Earthquake Reveals Environmental Tragedies of Impoverished Nations

The world was considerably rocked last week when a powerful 7.0 earthquake struck the island nation of Haiti, causing widespread death and destruction in one of the most serious natural disasters in recent memory. In the aftermath, there has been an overwhelming sense of urgency, first to rescue those who could be pulled from the rubble, and then to get precious aid – water, food and medical assistance – to the survivors.

As a recent Los Angeles Times article explained,  the earthquake hit the most densely populated corner of a deeply impoverished and troubled nation, and “has challenged the world's capacity to provide help quickly and effectively.”

When something as catastrophic as this devastating earthquake commandeers the headlines, people naturally turn their attention to the hub of disaster. People respond to that sense of urgency with their prayers and, if possible, financial and physical assistance. As the U.S. and other nations send desperately needed help to those who are suffering, the global news media constantly reports every aspect of the tragedy, risking information overload in a world already filled with sad news.

As I witnessed the news media coverage, my heart ached for all of those poor people, just as our sympathies and compassion flow whenever we see images of war, crime, starvation, disease, poverty and other evils of this world. I also wonder where similar sympathy exists for the environmental disaster that continues to unfold and threaten all human life. There definitely is a lack of urgency toward addressing the global e-waste crisis.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes that impact hundreds of thousands of people tend to make everyone think about the power of nature. Human-made disasters tend to make us look for whom to blame. Yet, all of us are responsible for taking care of this planet, whose resources are limited and whose population seems largely unaware of the drastic ecological changes that are happening.

Just as people only now are beginning to realize that one reason this earthquake caused so much damage is because Haiti is largely an “impoverished and troubled nation,” as the Los Angeles Times points out, people need to be aware that there are evident repercussions to the environmental mess we’ve created and must control.

Electronic waste, simply put, is a global crisis. The damage done is not as evident as a massive earthquake. The people killed by its effects aren’t shown on the global media stage. But the e-waste juggernaut represents more than an isolated tragedy that affects just a few people in some far-off land. It’s happening because those of us who reside in the Western world are permitting it to take place.

Another Los Angeles Times article recently estimated that Americans own an average of 23 consumer electronics per household, underlining the reason why e-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the U.S. Americans dispose of more than 205 million computer products a year, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and only 16% of that hardware reportedly is recycled.

The Basel Action Network (BAN) continues to serve as another voice crying in the wilderness, telling us  that unscrupulous businesses claiming to be electronics recyclers continue to ship broken computers, monitors and other devices to impoverished Third World countries to be dumped. BAN estimates that 80% of so-called “recyclers” in North America export e-waste to developing nations, where workers break down old computers using dangerous and deadly methods to get at raw materials inside the electronics.

The consequences of indigent people attempting to survive by dismantling electronics and burying, incinerating or dumping e-waste in waterways is that toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame retardants contained in the electronics destroy the environment and critically endanger human health.

Every effort by international organizations to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti should continue unabated. People in other impoverished nations should be helped as well, especially when e-waste continues to pile up on their shores.

For more than two years I’ve utilized this blog to warn about the dangers of e-waste, yet as other tragedies consume news media coverage, I feel we’ve barely scratched the surface of increasing awareness. I hope I’m wrong, but the lack of public awareness is disheartening. We need more voices in the wilderness and for those voices to be loud enough to be heard.