Book Read Free

THE STORY OF STUFF

Page 41

by Annie Leonard


  _Printing_Industry.pdf.

  49. Ibid., p. 5.

  50. Ibid., p. 4.

  51. Elizabeth Grossman, High Tech Trash (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2006), p. 5.

  52. Ibid., p. 78.

  53. Michael Dell, speech given at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, October 2002, quoted in Clean Up Your Computer, a Catholic Agency for Overseas Development report (cafod.org.uk/var/storage/original/

  application/phpYyhizc.pdf).

  54. Grossman, High Tech Trash, p. 5.

  55. Interview with Ted Smith, June 2009.

  56. Andrew S. Grove, Only the Paranoid Survive (New York: Doubleday Business, 1996).

  57. Trade and Development Report, 2002, UN Conference on Trade and Development, p. vii (unctad.org/en/docs/tdr2002overview_en.pdf).

  58. Grossman, High Tech Trash, p. 4.

  59. Ibid., p. 37.

  60. Ibid., p. 36.

  61. Ibid., pp. 37–38.

  62. Ibid., p. 59.

  63. Interview with Ted Smith, June 2009.

  64. Alexandra McPherson, Beverley Thorpe, and Ann Blake, Brominated Flame Retardants in Dust on Computers: The Case for Safer Chemicals and Better Computer Design, Clean Production Action, June 2004, p. 5 (cleanproduction.org/library/BFR%20Dust%20on%20Computers.pdf).

  65. Ibid., p. 24.

  66. Ibid., pp. 30–32.

  67. Grossman, High Tech Trash, p. 42.

  68. Eric Williams, Robert Ayers, and Miriam Heller, “The 1.7 Kilogram Microchip: Energy and Material Use in the Production of Semiconductor Devices,” Environmental Science and Technology Vol. 36, no. 24, 2002, p. 5509.

  69. Peter Singer, “The Greening of the Semi-Conductor Industry,” Semiconductor International, December 1, 2007 (semiconductor.net/article/205812-The_Greening_of_the_Semiconductor_Industry.php).

  70. Ibid.

  71. Grossman, High Tech Trash, pp. 42–43.

  72. Ibid., p. 41.

  73. Michiel van Dijk and Irene Schipper, Dell: CSR Company Profile, SOMO, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, May 2007, p. 19 (somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_1956).

  74. Interview with Dara O’Rourke, June 2009.

  75. “Environmental Responsibility,” Dell (content.dell.com/us/en/corp/dell-earth.aspx).

  76. “Soesterberg Principles Electronic Sustainability Commitment,” Clean Production Action (cleanproduction.org/Electronics.Green.php).

  77. “Life Cycle Studies: Aluminum Cans,” World Watch, vol. 19, no. 3, May/June 2006 (worldwatch.org/node/4062).

  78. Alan Thein Durning and John C. Ryan, Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things (Washington, D.C.: World Future Society, 1998), pp. 62–63.

  79. Pearce, Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, p. 146.

  80. Durning and Ryan, Stuff, p. 63.

  81. Pearce, Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, p. 148.

  82. Durning and Ryan, Stuff, pp. 63–64.

  83. Personal communication with Juan Rosario, July 2009.

  84. “Life Cycle Studies: Aluminum Cans.”

  85. Jennifer Gitliz, The Role of the Consumer in Reducing Primary Aluminum Demand, a report by the Container Recycling Institute for the International Strategic Roundtable on the Aluminum Industry, São Luís, Brazil, October 16–18, 2003, p. 2.

  86. Pearce, Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, p. 149.

  87. Gitliz, The Role of the Consumer in Reducing Primary Aluminum Demand, p. 4.

  88. Ibid.

  89. “The Aluminum Can’s Dirty Little Secret: On-going Environmental Harm Outpaces the Metal’s ‘Green’ Benefits,” press release from the Container Recycling Institute and International Rivers Network, May 17, 2006 (container-recycling.org/media/newsrelease/aluminum/2006–5-AlumDirty.htm).

  90. “Calculating the Aluminum Can Recycling Rate,” Container Recycling Institute (container-recycling.org/facts/aluminum/data/UBCcalculate.htm).

  91. Gitliz, The Role of the Consumer in Reducing Primary Aluminum Demand, p. 18.

  92. Ibid., p. 13.

  93. Ibid., p. 14.

  94. Elizabeth Royte, Garbageland: On the Secret Trail of Trash (New York: Little, Brown & Co., 2005), p. 155.

  95. “Life Cycle Studies: Aluminum Cans.”

  96. Ibid.

  97. Michael Belliveau and Stephen Lester, PVC—Bad News Comes in Threes: The Poison Plastic, Health Hazards and the Looming Waste Crisis, The Environmental Health Strategy Center and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, 2004, pp. 16–18 (chej.org/BESAFE/pvc/pvcreports.htm).

  98. Ibid., p. 18.

  99. Ibid., pp. 19–20.

  100. Stephen Lester, Michael Schade, and Caitlin Weigand, “Volatile Vinyl: the New Shower Curtain’s Chemical Smell,” Center for Health, Environment and Justice, June 12, 2008 (cela.ca/publications/volatile-vinyl-new-shower-curtains-chemical-smell-0).

  101. Belliveau and Lester, “PVC,” pp. 1, 35.

  102. Ibid., p. 2.

  103. Ibid., p. 13.

  104. Ibid., p. 21.

  105. Beverley Thorpe, “Closing the Product Loop: How Europe Is Grappling with Waste,” Clean Production Action, February 11, 2003 (ecologycenter.org/recycling/beyond50

  percent/closingtheloop.ppt).

  106. “PVC Governmental Policies Around the World,” Center for Health, Environment and Justice (besafenet.com/pvc/government.htm).

  107. Ibid.

  108. Payal Sampat and Gary Gardner, Mind Over Matter: Recasting the Role of Materials in Our Lives, Worldwatch Institute, December 1998 (worldwatch.org/node/846).

  109. Personal correspondence with Ted Schettler, July 2009.

  110. “Lead, Cadmium, and Other Harmful Chemicals Found in Popular Children’s Toys,” press release from the Washington Toxics Coalition, December 12, 2007 (watoxics.org/pressroom/press-releases/popular-holiday-toys-contaminated-with-high-levels-of-toxic-chemicals/).

  111. David Duncan, Experimental Man (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 159.

  112. Michael Hawthorne, “Pregnant women get new mercury warning,” Chicago Tribune, February 7, 2004 (ewg.org/node/22671).

  113. Duncan, Experimental Man, p. 129.

  114. “Mercury in the Environment,” U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146–00/).

  115. Duncan, Experimental Man, p. 159.

  116. “Historic Treaty to Tackle Toxic Heavy Metal Mercury Gets Green Light,” press release from the United Nations Environment Programme, February 20, 2009 (unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=562&ArticleID=6090&l=en/).

  117. Ibid.

  118. Ibid.

  119. Stacy Malkan, Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry (Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 2007), p. 2.

  120. Ibid., p. 54, citing the research of the Environmental Working Group that resulted in the Skin Deep database, a review of more than 150,000 personal care products. Ingredients evaluated by Skin Deep come from the following sources: product labels; industry ingredient listings; assessments of the personal care product industry’s internal safety panel, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review; fifty data sources on the toxicity, regulatory status, and study availability of chemicals in personal care products; and ingredients entered into the database by manufacturers and individual users (cosmeticsdatabase.com/about.php).

  121. Jane S. Fisher, “Environmental anti-androgens and male reproductive health: Focus on phthalates and testicular dysgenesis syndrome,” white paper for the University of London School of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology, 2004 (reproduction-online.org/cgi/content/full/127/3/305).

  122. Malkan, Not Just a Pretty Face, p. 26, citing Jane Houlihan, Charlotte Brody, and Bryony Schwan, Not Too Pretty: Pthalates, Beauty Products and the FDA, Environmental Working Group, Coming Clean, and Healthcare Without Harm, July 8, 2002 (ewg.org/reports/nottoopretty).

  123. “A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipstick,” The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, October 2007 (safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=327).

  124. “No More Toxic Tub,�
� The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, March 2009 (safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=414).

  125. Malkan, Not Just a Pretty Face, p. 60.

  126. Ibid., pp. 65–68.

  127. Ibid., p. 70.

  128. “Statement of Jane Houlihan on Cosmetics Safety. Discussion Draft of the ‘Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act’ Legislation: Device and Cosmetic Safety Before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce United States House of Representatives, May 2008,” Environmental Working Group (ewg.org/node/26545).

  129. Skin Deep cosmetics safety database (cosmeticsdatabase.com). See note 120.

  130. Barry Commoner’s foreword to Ken Geiser, Materials Matter (Boston: MIT Press, 2001), p. x.

  131. “Chemical Body Burden,” Coming Clean (chemicalbodyburden.org/).

  132. “The Foundation for Global Action on Persistent Organic Pollutants: A United States Perspective,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, March 2002 (scribd.com/doc/1799026/Environmental-Protection-Agency-POPsa).

  133. David Santillo, Iryna Labunska, Helen Davidson, et al., Consuming Chemicals— Hazardous chemicals in house dust as an indicator of chemical exposure in the home, Greenpeace Research Laboratories (greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/consuming-chemicals-hazardou).

  134. “Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns,” Environmental Working Group, July 14, 2005 (ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php).

  135. Sonya Lunder and Renee Sharp, Mother’s Milk: Record Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants Found in American Mothers’ Breast Milk, Environmental Working Group, September 2003, pp. 15–17 (ewg.org/reports/mothersmilk/).

  136. Ibid., p. 17.

  137. Ibid., p. 5.

  138. Joene Hendry, “Being Breast-fed May Lower Breast Cancer Risk,” Reuters Health, May 9, 2008 (breastcancer.org/risk/new_research/20080509.jsp).

  139. Lunder and Sharp, Mother’s Milk, p. 33.

  140. “What is REACH?” EUROPA-Environment (ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/

  reach/reach_intro.htm).

  141. “Why We Need the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act,” Environmental Working Group (ewg.org/kid-safe-chemicals-act-blog/kid-safe-chemicals-act/).

  142. “Lautenberg, Solis, Waxman Introduce Legislation to Protect Americans from Hazardous Chemicals in Consumer Products—’Kid Safe Chemical Act’ Would Ensure All Chemicals Used in Every Day Products, Including Those Used in Baby Bottles and Children’s Toys, Are Proven Safe,” press release from the office of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, May 20, 2008 (lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=298072).

  143. “Landmark Chemical Reform Introduced in Congress,” press release from the Environmental Working Group, May 20, 2008 (ewg.org/node/26571).

  144. “More than a Paycheck,” Sweet Honey in the Rock (youtube.com/watch?v=UzlEGxiHpEU).

  145. Personal correspondence with Peter Orris, July 2009.

  146. “Occupational Cancer,” National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (cdc.gov/niosh/topics/cancer/).

  147. Ibid.

  148. “Environmental Justice,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov/oecaerth/basics/ejbackground.html).

  149. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., and Charles Lee, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States: A National Report on the Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites, United Church of Christ, 1987, p. xiv (ucc.org/about-us/archives/pdfs/toxwrace87.pdf).

  150. Temma Kaplan, Crazy for Democracy: Women in Grassroots Movements (New York: Routledge, 1997), p. 69.

  151. “Environmental Justice,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/index.html).

  152. Robert D. Bullard, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha, and Beverly Wright, Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987–2007, United Church of Christ, March 2007, p. xii (ucc.org/justice/pdfs/toxic20.pdf).

  153. Steve Lerner, “Fenceline and Disease Cluster Communities: Living in the Shadow of Heavily-Polluting Facilities,” Collaborative on Health and the Environment, October 1, 2006 (healthandenvironment.org/articles/homepage/751).

  154. Mick Brown, “Bhopal gas disaster’s legacy lives on 25 years later,” Telegraph.co.uk, August 6, 2009 (telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/

  5978266/Bhopal-gas-disasters-legacy-lives-on-25-years-later.html); Helene Vosters, “Bhopal Survivors Confront Dow,” CorpWatch, May 15, 2003 (corpwatch.org/article.php?id=6748).

  155. “What Happened in Bhopal?” The Bhopal Medical Appeal (bhopal.org/index.php?id=22).

  156. Researchers found heavy concentrations of carcinogenic chemicals and heavy metals like mercury. Mercury was found at between 20,000 to 6 million times the expected levels, and elemental mercury was discovered to be widely distributed across the plant premises. Twelve volatile organic compounds, most greatly exceeding EPA standard limits, were found to have seeped and continue to seep into the water supplies of an estimated twenty thousand people in the local area. Three water wells in this community, northeast of the factory, were discovered to have the most severe contamination. Other wells, though not as severely contaminated, also showed elevated levels of toxic chemicals. I. Labunska, A. Stephenson, K. Brigden, et al., “Toxic contaminants at the former Union Carbide factory site, Bhopal, India: 15 years after the Bhopal accident,” Greenpeace Research Laboratories, April 1999.

  157. Srishti, Surviving Bhopal 2002: Toxic Present, Toxic Future, Fact Finding Mission on Bhopal, January 2002 (bhopal.net/oldsite/documentlibrary

  /survivingbhopal2002.doc).

  158. “What Happened in Bhopal?”

  159. Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, Goldman Prize 2004 acceptance speech (goldmanprize.org/node/83).

  160. “Padyatra/Dharna/Hungerstrike 2008 Demands,” International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (bhopal.net/march/padyatra2008_demands.html).

  161. Ann Larabee, Decade of Disaster (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000), p. 136.

  162. Kim Fortun, Advocacy after Bhopal: Environmentalism, Disaster, New Global Orders (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), p. 58.

  163. Ibid.

  164. “Responsible Care,” American Chemistry Council (americanchemistry.com/s_responsiblecare/sec.asp?CID=1298&DID=4841).

  165. Trust Us, Don’t Track Us: An Investigation of the Chemical Industry’s Responsible Care Program, U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, January 28, 1998 (static.uspirg.org/usp.asp?id2=6997&id3=USPIRG&).

  166. “What is the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov/TRI/triprogram/whatis.htm).

  167. “2007 TRI Public Data Release,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov/TRI/tridata/tri07/index.htm).

  168. “Pollution Report Card for Zip Code 94709, Alameda County,” Scorecard.org (scorecard.org/community/index.tcl?zip_code=94709&set_community_zipcode_cookie_

  p=t&x=0&y=0).

  169. Ibid.

  170. “Limitations of EPA’s Exposure Estimates,” Scorecard.org (scorecard.org/env-releases/def/tri_ei_risk_methods.html).

  171. “What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish: 2004 EPA and FDA Advice for: Women Who Might Become Pregnant, Women Who Are Pregnant, Nursing Mothers, Young Children,” press release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, March 2004 (fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/

  Seafood/FoodbornePathogensContaminants/

  Methylmercury/ucm115662.htm).

  172. Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “FDA Moves to Advise Pregnant Women to Consume More Mercury-Laced Seafood,” Associated Press, December 15, 2008 (ewg.orgnode/27440).

  173. Lyndsey Layton, “FDA Draft Report Urges Consumption of Fish, Despite Mercury Contamination,” The Washington Post, December 12, 2008 (washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/

  12/11/AR2008121103394.html).

  174. Ibid.

  175. Research compiled by Renee Shade, from the official websites of the U.S. Office of Environmental Quality, Department of Health and Human Servic
es, Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, and Environmental Protection Agency.

  176. Geiser, Materials Matter, p. 140.

  177. “Federal Advisory Committee Act: Issues Related to the Independence and Balance of Advisory Committees,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-08–611T, April 2, 2008 (gao.gov/htext/d08611t.html).

  178. “FDA Statement on Release of Bisphenol A (BPA) Subcommittee Report,” press release by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, October 28, 2008 (fda.gov/news events/newsroom/pressannouncements

  /2008/ucm116973.htm).

  179. “NTP, FDA at Odds on Bisphenol-A,” Integrity in Science Watch, Center for Science in the Public Interest, week of September 8, 2008 (cspinet.org/integrity/press/200809081.html).

  180. Kirsten Stade, Twisted Advice: Federal Advisory Committees Are Broken, Center for Science in the Public Interest, January 2009 (cspinet.org/new/pdf/twisted_advice _final_report.pdf).

  181. Ken Geiser, “Comprehensive Chemicals Policies for the Future,” Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts Lowell, November 2008 (hhh.umn.edu/centers/stpp/pdf/

  Geiser_Chemicals_Policy_Paper.pdf).

  182. M. King Hubbert, “Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels,” Drilling and Production Practice, American Petroleum Institute, 1956 (energybulletin.net/node/13630).

  183. William McDonough quoted in Sidwell Friends Alumni Magazine, Spring 2005, p. 9 (sidwell.edu/data/files/news/AlumniMagazine/

  spring_2005.pdf).

  184. “Mobile Industry Unites to Drive Universal Charging Solution for Mobile Phones,” press release from the GSMA, February 17, 2009. GSMA (Groupe Special Mobile) is the association of the worldwide mobile communications industry.

  185. Ibid.

  186. Biomimicry Institute website: biomimicryinstitute.org.

  187. Ibid.

  188. Janine Benyus, “Janine Benyus shares nature’s designs,” TED talk filmed February 2005 (ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_shares_nature

  _s_designs.html).

  Chapter 3: Distribution

  1. Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, and Thea Lee, Field Guide to the Global Economy, rev. ed. (New York: New Press, 2005), p. 6.

 

‹ Prev