The Unseen Environmental Hazard

Up until this point, I have consciously avoided any documentaries regarding anything in China. Anyone who knows me personally is aware of what a sore spot China is for me. Nevertheless, I feel that this episode of Vanguard called Pollution to Protest was about an issue that many people might be completely unaware of, e-waste. We all know that you don't just throw computers, cell phones and the like in the trash. We take special care to make sure they are disposed of properly. But, what happens to that material after it leaves our hands? Ask China.

One of the biggest electronics dismantling operations takes place in the Guangdong province of China. In these towns, especially Guiyu, known as the E-waste capitol of the world; people work dawn to dusk taking apart devices with whatever tool is available. Everyone from children to the elderly wakes up to piles of used junk and starts work immediately, working an average of 14 hours for about $12 a day. Many of the workers are migrant workers from other parts of China (and areas that technically are not China but the government has claimed them).

We picture factories where people carefully take apart our once beloved electronics. Get that idea out of your head, and FAST! There are no factories. There are literally huge piles of equipment along the streets and inside people's homes. If that isn't bad enough, after being dismantled the pieces are just thrown in piles of similar parts outside. The metal parts of devices are boiled down in huge cauldrons to extract the heavy metals within.

Over 50 million tons of e-waste is produced each year. These piles of e-junk are sent away for safe processing because they contain lead, cadmium, and mercury, as well as other harmful materials. We are safe from our own waste, but the people taking apart these electronics are at risk for dangerous toxicity disease from a multitude of materials. Children are reported to have 25% higher blood lead levels.

Of course though the largest recipient, China cannot do all of this "safe disposal" by themselves. E-waste is also shipped to Nigeria and India and is processed under similar conditions, though not in such gross quantities. I'm not aware of the environmental situation in Nigeria besides the cyanide that goes into the water supply there from diamond mining. However, I am acutely aware that both China and India are focusing on economic growth and are ignoring the environment. This is where I use the stapler to keep from going on a rant about China.

In any event, not much is being done about this. On our end, there are a few things we can do. Buy from companies that produce "green" electronics. Don't replace electronics unless you need to (don't be a capitalist whore is what I mean by this). Return your electronics for refurbishment to the company rather than sending them to an e-waste disposal center. Lastly, pray that these countries get a big kick in the ass.

E-waste hazards: Chinese gear recyclers absorb toxic chemicals.(This Week)(electronic waste, polybrominated diphenyl ethers): An article from: Science News

Toilets for Everyone

The episode of Vanguard on Current about the World Toilet Crisis was one of the most relevant and informative documentaries that I have seen in a while. This is an issue I knew about, but definitely did not realize the scale. Half, yes half of the worlds population does not have a toilet to use. Just imagine, 2.6 billion people are shitting in the open.

Obviously tribal peoples do not use toilets. Anyone that knows anything about conditions in third world and developing counties would realize that bathrooms aren’t commonplace within residential areas. This is a normal expectation and it really isn’t gross to me. This is because I know that since prehistoric times man has known to have both burial and bathroom pits away from homes and sources of food and water. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, that knowledge was swept under the rug by both the individual, his community, and his government.

The first part of the show focused on India, where 55% of the population (600 million people) lives without toilets. More people in India have cell phones and TVs than toilets. Not entirely surprising. Even though the countries economy is growing fast, sanitation has not even begun to run the race, let alone catch up. It seemingly is not a priority for the Indian government.

The Yamuna River was profiled, which is the largest tributary of the Ganges. The water in the river near New Delhi is black and bubbles with methane gas. Along the banks, you cant walk more than a few feet without finding a pile of human feces swarming with flies.

New Delhi gets its water supply from this “holy” waterway. Inhabitants of the banks of the river near New Delhi have no access to tap water. Guess what that means? They use the black sewage filled river water to cook, drink, bathe, and wash their clothes. Oh yes. In the city itself there is insufficient sewage treatment. The canals along the street that raw sewage run through also hold the inlets for fresh water. So you must put your water container in sewage to get clean water. That is about as nasty as it gets. No wonder 1,000 children in this area die every day of diarrhea, a result of water borne illness.

Apparently, upriver there is a dam that keeps water from flowing to the city. Above the dam, the river is beautiful and stocked with wildlife. The only new liquid that the Yamuna River gets near New Delhi is toxic waste and sewage. When a plague hits New Delhi, don’t be surprised.

Contrast this with the town of Haryana, India where 60% of residents have a toilet. The local government gives each family a $47 grant to install a toilet. There is even a campaign called “no toilet, no bride” where mothers will not even consider a boy to marry her daughter unless there is a toilet in the house. This is giving dignity to women who and reducing disease greatly.

The next stop on this shit train was Indonesia. This was a completely different situation. Where in India, lack of money and a badly run government are the culprits in the sanitation crisis, education is the root cause in Indonesia. It isn’t that Indonesians don’t have access to clean water, they don’t seem to realize that its not good to defecate in your water supply.

The strategy of Jack Sim of the World Toilet Organization is to go from town to town educating locals about the dangers of open toileting near or in their water supply. They aim to make one town at a time open defecation free, by locally marketing toilet benefits and making the locals sign agreements. Each inhabitant that installs a toilet gets notoriety in the town, helping to spread the word. As each village does this, the idea spreads to the next. In the last year, 3% have turned to toilets. This may not seem like a lot until you consider the population.

Another interesting idea is creating many jobs for the community, fecal recycling. The contents of septic tanks go through a multi-stage transformation into fertilizer. This fertilizer is valued because it is certified organic, making produce grown with it more valuable. The next time you eat organic produce from Indonesia, consider that!

This is a serious problem that affects all of us. Even though we may live in a society where virtually everyone has a toilet, this does not mean we cannot be affected by this problem. All local environmental problems are the world’s problems due to international trade and travel. If you would like to help with this devastating health problem, you can contact the World Toilet Organization or Water.org.

Comfort in Likeness

On Link TV, I watched a documentary about Iraqi refugees in Lebanon called Iraq in Lebanon. With all of the turmoil in the Middle East, Lebanon has become a sanctuary for those from conflict zones such as Iraq and Palestine. Starting in 2006, Iraqis began flooding into the country in unprecedented numbers. In 2008, about 50,000 Iraqis, mostly Shiite Muslims and Christians illegally entered Lebanon, a country that does not border Iraq. This is a situation I know virtually nothing about. So, it is hard to have much of an opinion on it.

Unfortunately, Lebanon's policy on refugees is not very accommodating. Formally, refugees are tolerated only long enough to be resettled in another country through the UN or repatriated to Iraq. This means that there is no such thing as asylum or refugee status in Lebanon. Still, thousands flee here.

The UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) offers resettlement to refugees in Lebanon to other countries (mostly the US, Canada, and Australia) or repatriation to Iraq. The process takes several months and the refugess receive no protection or any type of UN or government assistance in the meantime. They cannot sign leases or get jobs. If they can get an apartment, they are charged double or triple the rate. If someone does illegally hire them, they must be on constant lookout for police. Days and nights are filled with fear as they pray that police will not find them.

When illegals are caught in Lebanon, they are not deported. They are put in prison for several months. These prisons are not like the cushy jails Americans take for granted. Up to 10 people are put in a 6 square foot cell with no toilet. From how these refugees described the fabulous accommodations, it reminded me of the descriptions of Revolutionary war prison ships, where three times as many soldiers died than in combat.

Ziyad, a Shiite Iraqi profiled on the show, begged to be deported to Iraq in order to get out of this hell hole. Upon arriving in Iraq, he got his passport and legally went to Syria. Did he stay there? No. He crossed the border illegally to return to Lebanon. I thought to myself, "Why, if he can LEGALLY go to Syria, would he ILLEGALLY go back to Lebanon?" This was quite curious and I decided to research this issue. Here is what I was able to find out.

Syria, which shares a large border with Iraq, has a contract with the UN to accept refugees. Syria offers protection to refugees as well as financial assistance, health care, and education. Though not allowed to seek formal employment, they can work and not fear arrest. Syrians in general are accepting of the refugees. Interestingly enough, the Iraqi refugee population in Syria is one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Thousands of Iraqis arrive in Syria every month. Sounds great, right?

Prior to 2007, most Iraqis that entered Syria were allowed to stay. Unfortunately, in 2007, stricter visa requirements were enacted for Iraqis as well as the shortening of the period for residence permits. In the most recent two years, Iraqis have been deported and jailed. The restrictions are not so tight that it would prevent so many Iraqis that are risking their life in Lebanon from seeking shelter there. There is another reason. Religion.

Syria happens to be about 70% Sunni Muslim, 13% Shiite Muslim, and 10% Christian. In Lebanon, 40% of the population is Christian and there are an equal amount (28% each) Sunnis and Shiites. In fact, Lebanon has the largest Christian Community in the Middle East. Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East where a Christian can comfortably make a life for them self. Undoubtedly, Shiite Muslims also have fewer problems there.

So, it comes down to society. Though Syria offers the necessities of life, Lebanon offers community. In these stressful times, Iraqis would rather risk their lives and jail to get help from people like them rather than trust an accepting government with their lives. You really can't blame them.

Good ol American Values

Though it is my home, I am admittedly not a big cheerleader for the United States and its politics. However, I am a huge history aficionado. As an American, I learned little about history besides anything that directly related to my American experience. This is regrettable because I feel the history of other parts off the world is much more exciting and intriguing. Nevertheless, I always like to learn the little known facts and the things that were left out or forgotten from my childhood history lessons.

The History Channel is home to a new series called "America: The Story of Us". The first episode was 2 hours long and covered the period from Jamestown until the Revolutionary War. I learned many facts by watching this, which was the goal. More profound to me was the realization that we are not what we claim to be anymore. We have truly lost the American spirit that we preach around the world.

Cooperation and Respect
The residents of Jamestown made a treacherous journey in 1610 across the ocean that lasted several months to use their entrepreneurial spirit to find gold and a route to the orient. Being ill prepared for hard labor and with virtually no survival skills, things were so hard that one man in Jamestown killed his pregnant wife with the intent of eating her. Nevertheless, they persevered.

John Rolf arrived with a few tobacco seeds stolen from the Spanish controlled colonies. He made alliances with the local Native Americans, which led to his marriage to Pocahontas. Within 2 years of his arrival, tobacco was growing in every garden, eventually making Jamestown the first American Boomtown.

Compare this to how we overcome lands today. Iraq is a perfect example. Our government is not honest about why we are really being sent there. We kill and torture the inhabitants (children and puppies included) and destroy the landscape. We force our ways upon them. There is no friend making here; citizens are fleeing Iraq by the thousands every year. A great number of them are refugees in America, where we enforce a policy of bigotry and hate against them.

Religious Tolerance
Ten years after Rolf, a group of religious nonconformists made a similar journey to escape religious oppression. Nineteen families, goats, chickens, pigs, and dogs arrived on the Mayflower with all of the supplies and gumption needed to make new lives for themselves. In the first 3 months, half of them died. They also made alliances with the natives leaving them with the know how to farm the sandy ground. This allowed them to thrive and prosper. The average Puritan was 2 inches taller, averaged 8 children per family, and were 20% richer than their counterparts in England.

America, a land founded partially on the foundation of religious tolerance, now breeds some of the most bigoted and narrow minded people in the world. I feel that as long as you are Christian, you can have all of the religious freedom that you need here, no matter if you play with snakes are have a church practically made of neon created only to make you rich. If not, you can risk everything from simple ridicule to having your place of worship burned to the ground.

Muslims have been in our country since before Columbus with no conflict. Now we allow our media to demonize each one, making each American Muslim part of the 2% worldwide that are extremists. Are we reminded that we aided Saddam Hussein in his failed war against Iran in the 80's? Let's not mention the fact that we trained the most feared of them all, Osama!

Sure, our government gives all religions most of the same legal rights to be a part of our fabric. In Italy, a religion cannot legally exist without a contract with the federal government. Another example is Greece, which barely admits that their "Muslim minority" even exists. Muslims make up approximately 30% of the citizenry of Greek Thrace (who are treated much as legal Mexicans are here in the US) and Muslim refugees from the Middle East are pouring by the thousands into Athens.

These countries were not born of a desire for freedom from religious persecution. They have no moral or constitutional duty to provide it like the United States does. We should look to India, a true faith melting pot, for inspiration. It is the birthplace of four of the world's religions and has true tolerance in both law and culture. This is not to say there is not religious violence in India. However, outsiders and not the citizenry of the subcontinent usually cause the violence. Jains, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians all live together in one village with respect for one another and are entwined in each other's lives. People are not tagged with a label, they are just a neighbor.

Something to Believe In
As the colonies grew, they became ever more important to England. Forty percent of all British exports reached the colonies and the tobacco plantations were making Britain rich. There were huge taxes on all imports and exports. More important was that with their King so far away, Americans had their own way of life. The British were unnecessarily oppressive and gave the colonists no legal representation.

As we all know, the colonists made revolution against the best army in the world, with little chance of succeeding. This revolution is the epitome of courageousness, innovativeness, cooperation, and standing for what you believe in. We won the revolution because we waged war differently, created new and better weapons, and inoculated our troops from disease, a technique taken from slaves.

On recent trips to Valley Forge and the Princeton battleground, I heard about Baron Von Steuben, a gay Prussian military leader that trained Washington's troops in the winter of 1778. He noted that you could simply tell other armies what to do and they did it with no questions or hesitation. The colonial troops would not do anything unless the reason was explicitly stated and they agreed with it. What happened to that?

America has become a capitalist society that is full of people that expect. We expect wealth, material things, and feel self entitled. We believe we are the best, but no longer have to work for it. We have become lazy and sloppy. This loss of drive and pride and confidence in the status quo has cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs and has made our educational system subpar. Americans complain that immigrants are stealing their jobs. If we were willing to work half as hard as they are, we would be guaranteed a job. We also would not be one of the most overweight nations!

Many Americans now are part of a flock of sheep, guided by the staff of radical Christian leaders to hate, maim, and scream for war against people that just want to live their lives in peace. We do what we are told in response to psychopolitical babble that is veiled in secrecy. Though we know the government and their media whores are misrepresenting and lying, we brand those who are brave enough to try to find the truth as crazy. From the outside we must look like zombies wired to Fox News, only making robotic actions based on the subliminal messages we receive throughout the day.

If America and its government held the ideals that created it in their hearts, this would truly be the greatest place on earth to live. But sadly, though we preach these things, they are not regularly put into practice by average citizens or their leaders. We are holding desperately onto the knots in the rope, being dragged through a cave blind and dumb.

The Origins of Jungle Music

You know that a documentary series has to be cool if Reckoner by Radiohead is its theme song. I checked out Vanguard on Current TV and was impressed. These 30-minute episodes about global issues pack in a lot of information. I watched the episode Forest of Ecstasy, which was about the harvesting of a chemical used to make ecstasy in the Cambodian rainforest.

Drug users are typically not in the habit of, nor do they care where their drugs come from. A good many environmentally conscious casual drug users could benefit from doing a tad bit of research. They would be appalled and may even be able to curb a certain degree of use among the people they know. This is especially the case with ecstasy.

The largest intact rainforest in Southeast Asia supports 12 endangered animals and the Mreah Prew Phnom tree, itself rare. In the Cardamom Mountains, within the pristine beauty of the forest, there are clearings where deforestation has occurred and makeshift factories are found. At ground level, you can smell smoke from constantly burning fires. In many areas, no animal sounds are heard due to excessive poaching and a poisoned water supply.

This is a relatively new phenomenon for the Cardamoms. In the 1970's the Khmer Rouge ruled the area and swept the area with genocide and famine. When they were driven out, land mines were left behind in the forest, effectively keeping people away. The Cardamoms and the Mreah Prew were slowly rediscovered. Deforestation, poaching, and environmental destruction increase each year.

What is so special about this endangered tree? The strong smelling tree is the holder of a very valuable treasure; safrole or sassafras oil. This golden oil has traditionally been used for perfumes, cosmetics, and traditional medicine. However, it also has a similar chemical composition to MDMA (ecstasy) and is a key ingredient in its manufacture.

The tree is cut up and the wood chips are distilled over constantly burning fires for 5 days before the oil is extracted. A large amount of firewood is needed to keep the kettles going, causing deforestation. It is estimated that one ton of trees is felled per day. The oil and the byproducts of its extraction are carcinogenic. It is fabulous to know that everything goes right into the water supply. Even more exasperating is that most of these trees are found in a wildlife sanctuary.

The oil brings in big bucks, but most of the harvesters and the rangers that search for manufacturers do not even know what it's used for. Sold for up to $30/liter and smuggled into Vietnam and China, the oil eventually reaches drug producers in Europe, America, and Australia. Approximately 7,000 pills can be manufactured from one liter with a street value of approximately $200,000.

Besides the 'evils' of drug use, the environmental consequences are huge. Roads and trails are built through the forest as well as clearings for the factories. Deforestation and the resulting erosion is clearly an issue. The byproducts are carcinogenic to the indigent workers and animals in the forest. But, it also allows poachers an easy route through the forest. Some areas have 'Empty Forest Syndrome', where almost no evidence of animal life is found. Please take note that this is happening in a wildlife refuge!!!

Fighting this is difficult because it can take days to hike out to possible coordinates of sites previously gathered by helicopter. By the time the rangers get to a site that may have been active, it is deserted. When a live camp is found, it is easy for the harvesters to scatter into the dense forest around them. They are also heavily armed.

The Australian government has been trying to help. They assisted in burning several tons of the oil in 2008, releasing chemicals into the air. What a good plan! This is an issue that I would not mind one bit if the US government would stick its dirty little nose in. Oh wait, it would hurt China if we did that. God forbid we do anything to hurt China's economy!

But You Don't HAVE to Look Like a Tree

I discovered a new series in the Science channel a few weeks ago called Humanology.   The episode called "Tree Man: A Search for the Cure" caught my attention.  I settled onto the upstairs futon with my kitty to watch the story of Dede Banatang from Indonesia.  He developed growths that looked like tree branches on his hands and feet after a cut on his leg healed at age 21.  He had no use of his hands and could not care for his children or work because of his condition.

Dede wanted to work, get married, and care for his children properly.  He and all of the people interviewed stated that God willing, a cure would come.  In order to find a cure, you need to know what you are trying to cure.  Doctors in Indonesia never attempted to find out what was causing these huge growths.  Their treatment plan was to cut back the growths periodically.  But, they would start growing back before they could all be cut.

His story caught the attention of Dr. Gaspari from the University of Maryland, who went to Indonesia to meet with Dede.  He took samples and found that this was just a Human Papiloma virus gone wild. Common warts!  He also had untreated Hepatitis B and tuberculosis.  Since he had a low white blood cell count and he had multiple infections in his body, his skin was not shedding normally and the warts were growing to a very large size. 

The documentary focused on the struggle between this American doctor that wanted to cure him, and the Indonesian doctors that just wanted to remove the growths and graft new skin.  Though Gaspari stressed that the warts would even appear on grafted skin, the surgeries remained on the schedule.  The quick fix was on the Indonesian agenda, even if it meant more suffering in the end for the patient.

It has taken me a while to sit down and actually write about the show that I watched nearly a month ago.  I was simply appalled at how this man was treated.  I have not found a way to address it; but the DVR is filling up again and the husband is annoyed.  Before I start, I apologize in advance to my Muslim friends out there for anything that may seem insensitive to you.  

To me, there is an intrinsic link between culture, religion, and psychology.  I find that many people don't concern themselves with what religion someone is when thinking about how they act or do things.  This goes for whole societies also.  Most people do not know a thing about other religions besides what the press feeds them or what they may have learned in that token world religions class.  But, even if someone is not religious, the predominant religion in their culture and family has a strong impact on their morals, behavior, and their thoughts.

Though religion was mentioned in literally one sentence of this whole show, I feel it is the root of why poor Dede went through as much suffering as he did.  Though I am far from ignorant about Islam, I do not think like a Muslim nor can I wrap my head around many of the beliefs or thought processes of a Muslim.  I would love to understand more about the mindset of Islamic Medicine after watching this.  I am well aware that my anger about this show comes from my ignorance on the topic.

From what I know, there are varying degrees of concern with Islamic Law among Muslim doctors.  Some are completely western in their style and methodology while others strictly adhere to law and rely on herbal medicine more than modern treatments.  I wonder on which side of this scale the Indonesian doctors in this film are.

Of more concern to me is the Muslim mindset about illness.  How I have come to understand it, everything that happens to a person, good or bad, is a way to experience God, illness included.  I can grasp this.  I have a hard time dealing with the thought that removing disease is removing ones experience with God.  If the disease is an experience with God, isn't the treatment and cure?

Without Islam, the western world as we know it would not even exist.  Europeans would not have known many of the scientific bases if Muslims had not introduced them.  In my opinion, Islam is the most scientific of all of the major world religions.  What other holy text besides the Qu'ran mentions the "Big Bang" , paths of interstellar objects, sperm creating life, and genes?

It seems to me like there is a disconnect here that can be potentially fatal.  Medical practitioners belonging to the most scientific faith treating diseases for which they have not attempted to name.  If Islam was at the forefront of ancient medicine, why is it running backward now?