Argentina’s economic meltdown is usually described in terms of sky-high unemployment, flat-lined investment and suffocating foreign debt. But there also are environmental means of measuring the damage. From a strictly green perspective, not all of these are negative. For instance, to help alleviate unemployment, the government says it is planning an ambitious reforestation effort. (See “An Argentine jobs program will focus on reforestation”—EcoAméricas, May ’02.) And experts here report a surge in paper, glass, cardboard and can recycling—usually a cause for celebration, but in this case sad evidence of hard times. Every night, an estimated 25,000 poor residents from outlying areas enter the federal capital to pick through trash bags and bins for recyclables. Officially outlawed since 1977, such scavenging is... [Log in to read more]