Stop the Baseless Panicking Over E-Waste

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What happens to your old phones, computers, televisions and other devices when you drop them into the recycling bin? For more than a decade, the standard answer to that question has been some variation of: they’re “dumped” in China. The examples are rife: from a Peabody-award winning story by Sixty Minutes, to beautifully laid-out, two-page op-eds in the New York Times. Yet, as a steady flow of new studies are showing, the assumption that US e-waste is being dumped in developing countries is turning out to be a baseless myth. In fact, rather than dumping US e-waste in developing countries, US electronics repair and recycling companies are actually doing the difficult work of disposing of more than 80% US electronics – right at home.

This is the topic of my new op-ed running at Bloomberg View: Stop the Baseless Panicking Over US E-Waste.

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More important, yet, we’re learning that most of the so-called e-waste that’s shipped to developing countries actually goes for repair, refurbishment and re-use – a far more environmentally pleasing result than recycling. Above, a Malaysian refurbishment facility that I documented for Scrap Magazine in 2011.

Would You Pay a Plastic Surgeon for an Eiffel (Tower) Nose?

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Spotted in the back of a taxi in Chongqing: an advertisement for a plastic surgery practice that specializes in re-shaping noses to resemble La Tour Eiffel:

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A close-up of the model’s nose suggests that the surgeon in question has given serious thought to the precise measurements that create a genuine Eiffel Nose (and tower). And presumably, the model is living proof that he can pull it off.

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So why would one want an Eiffel Nose? My guess is that nobody really does. Rather, a particularly industrious cosmetic surgeon decided that he needed some way to distinguish his clinic from the other 34,000 cosmetic surgery institutions that are competing in China’s booming cosmetic surgery industry. Then again, considering the work that some surgeons have been commissioned to do, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were takers out there, after all.

 

(Why) Do Chinese Airlines Prohibit Smartphone Airplane mode?

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The other day I was sitting at the gate at Pudong Airport in Shanghai, downloading a couple of newspapers to my iPhone that I hoped to read during the flight. Of course, I’m keenly aware that use of phones of any kind on flights is prohibited so I did the responsible thing and right before takeoff I switched the iPhone into Airplane Mode.

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The mode, for those who don’t know or use it, disables all data transfers: blue tooth, wifi, cellular. The idea, allegedly, is that by disabling the data, the device does not have the potential to interfere with a plane’s allegedly delicate communications.

So – thirty minutes into the flight and comfortably at cruising altitude, I pulled out my phone, turned it one, and began reading my newspapers. Moments later, a flight attendant reached over and ordered me to shut it off. I held it out for her and pointed at the airplane logo indicating airplane mode, but she insisted it was prohibited. I asked to speak to another flight attendant, and was told the same thing. So I did as told and shut it off. What’s a traveler to do?

Later, I posted the experience to twitter and asked if a) this had happened to anyone else; and b) why? Indeed, if my followers are to be believed (and they are), then it appears airplane mode is banned on all Chinese airlines, and on all smartphones. Speculation was rife, but the best answer came from the Guardian’s Tania Branigan, who tweeted the very reasonable:

“because people will just leave them in standard mode and pretend to be in airplane mode, I suspect.”

For now, I’m going with that as the answer. But I’m open to additional theories – feel free to tweet them at me at @adamminter.

That noted, I’m not optimistic that we’ll get to the bottom of this, unfortunately. After all, we’re still at the theory stage of deciphering why we can’t read a kindle during take-off in the US. Mysteries of the air, I suppose.

 

Shanghai Bishop Jin Luxian’s Legacy

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This mostly dormant blog was started in 2007 with almost no agenda beyond plans to expand on my just-published profile of Shanghai’s Catholic bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian in the July/August 2007 issue of the Atlantic. I did that, and over the years I kept up with Jin – though I didn’t publish anything much beyond what the Atlantic piece contained.

Meanwhile, over the weekend I received the very sad news that Jin had passed away at 96. At that advanced age, no death can be called unexpected. But Jin was a man of unusual intellectual and physical vigor (he was traveling internationally, carrying his own bags, as recently as his 88th year), and it came as a bit of a surprise to me, and to many others who knew him, even though he’d been ailing for some time. He was just that kind of man – full of life, thoughtful, and – it can now be said – very, very funny.

On the occasion of his passing, I’ve written a short remembrance and biography that tells the tale of how I acquired Jin’s first passport in an online auction. Matt Schiavenza at the Atlantic’s new China channel was kind enough to publish it, here. As a very minor supplement to the piece, entitled, “Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian’s Legacy for Religious Freedom in China,” here is the first page of the passport, as described over at the Atlantic.

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RIP

Suspend Me On Twitter (Updated)

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[UPDATED BELOW]

On Friday afternoon I logged into my twitter account and was promptly informed that my account had been suspended. I’d been given no notice, no warnings, no indications whatsoever that something might be amiss (for the record: I am not a spammer, an account churner, or a follow-back participant; I don’t engage in personal attacks). Rather, the account was just summarily suspended, and that was that. I was offered a link to a page with possible explanations for the suspension, and a form that I could use to appeal the suspension – which I promptly did.

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So far, nobody from twitter has gotten back to me with an explanation, absolution, or further punishment. Of course, twitter isn’t a government, and they’re under no obligation to follow any kind of due process in such matters. But for twitter users like me, who have woven the service into their daily routines, the capricious, totally opaque nature of this account suspension is both disturbing and – in my case at least – a warning that I might want to reconsider how much I depend on it.

In any event, if somebody out there knows somebody at twitter who might be able to help me, I’d be deeply grateful. Having a suspended account isn’t the best PR, and I’d at least like to erase the stigma before people start thinking I’m a spammer or worse.

[UPDATE, SIX HOURS LATER:  So I go to bed suspended, and wake up restored. Yes, that's right: twitter restored my account. However, in keeping with the opaque nature of this episode, they didn't bother to send along an explanation. Rather, they just restored me. Were my emails the difference makers? Was I misidentified as a spammer? Did someone at twitter HQ grow tired of my China tweets? Perhaps, like my wife, they feel that it's time I update my profile photo? Anything is possible, I suppose, in the absence of any kind of explanation. The End.]