By Darren Smith, Weekend contributor
An environmental advocacy group alleges that a Seattle recycling company disposed of electronics in overseas nations without following contractually mandated recycling practices. Seattle based “Total Reclaim” now faces investigation by the Washington State Department of Ecology and the potential loss of state contracts.
Environment NGO “Basel Action Network” initiated a two-year investigation of recycling methods by using, among others things, GPS transponders in two hundred devices hidden in recycled items dropped off at recycling locations throughout the United States. BAN then tracked the devices to record their migration and if the material did in-fact arrive at large recycling locations.
Reportedly thirty percent of electronic recyclables instead arrived in foreign nations such as Kenya, Hong Kong and Mexico; locations having questionable environmental practices.
The academic world lost a gifted member in the murder of UCLA professor William Klug, who was gunned down by a former student Mainak Sarkar, 38. Sarkar is a former doctoral student that Klug mentored and was upset about his grades, according to police. Sarkar left what is described as a “kill list” that led police to the body of a Minnesota woman who was gunned down in her home. The list included another professor’s name, but thankfully that professor was not hurt.
We recently discussed the tragedy in Chile where a man sought to commit suicide by jumping into a lion enclosure at the zoo — resulting in two lions being shot and killed to protect him. Now in Cincinnati, a parent failed to properly supervise her 4-year-old son who fell into gorilla enclosure. Even though the lowland gorilla did not seem to be trying to hurt the child, he was nevertheless killed to guarantee the safety of the child. 
