Maybe it was the Hans Rosling video? Maybe I really am manic? Or maybe a thaw, a "correction" is on its way.
Without forgetting about the #Hurricane exporters, it occurs to me that there's actually really good news about "e-waste recycling". Rather than emphasizing the "environmental malpractice", here's another way to look at it.
FEEL GOOD
This is ultimately a happy ending. Everyone was told there was a crisis, in ghoulish halloween hyperbole, singed with #ewastegate statistics, toxic adjectives and sad-eyed (brown) children.
As it turns out, the "third world", as we knew it in the 1970s, has virtually gone away. And households in Africa who make a living fixing used electronics earn six times more than average wages, meeting the needs of growing cities without mining for coltan or cutting down rainforests to expose gorillas to tantalum digging.
It's good work and it turns out you never needed to boycott these people in the first place. And more good news keeps coming...
