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Greenpeace Decries Lack of Environmental Progress From Console Makers

SwiftyNifty writes with an update to Greenpeace's 2007 criticism of game console manufacturers over environmental concerns. Their claim was that some of the chemicals used to make the consoles were toxic, and that the manufacturers' recycling practices were not up to snuff. Two years have passed, and Greenpeace now says that progress is either slow or non-existent. "... Nintendo has little plan to remove PVC and almost no plans to remove [brominated flame retardants]. Slightly further up the scale, Microsoft was again awarded a poor ranking due to the use of toxic waste materials. And Sony, who rank rather well in their mobile phone partnership with Ericsson (scoring 6.5 out of 10 for improved toxic waste and efficient energy usage) didn't perform as well in the console category, failing to eliminate PVC or BFRs from their gaming products."

3 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Screw Greenpeace by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Greenpeace's own founder is against Greenpeace. It's time to stop letting insane left-wingers threaten everybody into living the way they want them to live.

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
  2. Re:I No Respect For Greenpeace by bky1701 · · Score: 3, Informative

    While this is not really the place for another pointless discussion on global warming, I would say we have plenty of proof it is indeed going to happen. It is a fact that CO2 in the atmosphere increases global heat. It is also a fact humans are adding massive amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere. We cannot predict the outcome, but there will certainly be one. It's not just going to go away.

    It will be gradual, and perhaps even reversible with better technology. However, we're still betting a lot on that by doing nothing. If it turns out to be less gradual than expected (and as you say, we've never observed this happening before, so we cannot be sure how fast it will be), we could be looking at a disaster, as we won't have time to come up with ways to mitigate the damage.

    I've never seen anyone suggest that water levels could rise astronomically overnight. But the fact is, we can only guess how fast they will rise. 50 years before major land losses? 30? 10? How long will it take to prevent mass death from flooding, starvation, exposure? How much will it COST?

    Like so many else, you only look at here-and-now. Like a CEO running a company into the ground for short-term profits, unchecked CO2 will, in some form, hurt the human race some day. And for what? Cheap gas, air conditioning, and irrational fear of the alternatives?

    It's not a happy situation, that's for sure, but hiding your head in the sand and yelling "hoax" is not going to do anything to help people when it happens. I for one am glad there are enough people out there that don't ignore facts because they are inconvenient.

  3. Re:Screw this hippie bullshit. by tolan-b · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm guessing you saw the 'Green' in their name and just thought 'damn hippies'.

    http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/about/how-we-work/scientific-research

    Greenpeace aren't saying we can't use plastic, they're saying that companies can use less polluting materials and processes.

    Electrical appliance waste is a serious problem, many of the materials used are extremely toxic and causing serious problems where they're dumped.

    That's why Europe has the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive for example:

    http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32084.aspx