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Here is an issue I was unaware of until a thread appeared on the anthro-l mailing list, coltan mining in the Congo. Coltan is a mineral that is refined into tantalum which in turn is used in the manufacture of capacitors and other hi-tech products. The mining of this mineral has caused rather severe environmental and social issues and plays an important role in the financing of the African civil wars. We all too often assume that our electronic existence is clean because it doesn't appear to emit pollution and too easily forget or ignore what makes it all possible.

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What follows is a brief exchange from the anthro-l email list. I'm including it here because it sums up why so little is actually being done to reduce the factors causing out current climatic changes and I believe it needs a wider audience than just the list.

Eiríkur Hafberg:
>> What has become of the modern man? Wasn't he/she/it supposed to be
>> educated? Has the education system failed? Or is the market oriented
>> media to blame for being too strong and loud and misleading? What has
>> become of the Homo sapiens sapiens (did he ever exist?)?

jan matthieu

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