Brad Plumer has a fascinating article on an issue I'd never considered: The enormous dump of toxic materials that'll come when Microsoft's new Vista operating system renders millions of computers obsolete and creates a sudden rush for replacements. Apparently, only half the computers in the US can handle the resource-intensive program, while only 5% of the UK's computers can do the same. That, of course, is the point. It's great for Intel and AMD and all the rest when Microsoft forces everyone to buy a new computer, and this is, after all, the march of progress. It's not so great for the environment:
About half of all discarded computers (and a large number of "recycled" machines) simply get shipped off to developing countries like China, India, and Nigeria, where salvagers and scavengers use appalling means to "process" the waste--burning lead-tin circuit boards, dipping parts in acid to retrieve gold, and pouring out the resultant sludge into rivers and streams. Since the regulations for treating waste over there aren't exactly cutting edge, toxic materials like lead, cadmium, and mercury get dumped into the environment in alarming qualities, leading to a rash of health problems.
What to do? Who knows? Regulators could deal with the market failure by forcing computer manufacturers to use fewer hazardous parts in computers, implement effective disposal and recycling programs, and ban hazardous waste exports. And then they could climb back on their magical pony-planes and zoom back into their cloud castles and give some lonely rainbows a hug. Nah, we'll just keep with the dumping.
