The Dystopian Lake Filled By the World's Tech Sludge

New submitter trevc sends this story from the BBC: Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech. The city-sized Baogang Steel and Rare Earth complex dominates the horizon, its endless cooling towers and chimneys reaching up into grey, washed-out sky. Stretching into the distance, lies an artificial lake filled with a black, barely-liquid, toxic sludge. ... You may not have heard of Baotou, but the mines and factories here help to keep our modern lives ticking. It is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of “rare earth” minerals. These elements can be found in everything from magnets in wind turbines and electric car motors, to the electronic guts of smartphones and flatscreen TVs.

Comments

Re:Unnecessary, but profitable.

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree 100% but let's not let our consumption based society - you and me - off the hook. Upgrading our iThings or the next gen Android thingy whenever a new model comes out adds to that. Jamming our lives with consumer electronics adds to it.

And let's not forget the Internet of Things bullshit. In order to boost sales and their margins, those manufacturers are going to be putting chips into everything whether it needs it or not just because people need to make a slice of toast with their smartphone and check to see if there's half and half in the fridge from their tablet. We have this fetish for putting whiz bang electronics that really do not add to our lives except bright lights and more eye candy.

If we would grow up and stop buying toys all the time, those manufacturers would go and so something else or out of business.