting more about Nneka for two reasons. First, I like a couple of her songs a lot, especially the title track of Soul is Heavy (which I posted below the Outcast cover). It was only when I listened/watched the video a second time that I realized the background of the chorus "teach me lies" is adorned with old African television sets.
I don't pretend to know Nneka's position on the Interpol crackdown vs. the "geeks of color" whose cause I've embraced, but in a second video, "My Home", she poses as two things - a conflict metal gold mining worker (the place Western mercury from recycling programs gets sold, for alleuvial gold mining) and then a city trash worker (I presume in Lagos, wearing .A.W.M.A- LAGOS STATE WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY, on an orange PPE - personal protective equipment uniform). Damn. Must watch.
Below... at least watch through the coltan mining and public solid waste worker shots.
That's a pretty good snapshot of what's going on in Africa. Junk televisions rank about as high on Africa's priority list as they did in the USA and Europe in 1990. The "e-waste export crisis" makes as much sense as the Radiator-Aid humorous videos. Recycling stereotype after stereotype.
(*Much more to come, in a future blog, about the RustyRadiator.com project). RustyRadiator project is another northern-Europe / African collaboration, like Nneka, whose moniker reminds me of the #1 hit 30 years ago, when I boarded the flight to Africa to start my Peace Corps career (give up? Nena - of Germany - 99 Luftballoons but that is a "punctuation level digression", or "third level digression" sorry... I've lost a lot of readers on those turns.... end digression*).
Good Point Recycling's head technician, Eric Prempeh, is in Accra for a few weeks, visiting family with his new Vermont wife, and making a few side trips for work to assess demand for used electronics. Eric testified at the Middlebury College Fair Trade Recycling Summit last Earth Week that Africans are far more picky about the used electronics they pay to import than western media would have you believe. When I announce the world bank statistic that 6.9 million households in Nigeria had television in 2007, Eric chuckles.
Next I'll announce the shocking presence of laundromats in metropolitan New York.
What we have here is failure to communicate.
Cathy Jamieson of Vermont ANR, when questioned by municipal representatives about ANR's surprise allowance of CRT glass landfilling, took a very public and direct shot at yours truly, saying her landfilling was far superior to my overseas dumping. That was in a public meeting, to most of our important clients. People who know me well were outraged on my behalf.
In order to comply with ANR's contract terms, we have gone to almost all destruction of the TVs and monitors, with only 6% reuse of anything (mostly PCs) in 2013. That was part of the reason our CRT glass recycling costs were so high. ANR's RFP very specifically banned any local reuse, banned landfilling of the CRT glass, and held exports to incredibly high standards.
As I go over the Agency's new 22 pages of rules, for Vermont Independent Plans, it seems ANR is madly going through its sock drawers looking for a reason for disqualifying Good Point Recycling. An old, discredited, tired allegation about export markets? Fair game to ANR, though this was AFTER having declared us the lowest and most qualified recycler (using the same markets). It was used by Jamieson to justify switching horses to Casella, which delared landfilling of CRT glass it's primary end market. ANR reacted not to any environmental concern about Good Point's (disallowed) exports or Casella's (allowed) landfilling, but reacted to the real prospect that most Vermont municipalities would use an experienced, Vermont-based, non-landfilling, R2 certified recycler (vs. Casella's NH contractor) if given half a chance. The 22-page statute is ANR's "circling the wagons, to take that choice off the table by erecting barriers for municipalities and manufacturers to offer that option.
Good Point Recycling is responding with an expansion of our Independent Plan to collectors in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. And I've been very busy uploading any FOIA responses I get up to Scribd.
But back to Nneka Egbuna...
We have corruption in Mexico, corruption in Tucson, corruption in Vermont, and corruption in Africa. The world is becoming more and more equal.
It is incredibly hard for me not to publicly accuse the Vermont Agency of at least accidental racism. But that's a tough spot for a white guy. Yes, I'm married to someone from overseas, yes I'm in a bilingual household, and yes I lived in Africa. But I'm not a qualified spokesperson for the Geeks of Ghana, the Nerds of Nigeria, or Techs of Tanzania.
But when it comes to government abuse and corruption, Nneka and I are on the same page.
Wake up Africa, wake up and stop blaming. And as Joel Osteen told me when I woke up and turned on the TV this morning, I should do the same. Stop trying to make people like you if they are determined not to. Make sure God likes you.
The Ostereen-Nneka-Ingenthron-Jamieson connection shows how the world's mind is being blown by internet and music and will to do the right thing.
)
Wow. Check out the lyrics below. This is what the younger, smarter, internet-connected, savvy Africans are saying an thinking. They see right through the dictators blamecasting of colonialists and "e-waste" rules to block internet cafes. The Green Revolution is coming, and it's not just green.
I can share tales of corruption and ignorance in Vermont, and Africans can share tales of corruption and ignorance in Africa, and the Chicas Bravas can share information about corrupt mayors and drug dealers in Sonora Mexico. Indians, Malaysians, Indonesians and Chinese are making electric connections. The walls are coming down, the borders are being bridged, the truth is delicious. Vermont cannot kill the message, even if the waste mob boss knocks me off, the future is here and it's younger than our adversaries.
Try replacing the word "colonial fathers" with "original equipment manufacturers".
"Africans"
And now for something a little happier sounding. Pharrell Williams "Happy", performed for a laptop playing the music, and filmed on the laptop videocam, on the streets of Yaounde Cameroon, where I served in Peace Corps 30 years ago this year, and returned with a concept I call "the Tinkerer's Blessing". This video may be the theme song.
Nneka grew up in Nigeria, but went to university in Hamburg at 18... a big cultural gulf. In the theme of gangstagrass / cultural melting pots and urban music, I listened to several of the songs on her "Soul is Heavy" album last night and this morning.
I'm posting more about Nneka for two reasons. First, I like a couple of her songs a lot, especially the title track of Soul is Heavy (which I posted below the Outcast cover). It was only when I listened/watched the video a second time that I realized the background of the chorus "teach me lies" is adorned with old African television sets.
I don't pretend to know Nneka's position on the Interpol crackdown vs. the "geeks of color" whose cause I've embraced, but in a second video, "My Home", she poses as two things - a conflict metal gold mining worker (the place Western mercury from recycling programs gets sold, for alleuvial gold mining) and then a city trash worker (I presume in Lagos, wearing .A.W.M.A- LAGOS STATE WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY, on an orange PPE - personal protective equipment uniform). Damn. Must watch.
Below... at least watch through the coltan mining and public solid waste worker shots.
That's a pretty good snapshot of what's going on in Africa. Junk televisions rank about as high on Africa's priority list as they did in the USA and Europe in 1990. The "e-waste export crisis" makes as much sense as the Radiator-Aid humorous videos. Recycling stereotype after stereotype.
(*Much more to come, in a future blog, about the RustyRadiator.com project). RustyRadiator project is another northern-Europe / African collaboration, like Nneka, whose moniker reminds me of the #1 hit 30 years ago, when I boarded the flight to Africa to start my Peace Corps career (give up? Nena - of Germany - 99 Luftballoons but that is a "punctuation level digression", or "third level digression" sorry... I've lost a lot of readers on those turns.... end digression*).
Good Point Recycling's head technician, Eric Prempeh, is in Accra for a few weeks, visiting family with his new Vermont wife, and making a few side trips for work to assess demand for used electronics. Eric testified at the Middlebury College Fair Trade Recycling Summit last Earth Week that Africans are far more picky about the used electronics they pay to import than western media would have you believe. When I announce the world bank statistic that 6.9 million households in Nigeria had television in 2007, Eric chuckles.
Next I'll announce the shocking presence of laundromats in metropolitan New York.
What we have here is failure to communicate.
Cathy Jamieson of Vermont ANR, when questioned by municipal representatives about ANR's surprise allowance of CRT glass landfilling, took a very public and direct shot at yours truly, saying her landfilling was far superior to my overseas dumping. That was in a public meeting, to most of our important clients. People who know me well were outraged on my behalf.
In order to comply with ANR's contract terms, we have gone to almost all destruction of the TVs and monitors, with only 6% reuse of anything (mostly PCs) in 2013. That was part of the reason our CRT glass recycling costs were so high. ANR's RFP very specifically banned any local reuse, banned landfilling of the CRT glass, and held exports to incredibly high standards.
As I go over the Agency's new 22 pages of rules, for Vermont Independent Plans, it seems ANR is madly going through its sock drawers looking for a reason for disqualifying Good Point Recycling. An old, discredited, tired allegation about export markets? Fair game to ANR, though this was AFTER having declared us the lowest and most qualified recycler (using the same markets). It was used by Jamieson to justify switching horses to Casella, which delared landfilling of CRT glass it's primary end market. ANR reacted not to any environmental concern about Good Point's (disallowed) exports or Casella's (allowed) landfilling, but reacted to the real prospect that most Vermont municipalities would use an experienced, Vermont-based, non-landfilling, R2 certified recycler (vs. Casella's NH contractor) if given half a chance. The 22-page statute is ANR's "circling the wagons, to take that choice off the table by erecting barriers for municipalities and manufacturers to offer that option.
Good Point Recycling is responding with an expansion of our Independent Plan to collectors in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. And I've been very busy uploading any FOIA responses I get up to Scribd.
But back to Nneka Egbuna...
We have corruption in Mexico, corruption in Tucson, corruption in Vermont, and corruption in Africa. The world is becoming more and more equal.
But when it comes to government abuse and corruption, Nneka and I are on the same page.
Wake up Africa, wake up and stop blaming. And as Joel Osteen told me when I woke up and turned on the TV this morning, I should do the same. Stop trying to make people like you if they are determined not to. Make sure God likes you.
The Ostereen-Nneka-Ingenthron-Jamieson connection shows how the world's mind is being blown by internet and music and will to do the right thing.
)
Wow. Check out the lyrics below. This is what the younger, smarter, internet-connected, savvy Africans are saying an thinking. They see right through the dictators blamecasting of colonialists and "e-waste" rules to block internet cafes. The Green Revolution is coming, and it's not just green.
It is so comfortable to say racism is the cause
But this time it is the same colour chasing and biting us
Knowledge and selfishness that they gave to us,this is what we use to abuse us
I can share tales of corruption and ignorance in Vermont, and Africans can share tales of corruption and ignorance in Africa, and the Chicas Bravas can share information about corrupt mayors and drug dealers in Sonora Mexico. Indians, Malaysians, Indonesians and Chinese are making electric connections. The walls are coming down, the borders are being bridged, the truth is delicious. Vermont cannot kill the message, even if the waste mob boss knocks me off, the future is here and it's younger than our adversaries.
Try replacing the word "colonial fathers" with "original equipment manufacturers".
"Africans"
You keep pushing the blame on our colonial fathers
You say they came and they took all we had possessed
They have to take the abuse that they have caused our present state with their intruding history
Use our goodness and nourishment in the Name of missionary
Lied to us, blinded slaved us, misplaced us, strengthen us, hardened us then they replaced us now we got to learn from pain
Now it is up to us to gain some recognition
If we stop blaming we could get a better condition
(wake up world!)
Wake up world!!
Wake up and stop sleeping
Wake up africa!!
Wake up and stop blaming
Open ur eyes!!
Stand up and rise
Road block oh life penalty
Why do we want to remain where we started
And how long do we want to stop ourselves from thinking
We should learn from experience that what we are here for this existence
But now we decide to use the same hatred to oppress our own brothers
It is so comfortable to say racism is the cause
But this time it is the same colour chasing and biting us
Knowledge and selfishness that they gave to us,this is what we use to abuse us
Wake up world!!
Wake up and stop sleeping
Wake up africa!!
Wake up and stop blaming
Open ur eyes!!
Stand up and rise
Road block oh life penalty
Those who have ears let them hear
Brothers who are not brainwashed takt ruins and rest
Pick them up and stick them back together
This is the only way we can change this african weather
Lied to us, blinded slaved us, misplaced us, strengthen us, hardened us then they replaced us now we got to learn from pain
Wake up world!!
Wake up and stop sleeping
Wake up africa!!
Wake up and stop blaming
Open ur eyes!!
Stand up and rise
Road block oh life penalty
You say they came and they took all we had possessed
They have to take the abuse that they have caused our present state with their intruding history
Use our goodness and nourishment in the Name of missionary
Lied to us, blinded slaved us, misplaced us, strengthen us, hardened us then they replaced us now we got to learn from pain
Now it is up to us to gain some recognition
If we stop blaming we could get a better condition
(wake up world!)
Wake up world!!
Wake up and stop sleeping
Wake up africa!!
Wake up and stop blaming
Open ur eyes!!
Stand up and rise
Road block oh life penalty
Why do we want to remain where we started
And how long do we want to stop ourselves from thinking
We should learn from experience that what we are here for this existence
But now we decide to use the same hatred to oppress our own brothers
It is so comfortable to say racism is the cause
But this time it is the same colour chasing and biting us
Knowledge and selfishness that they gave to us,this is what we use to abuse us
Wake up world!!
Wake up and stop sleeping
Wake up africa!!
Wake up and stop blaming
Open ur eyes!!
Stand up and rise
Road block oh life penalty
Those who have ears let them hear
Brothers who are not brainwashed takt ruins and rest
Pick them up and stick them back together
This is the only way we can change this african weather
Lied to us, blinded slaved us, misplaced us, strengthen us, hardened us then they replaced us now we got to learn from pain
Wake up world!!
Wake up and stop sleeping
Wake up africa!!
Wake up and stop blaming
Open ur eyes!!
Stand up and rise
Road block oh life penalty
And now for something a little happier sounding. Pharrell Williams "Happy", performed for a laptop playing the music, and filmed on the laptop videocam, on the streets of Yaounde Cameroon, where I served in Peace Corps 30 years ago this year, and returned with a concept I call "the Tinkerer's Blessing". This video may be the theme song.
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