Social Media:

Teaching

Items of the month:
Note that since April 2014, I am publishing these items in my blog at http://runninginfog.wordpress.com/.

Activities I contribute to:

Selected Recent Presentations and Publication

Story of the month ...

December 2011: Shouldn't this be prosecuted as a crime against humanity? Today, the New York Times reported that a court in The Netherlands upheld a fine for dumping toxic waste in the open in Ivory Coast in Africa, killing at least 16 people and harming more than a thousand. The article states that the court uphelt the fine of 1 Million Euro for the "Dutch portion." Of course, representatives of the company Trafigura, according to the New York Times one of the world largest commodity traders, which paid close to 200 Million dollars to Ivory Coast in a settlement, did not welcome the court's decision. How could we expect them to do so, after all, even Ebenezer Scrooge before his encounter with the three spirits would have looked down on them as poor business people.

Surprisingly, the killing of 16 people is not prosecuted as manslaughter. Those who made the decision not to go for the more expensive treatment of the waste in The Netherlands but rather dump it in the open in Africa are directly responsible for their death. They knew that people would die but did not care. They also knew that for a long time the waste impact in a severely degrading way the lives of many. This crime against humanity cannot be compensated by a small fine for a huge company.

When will the spirits that transformed Ebenezer Scrooge from a greedy business man into a valuable member of society start to visit those making the for-profit decisions in Trafigura (and other companies) that kill and harm many? Or is us waiting for the spirits futile? Wouldn't it be better if our laws would take care of these criminals?

The article refers to the "Dutch portion." Who is taking care of the other portions? More importantly, where did the waste originate? Are those, who are responsible for the waste, and who left the waste to Trafigura to deal with, not equally responsible for the dead and injured in Ivory Coast? Did they not, by producting the waste and not making sure that it was treated responsibly, committing a crime against humanity?


If you have a story, thought, or picture worth to be considered as story, thought or picture of the month, please feel free to inform me about it by sending an e-mail to hpplag@unr.edu.