the hidden cost of a cellphone..

I want a new phone.
My old Nokia's is well, old. It is battered, hangs up at whim and is uncool. I have been eying other models-in-the-market. Cool, swanky models. In neon pink and classy black. Great features: Flash Camera X pixel, Blue Tooth. SMS, MMS, VLAN, 3G, GSM, GPRS and more such acronyms which i don't quite comprehend. I itch to get rid of the old. Its use is over. Almost, and i wanna move onto the Newer-Younger, model.
But before i could close the deal, I had some nasty thoughts, a prick of the ol' conscience.
Truth is, I can't afford one. And not just because i am broke, looks like Planet Earth is pretty broke too.

The mobile is made up metals and other components, many of which are toxic. I won't go into the fact that many of these are cancer causing, damage human nervous and reproductive systems--in fact the plastic contains phthalates, which are 'gender-bender' chemicals.
Here is another shocker, the green, and actual cost of that fancy cell phone: a typical mobile phone weighs say around 75 gms. To get that 75 gms more than 30 kilograms of rock has to be mined from the earth. Manufacturing the chips requires several hundred litres of water. And the energy to do all this burns huge amounts of fossil fuel.
I read in journalist Fred Pearce book Confessions of An Eco-Sinner that a phones typical two year life (and how many of us use a phone that long?) raises the weight of a phone's overall rucksack to about 75 kg, a 1000 times more than its actual--and we are not including the water.
The clincher is the origin of Colton-a bunch of minerals including Tantalum (guys, its there is just about everything from laptops to watches to jewelery). 80 per cent of this wonder metal is found in Congo. And so are one of the most endangered species on the planet, and a close relative--The Mountain Gorilla. Only about 400 on Planet Earth. Not only is the habitat of this critically endangered gorilla being destroyed and plundered by mining, it is being poached relentlessly. Mainly killed for bush meat by the locals displaced by the mines and pushed into desperate poverty. The western low land gorillas have been heavily poached too, and clearing the forest for mines means their home is shrinking by the day. The forests are being stripped for charcoal, to light the fires of the locals—and the miners.
Horrifyingly, mining for coltan is also funding the worst genocide which has killed lakhs of people. As the world hooked onto cellphones—it is believed there is one for every three people in the planet-- prices for the wonder mineral shot up, and the rebel militia cashed in, amassing fortunes in Swiss banks and using it for arms.
The weight of my mobile has got heavier, and the allure of the new model has dipped.
For the moment, I will give the I-Phone IV, the android or the N 500 a miss, even if my oldie has hung up and refuses to connect.
Maybe, that's a blessing!

@ prerna singh bindra

Environment concerns are not a luxury, Mr Prime Minister

PM's statement on September 6:Environmental concerns cannot emerge as the 21 century’s version of industrial control or license raj. They must not lead to "perpetuation of poverty".
Dr Singh here is news for you, India has amongst the worst environment monitoring and regulations on the environment, which is a major reason why investors flock here, dump their toxic wastes-while they prefer to keep their country clean.
The Env Impact Assessment reports are currently mere PR documents authored by the proponents themselves.
Here is another bit of news: About 90 per cent of projects sail through the MoEF which you deem 'anti-development'
Once cleared, subject, of course, to strict norms, there is simply no system of monitoring compliance of environment laws or standards,
And for the record, ecological damage is irreversible, and compliance with environment standards essentially translates to clean water, air, uncontaminated soil and food--which one would think are the right of the citizens of India.
Environmental concerns do not perpetuate poverty, Mr Prime Minister. They are not dispensable. On them depend our very existence. Unregulated industrialisation and development as defined by mines--with little thought to consequences--severs the poor and the vulnerable from natural resources on which they are dependent, and perpetuates poverty. Ecology helps meet the basic needs of the common man (including the 'privileged us') --and provides him livelihood.
Think, sir, where would your GDP and economic development when there is simply no water?

did you say animals have no feelings?

Who was it who questions that animals have no feelings, feel no pain..no grief? In the train tragedy which mowed down seven elephants, the herd was trying to free two calves trapped in the line. it wasn't just the mother..all the elephants in the herd were making desperate efforts, collectively, to save the young, and lost their lives, brutally killed in the process. Next day, a huge herd of 30-50 elephants revisited the site of the tragedy..they were restless, calling, trumpeting, uprooting nearby bushes and trees, halting the traffic..

the future of the tigers rests on politics

The tigers don't know it, nor do the elephants, those magnificently intelligent creatures--that so much of their survival depends on who walks the corridors of power in delhi. On whether the man in the hot seat will help protect them-or themselves. On whether he saves their home--forests, or sells it. Conservation is all about politics. and politics rarely cares about conservation--for its not about governance and vision-but about greed and votes and power. Exceptions to the rule, that rare political animal who works, please excuse

Tiger-eating men

No of people killed by sharks every year: Approx 20
Number of sharks killed by men for shark fin soup: Conservative estimate: 70 million
some shark species have gone extinct, many are on the verge of extinction.
No people killed by tigers each year: about 60.
three of the eight sub-species have gone extinct, two are on the verge of extinction..and the remaining are critically endangered. Because we have destroyed their home-forests, and also because we eat tiger penis soup and drink tiger bone wine
so, did we say man-eating tigers, or is tiger-eating men
Did you say killer sharks, or should it be killer-men.
think about it

'Man-eaters'

People: Please stop using 'man-eater on the prowl', 'killer on a rampage', when describing a fatal conflict situation. If you persist, next time you talk of your car, that energy-guzzling, toxic-spewing machine u so love, you may please use the same terminology--as a genre it kills far, far more people-thousand times over than tigers or elephants or leopard or sharks--or all of them put together.

i know just what's needed to lift the spirits: A brand new wardrobe. A voucher for a book store (note i didn't say diamonds, my demands are few). And wildlife watching-pure and simple-unadulterated by knowledge of threats looming over.