Impacto de los Residuos Electrónicos y la Supervivencia Extrema

El Impacto Creciente de los Residuos Electrónicos

When a new electronic device appears on the market, the word gets out quickly. There are excited blog posts about it and comments on social media. TV presenters tell us about the amazing things you can do with the new device. When it's finally available, people queue up all night outside stores to be the first to buy it.

But today, new electronic devices have a very short lifespan. Technological change happens so fast that an exciting new device is old and boring after only a few years. We rush to buy the next generation of the device and throw away the old one. But what happens then? We can't just remove it! It becomes electronic waste or e-waste.

Estadísticas Alarmantes sobre la Basura Tecnológica

Electronic waste is the fastest growing type of waste in the developed world and is increasing by 5% every year. In the United States, the figures are alarming. Every year, we dispose of more than 40 million computers, 20 million televisions and 100 million mobile phones.

Consumers replace their televisions every ten years. They replace their computers and MP3 players every two years, and they replace their cell phones more often than that.

¿Qué Sucede con el E-Waste?

What happens to all of this e-waste? Unfortunately, only a small proportion of it is recyclable. Electronic devices contain some reusable raw materials, but they also contain hazardous chemicals which may harm workers.

Another option is to burn the e-waste, but this releases toxic fumes into the environment. These toxins may then turn up in the food we eat, especially fish. Because of the problems of disposing of e-waste, most of it ends up in landfill, but this isn't an ideal solution either. The waste still releases toxins and these pollute the local environment and water sources. For this reason, dumping e-waste in landfill is illegal in many European countries.

Perhaps the most worrying form of e-waste disposal in the developed world is export. Developed countries routinely export e-waste to countries in Africa and Asia. Two of the biggest destinations are India and China, where thousands of workers are working in e-waste scrapyards. In many cases, these workers do not have adequate protection from the hazardous materials in the e-waste, and many scrapyards even employ children.

¿Cómo Puedes Ayudar?

• Sé consciente: Mantente atento a la cantidad de residuos electrónicos que produces.
• Compra con durabilidad: Adquiere dispositivos que duren más tiempo y cuídalos adecuadamente para no reemplazarlos con tanta frecuencia.
• Reutiliza: Cuando finalmente te deshagas de un dispositivo, considera donarlo a una organización benéfica o a alguien que pueda reutilizarlo.
• Recicla correctamente: Si lo anterior no es posible, busca en internet puntos de recolección de residuos electrónicos cercanos a ti.

Supervivencia Extrema: La Increíble Historia de Jamie Neale

The backpacker, aged 19, in the photo above, survived his ordeal by eating leaves and berries, and using tree bark as insulation against the freezing temperatures. Jamie Neale was travelling in Australia as part of his gap year, after completing his A-levels. During a visit to the Blue Mountains, he set out from a hostel in Katoomba for a day's excursion and only took a few sandwiches and a bottle of water. Unfortunately, he left his mobile phone in his room, and he wasn't carrying a map.

Perdidos en la Naturaleza

After a few hours, he realised that he was lost and began to panic - he was lost in the wilderness with hardly any food! He tried to retrace his steps but found himself at the bottom of a cliff which he was unable to climb. Instead, he had to go down into a valley.

The area where Mr Neale went missing is dangerous. Walkers who have been lost for a few days are usually found with swollen feet, sprained ankles, various wounds and cuts, but no one has ever survived being lost for more than a week before. Some lost walkers have even died of dehydration in the past.

Lucha contra los Elementos

Luckily for Neale, it was winter and there were plenty of streams to drink from. However, the nights were freezing cold and there was a high risk of hypothermia. Neale made blankets from the bark of the native paper bark tree to protect himself from the cold. During the daytime, Neale walked in the sun to dry off his damp clothes.

He quickly ran out of his food supplies, and started eating leaves and berries. He tried to light a fire by rubbing sticks together, but it was no use. He knew that rescuers were searching for him because he could hear and see the helicopters. He desperately tried to signal to them, but they didn't spot him.

When, after a few days, the helicopters stopped passing overhead, Neale knew he was in dire straits - the rescue teams had given up. He thought he was going to slowly die of starvation.

El Rescate Milagroso

After Mr Neale's disappearance, the local emergency services organised a massive search, and his father Richard Cass flew over from London to join in the operation. However, after a week, Mr Cass eventually accepted that his son was dead. He organised a small ceremony in the national park, carving his son's name on a rock and lighting a candle, and returned to Sydney to fly home. He was sitting in Sydney airport when he received a phone call from the police with news of the teen's rescue.

On the twelfth day of his ordeal in the wild, Mr Neale was on his last legs. He was suffering from exposure and dehydration and his body was scratched. Then, suddenly, he came across two experienced walkers camping in the forest, and they rapidly escorted him to safety.

La Recuperación y la Fama Inesperada

He was admitted to hospital, and although he was in bad shape, he was not suffering from any serious injuries. Doctors were concerned that some of the plants he had eaten were poisonous. However, after two days, they said that he was fit enough to leave. Mr Neale is now spending time with a relative, under medical observation. Doctors have said that he cannot fly for several weeks because he may have pneumonia.

In the meantime, Mr Neale is not wasting any time. His disappearance came to the attention of the world press, and now a TV channel has offered him somewhere between £25,000 and £100,000 for exclusive rights to his story.