Time Out! The Economist Babbage Blog Blows E-Waste Hoax Horn of 2009

Following twitter (via Adam Minter) I ran across an editorial/blog in my favorite periodical, The Economist.  I've linked to some well researched articles in the Economist here in the blog, e.g. about emerging markets and urban development.  I continue to subscribe, buy subscriptions as gifts, and hold The Economist in high regard.

But holy cow... what kind of 2008 garbage is this piece by Editorialist Babbage?  Where Gadgets Go to Die (7/21/2014).  He's repeating statistics disavowed by BAN, referring to Greenpeace's 2009 campaign, and alluding to a vast unknown market for burning computers.  In a Sci/Tech Column, for godsake!  Oh the humanity?


I do encourage followers of the blog to read the article and to comment, and to refer Babbage and Economist SciTech to BAN's retraction of it's overseas dumping "statistics" and recognition of the UNEP reports from a year ago.  Find links at "How the Basel Action Network Saved Africa" posted a year ago last month.

And here's some breaking news about "collateral damage" Hurricane Joe Benson I just received

Just a quick note to let you know that Joe was moved, last Friday, to Maidstone Prison.

Maidstone is an open prison so at least the conditions he is in will be improved.

It should be a lot easier for Juan to get an interview with Joe.

His date of Birth is 15th April 1960.  We still don't have a prison Number but give it a try anyway.

This makes me sick.  The EU is ruining Africa for everybody.



"Project Eden" should be reviewed by serious journalists, including the Economist, Jeffrey Gettleman, etc. Sure, there are still a lot of problems, but there is also way too much actual research by institutions, like Memorial University and MIT, for Babbage to access before writing puff pieces for RERA.

About Babbage

Reports on the intersections between science, technology, culture and policy, in a blog named after Charles Babbage, a Victorian mathematician and engineer

And a Victorian view of China, Africa, and the other 6 billion people as well....

Will keep this short today, but cannot resist bragging about my newest direct friend on Facebook, the soukous Congolese guitar LEGEND, Shaba Kahamba.   He is retired in the Netherlands now, but was kind enough to accept my friend request a month or two ago.  If you are shopping for the best ever soukous album, I recommend Bitumba.  Listen for what they call "shifting of gears" as he compounds the polyrhythm of the electric guitar, and imagine yourself sitting shotgun with a Formula One racecar driver, zipping over the Alps (as I will be doing this Friday in my rented Alpha Romero, cheapest option at Milan Italy airport).  Youtube sample below.


For the history of Congolese soukous guitar, read Rumba on the River.  Then ask yourselves, was the electric guitar which Shaba Kahamba and Franco had to restring and retune, and basically re-invent, illegal "e-waste"?  Would Africa be better off if the electric guitars were kept off limits until a recycling infrastructure was in place?

Planned Obsolescence is no friend to the poor.