Tech Waste. An Existential Threat? "Climate Change" is more popular and financially rewarding.

Scientific American: Tech Waste Is a Danger to Us All.

Hardware in general, and smartphones in particular, have taken over our lives so quickly that few of us have had the chance to think about what happens to them when we no longer use them. The answer is that they become a huge environmental and health problem in the Global South’s landfill sites.

We don’t hear much about this problem because it is out of sight, out of mind.

Electronic waste is currently 5 percent of all global waste, and it is set to increase exponentially as more of us own multiple smartphones, laptops and power banks—few of which are likely to be repaired or recycled at the end of their lives.
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There is an almost limitless consumer demand for hardware, and governments do not have bottomless pockets, especially when their green policies are focused on more high-profile issues like carbon emissions.
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Only the manufacturers can fix this, by creating a circular hardware economy.

No, this is not a problem that "only manufacturers can fix". Not any different than blaming manufacturers of plastic and the hysteria of the pearl-clutching-crowd crying for bans on plastic bags and bottles. People use and buy based on their wants, needs and what they feel is a good return for their money. Much of it is packed with plastic.

Do you want that plastic band around your ice cream container so you're assured no one the super market, opened it, licked it and returned it to the freezer? I'm betting no matter how much you hate and want to ban plastic, you like that plastic band.

Look around your house. How much plastic is there is in everything? I'm betting, at some point in their journey, fossil fuels were used in transporting those items to your home. Plastic is versatile and affordable, same for fossil fuel.

Consumers play a large part in tech waste. The question is, is the Tech-Obsessed-Must-Have-the-Latest-Device-Crowd willing to do their part? And a circular hardware economy has a limit, it's not an endless loop.

Tech Waste can wait. We have to solve the Existential Threat of Climate Change first.

I've referenced the stories below in the past and I'll use them again:

Amnesty.org: Child labour behind smart phone and electric car batteries.

GreenTech Media: With demand for cobalt and lithium surging, companies need to be aware of where they’re sourcing from.
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Scientific American Archived
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(Feb. 17, 2020 typo fix "is" to "in")

72 different emojis to represent gay, straight & lesbian couples in 5 races.

RT: No, Apple, we don’t need 72 different emojis to represent gay, straight & lesbian couples in 5 races.

If I wanted an emoji to look exactly like me, I’d just send a photograph. But then, unlike Apple and Google, I understand that they are a symbolic shorthand, not a racist tool of oppression that ignores my identity.
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Seventy-two new iOS emojis of couples holding hands, instead of a generic symbol. Thus, a blonde woman with a blond man, a blonde woman with a tan skinned man, a blonde woman with a light-skinned black man, a blonde woman with a dark-skinned black man, a dark-skinned black woman with a light-skinned black woman, a white man with a moustache with a white man without a moustache, and so on and on and on.

Various emojis via RT

So, anyone feeling excluded?

Parler CEO says Apple won’t let free speech app update unless it censors content. Apple relents.

Reclaim The Net: Apple app update bans Parler.

John Matze, the founder and CEO of free speech social network Parler, says that Apple has given him an ultimatum – ban “offensive” content off Parler or the Parler app will be banned from the App Store. Matze says he refused and now Apple is preventing Parler from updating its app.
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Based on Matze’s claims, Parler won’t be able to push updates to its iOS app until the situation gets resolved which is unlikely if Parler stays committed to allowing “offensive” speech. This means the Parler iOS app will probably become unusable in September when Apple releases iOS 13, a new version of its mobile operating system, because app updates are usually necessary in order for them to continue working with the latest version of iOS.

Apple has relented, at least for now.

Breitbart: Parler Accuses Apple of Slow-Walking App Update.

Free-speech centered social media app Parler recently attempted to roll out an update to their iPhone app, a common event that many app developers do on a regular basis to add new features, fix bugs, update app elements, etc. But Parler found their update stopped dead in its track as Apple stated that it would have to review the app to determine if the update would be allowed to go ahead.

After Parler attempted to launch the update, company CEO John Matze says he was contacted by an Apple employee via the App Store Connect portal. The employee explained that the Parler app was likely in violation of the App store rule 1.1.1 which prohibits:

    ["]Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups, particularly if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or place a targeted individual or group in harm’s way. Professional political satirists and humorists are generally exempt from this requirement.["]
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Last night, the app update was finally approved the delay.

Apple Führer Tim Cook

3-year old locks dad's iPad until 2067.

Yeah...but since Global Warming Climate Change Global Warming should have killed us by now will have us all dead in three, eight, nine, ten, twelve years - does it really matter?

CNN: Wrong password locks iPad until year 2067.

That's what happened over the weekend to Evan Osnos, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

He put out a tweet -- or a cry for help -- letting the world know of the little situation his toddler put him in.

"Uh, this looks fake but, alas, it's our iPad today after 3-year-old tried (repeatedly) to unlock. Ideas?" Osnos tweeted. A photo of the iPad's screen noted the device was disabled. It also had this mind-blowing message: "Try again in 25,536,442 minutes."
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Several others said no worries --- just wait out the 48 years. Because you know folks on social media are known for their patience.

So what does Apple suggest? Apple says you would need to perform a restore to use the device again (but you would lose the data on the device if you've never backed it up).

 Evan Osnos' iPad

The real shocker is that The New Yorker is still being published? Whaaaat...?

How many Dems will condemn Tim Cook's earnings?

Answer to post title: None.

This Is Money: Apple boss Tim Cook's BIGGEST BONUS EVER.

Apple boss Tim Cook collected his biggest ever bonus just weeks before the iPhone maker cut production due to poor sales.

The 58-year-old trousered £12.3million in 2018, including a £2.4million salary and a £9.4million bonus.

It was a 22 per cent pay rise for a year that saw Apple post record revenue and profit.

But it came just weeks before it dropped a bombshell, saying demand for its latest iPhones failed to meet expectations.

I have no problem with any CEO making a ton of money. I do have a problem with corporations with business ties in countries that exploit and use forced child labor for mining cobalt and lithium and any other resource. Don't tell me these companies "don't know". Years ago, Apple had to install suicide nets in their China manufacturing facilities because workers preferred leaping to their deaths rather than work at their job.

Green Tech Media: The Hidden Risks of Batteries: Child Labor, Modern Slavery.

Shockingly, 40,000 children are estimated to be employed in artisanal mines in southern DR Congo, including in cobalt extraction. Verisk Maplecroft’s cobalt risk assessment -- part of its commodity risk service -- reveals that human rights abuses are widespread in the sector and can occur within both industrial and artisanal mines.

Bloomberg: 2018: Apple negotiating to buy cobalt direct from miners in DR Congo.

The price of cobalt has more than tripled in the past 18 months to trade above $80,000 a metric ton. Two-thirds of supplies come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there has never been a peaceful transition of power and child labor is still used in parts of the mining industry.

Apple isn't the only maker of electronics that obtains cobalt and lithium from countries and sources that use forced child labor. Conducting business with countries and companies that deliberately look the other way on all types of child labor is appalling and must be stopped. What is Tim Cook going to do about it? What are you/we going to do about it? Yes, there's lithium and cobalt in your, and my, lap top, desk top, IPad, phone and everything else. What degree of responsibility belongs to those of us who use these devices?

While all activity or work contains some degree of risk, (simply being alive carries with it the inherent risk of death), and while we can each rationalize what we do in life and assess various degrees of risk we are willing to take, profit should never come at the expense of human life and health. This is mantra to every reasonable, free-thinking individual. But it is held in absolute holy righteousness by The Left. So, why am I not surprised that The Left maintains a silent vigil on this issue when it comes to Tech?

One could correctly call the cobalt and lithium industry the "new" Exxon or Standard Oil. But The Left never will.