Footage from the information age’s toxic underbelly
November 9, 2007 | Category: China, Environment, Journalism School
Michael Zhao, a former classmate of mine at the UC Berkeley journalism school, has just finished a blow-your-hair-back doc, called “eDump,” on the recycling of electronic waste in China (preview via YouTube above).
For a summary, I couldn’t do better than Andrew Leonard, author of Salon’s How the World Works: “A lifetime of blog posts decrying the environmental toll of high-tech industrial production does not begin to approach the impact of Michael Zhao’s 20-minute documentary on the processing of e-waste in Guiyu, China.”
Michael’s a quiet killer of a journalist, soft-spoken and unassuming and ludicrously dedicated. Which is precisely why he was able to get this footage. On more than one occasion, he walked into these secretive industrial hells, digital camera dangling innocently around his neck as if he were a lost tourist, filming as he feigned ignorance—a feat he was bullied into recounting innumerable times on his return.
It didn’t end there. After he came back, I watched him labor into the wee hours on a multimedia version of the story for the better part of a year, the ironic glow of a computer screen lighting his lone face long after saner and less dedicated students had succumbed to the temptations of bed.
In other words, a rare work of pure journalistic intent, well worth the time to watch.
The entire film is available here.
Michael’s introduction to the film appears on China Digital Times. See also a video interview with Michael, “EWaste: Dumping on the Poor,” produced by the Asia Society.
Tags: China, Environment, ewaste, guiyu, pollution
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