Do you aggree or disagreed that technology can solve our environmental problems?
A little of both, but mostly agree. At no time in history were we ever actually in "balance" with the environment. Sure, we weren't as destructive at times in history, but we were always modifying the environment in ways that could negatively alter it. Technology will help out, but it's going to be a long process, and we aren't going to end up living just like we do right now. Cultural and technological changes will end up being necessary. We have to learn about how to live in balance with our planet, and we have to learn about how to correct the imbalances we've introduced. We can't do this by meditating in a forest--it's going to require research and technological adaptations.
What environmental hazards exist because of man's desire for profit?
Some simple ones might be the burning of oil and coal, which puts harmful gases and particles into the air - people still burn these fuels because they're cheap, so they can make more money. A lake or any other body of water may become terribly polluted (look at San Francisco Bay, which is so poisoned that you're not allowed to eat the fish) because people dump harmful chemicals into it (or into a river that feeds it) because it's cheaper than cleaning up the chemicals and making them safe (or at least, safer). At mines (surface mines, particularly) and/or their mineral refineries, toxins (such as acids) are dumped into the soil, because again, it's cheaper to just dump it than to clean it. This damages the soil and any groundwater in the area. Forests/jungle are cut down and burned so that farmers have more room to grow larger crops, which means more money. Cutting down forests/jungles like that is very bad for a number of reasons (look it up, you'll be surprised). Just about anything that you can go to a store and purchase will have had some negative effect on the environment somewhere in its production process. Again, these negative effects can happen at many stages along the way. Not everyone is bad, though. There are companies that are extremely conscious about the environmental impact. But even these companies will be associated with the negative impacts made by the extracting and refining of whatever materials they may use to build their product. As an aside, the major thing keeping people from putting up "green energy" sources (renewable/sustainable) such as solar, wind, geothermal, tide, wave isn't because they don't work - we know that they work, and we know that they work well enough to provide a lot of electricity, and we know that they have very little impact on the environment. The problem is that when you first build one of these facilities, it is expensive. It is very, very inexpensive to actually run those generating plants, but people don't want to put out the initial money to build it because, well... they prefer having the money in their pockets.
When did environmental issues become so politicized?
While I’m not educated on the world’s history of environmentalism, when I think of American Environmentalism becoming political I do think of the 1970s.This was when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring that got the country talking about the impact of synthetic chemicals on the complete ecosystem and how we are all connected within the system. Some credit her as the catalyst for the regulatory environmental movement that was deemed a necessary next step for the protection of the environment.It was the era when the Clean Air Act (1970), Clean Water Act( 1972), and Endangered Species Act (1973), all of which required the political will to recognize that we had developed to a point where environmentalism was not sufficient in the form of Audubon Clubs or Sierra Club-like NGOs, that we needed formal government regulation or risk a further worsening of the air and water quality, or the exacerbated extinctions that hurt biodiversity.I suppose that would mean Richard Nixon comes to mind, but much less so than the social movement that environmentalists of the previous few decades succeeded in that led to Congress passing what is still the most substantive series of environmental legislation in history for Nixon to sign.Prior to that, much governance-based environmentalism was in the form of lawsuits such as the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley filed by environmental groups like John Muir’s Sierra Club or (prior to his Presidency where he was able to use federal agencies for the goal of conservation) Teddy Roosevelt’s Boone and Crockett Club. Environmentalists were more sportsmen who appreciated the balance of nature and the small role they could play in management, and because they were more in-tune with “wilderness” they saw more directly the impact civilization was having. While that was in definition still political action, it was more of a niche than the social movement of the 70s.
Is E-waste recycling a profitable business?
Yes. Urban mining is getting larger and more organized. First-movers and multi-national corporations that manufacture electronic products for the world’s most known electronic brands are quickly consolidating e-waste globally with environmentally friendly closed loop e-waste recycling processes.According to a report offered by US-based Market Research Store, the global e-waste management market was valued at US$ 17.0 bn in 2015. The E-Waste Management sector is expected to grow to US$ 49.4 bn by 2020, registering a CAGR of 23.5% during the forecast period 2015 - 2020. As reported, North America accounted for approximately 33.0 % of the total revenue generated in 2015.It is one of the fastest growing waste streams in emerging as well as developed regions. The reduced life spans of electrical, electronic and consumer electronic devices are generating large quantities of E-Waste, which is growing rapidly every year. The drivers of increased E-Waste can be attributed to the following:Electronic waste - including mobile phones, TVs and computers, is thought to contain as much as 7% of all the world's gold. Other precious metals and rare earth minerals are aplenty in electronic waste.• Decreasing life span of electronic devices• Rate of Obsolescence• Increased adoption of technologies• High cost of recycling• Limited eco-friendly recovery processesE-waste recycling will play a significant role in the coming decade and impact industries globally, thereby boosting economy through e-waste management. Currently, only a small portion of products is collected and directed into state-of-the art recycling chains. Significant improvements are needed here to fully utilise this secondary metal resourceFor more informationInsights | EnviroLeach Technologies Inc.Fact Sheet | EnviroLeach Technologies Inc.Why Invest? | EnviroLeach Technologies Inc.