The Tragedy of Agbogbloshie, the scrap neighborhood of Accra, Ghana, has been a "scene of the crime" which Joe Benson is in prison for. Among the most credible sources for Benson's crime suspicions came a year ago this month, via Scientific American. Ghana is not more polluted than any other emerging urban city. So why, in 2014, is Ghana the butt of the Scientific American headline?
Is this the truth? Is this metal scrapyard in Accra, Ghana, among, close to, remotely, being one of the ten most polluted sites on earth? Scientific American is important and credible, as is the original source - Blacksmith Institute.
No. Accra's scrapyard doesn't compare to Chernobyl or mining hotspots like Kabwe or OK Tedi. It's not pretty, but it is pretty similar to dozens of other auto scrapyards in Guangzhou, Mumbai, Detroit, Jakarta, Rio, etc.
How did the headline above place Accra's automobile, white goods, and electronics scrapyard - and only their scrapyard - on a list with Chernobyl, Ukraine, Kabwe, Zambia, and other mining, smelting, nuclear and petroleum disasters?
In this blog, I'll show you where the research by Blacksmith Institute, behind this headline, was accurate and plentiful. Unfortunately, one tragic citation led to false arrests, collateral damage, and potentially tarnished the brand of a really fine organization. As Dr. Josh Lepawsky has described in "Mapping E-waste as a Controversy: From Statements to Debates II", there has been a pollution of non-peer-reviewed "data" in the discussion of export policy. It will lead to the end of "top ten" lists from Blacksmith Institute.
"E-Waste Dump among Top 10 Most Polluted Sites"
A list of the 10 most polluted places on Earth ranges from nuclear sites to e-waste dumps
Dec 17, 2013 By David Biello
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No. Accra's scrapyard doesn't compare to Chernobyl or mining hotspots like Kabwe or OK Tedi. It's not pretty, but it is pretty similar to dozens of other auto scrapyards in Guangzhou, Mumbai, Detroit, Jakarta, Rio, etc.
How did the headline above place Accra's automobile, white goods, and electronics scrapyard - and only their scrapyard - on a list with Chernobyl, Ukraine, Kabwe, Zambia, and other mining, smelting, nuclear and petroleum disasters?
In this blog, I'll show you where the research by Blacksmith Institute, behind this headline, was accurate and plentiful. Unfortunately, one tragic citation led to false arrests, collateral damage, and potentially tarnished the brand of a really fine organization. As Dr. Josh Lepawsky has described in "Mapping E-waste as a Controversy: From Statements to Debates II", there has been a pollution of non-peer-reviewed "data" in the discussion of export policy. It will lead to the end of "top ten" lists from Blacksmith Institute.
