Presenting to 150 Recycling "Zero Waste" Activists in Durham NH.
1) We go LIVE with the iPetition to #FREE Hurricane Joe Benson (see tab at right)
2) We go LIVE with the Fair Trade Recycling Ambassador Program Applications (Internship).
Much has been written, and will be written, about Joe Benson's ridiculous trial, convicted based on the "common knowledge" that the "majority" of TVs and electronics he purchased would be dumped and burned.
The Fair Trade Recycling Ambassador Program is being launched to recruit students interested in international travel to fly to countries where used electronics are being purchased and interview the buyers. Find out what's being dumped (if anything) and negotiate improvements (if necessary).
WR3A/FairTradeRecycling would provide relief to the legitimate Geeks Of Color - like Benson's buyers - who are being branded as ignorant children. A college educated Recycling Ambassador could go to Agbogbloshie and find out where the dumped TVs came from (as Grace from Memorial University did, finding they were collected in carts from the City of Ghana, NOT from sea container yards). At the same time, if the buyers aren't all they claim to be, that could also be revealed.
Instead of "fly and buy" (or "fly and lie"), think of it as "fly and sell".
Interns must pass a test on R2 standards and Basel Convention Annex IX, and will be trained to spot "toxics along for the ride".
USA Recycling Companies who value an overseas buyer can sponsor a Fair Trade Recycling Intern to visit their site (but they can't choose the date, must be a semi-random visit). Foreign companies accused of "primitive" recycling operations can sponsor interns, or USA Exchange Students from their own home country (a free flight to visit the family), and show what the CAN do as well as what they cannot do.
Tired of knocking on doors for PIRG? Consider a summer abroad. We are changing "Eco Tourism" from a resort-based model to an urban FIXER-GEEK-TINKERER model, to expose Americans and Europeans to the Tinkerer Blessing.
Coming soon - a guest blog by Camila Fernandez of Middlebury College, about her experience as a Fair Trade Recycling Ambassador to Lima Peru in July 2014. Photos and interviews, followed by a visit by research Team from Memorial University and PUCP Lima.
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