Iserotope Extras #62: Please Don’t Flip Your Bat

Hi everyone! The theme of today’s issue is selfishness: (1) People enjoying Blue Apron aren’t thinking of the people packaging their food, (2) It’s OK for African American children to bus to the suburbs to go to school, but it’s not OK for White children to bus to the city, (3) Our zeal for iPhones leads directly to respiratory illnesses among people in China; (4) If you’d like to flip your bat after hitting a home run, it’s best if you go to South Korea. Please enjoy!

In Blue Apron’s Chaotic Warehouses, Making Dinner Easy Is Hard Work

For just $10 a meal, Blue Apron sends you all you need to make home cooking easy as pie. But behind all the tiny containers with two tablespoons of EVOO are the people who prep the food and pack the boxes. This Buzzfeed exposé uncovers the working conditions at the Richmond, CA plant — and management’s meager response, with racism thinly veiled.

Looking Back On 50 Years Of Busing In Boston

School desegregation is mostly a thing of the past. But for 50 years, the METCO program in Boston has worked toward integration by busing mostly African American children from the city to attend schools in the suburbs. (White suburban kids don’t take the bus into Boston.) The program serves 220 new students per year, and there is a very long waiting list.

China Pollution Caused By Graphite Mining for Smartphone Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries, which power smartphones and cars and Kindles, contain graphite, and most of the world’s graphite comes from China. This article focuses on people who live near graphite factories — how their water is undrinkable, how they can’t wash the soot off their food, how their tables at home are never clean, how their breathing suffers. The demand for graphite will continue to grow as we clamor for devices with better battery life. (See last week’s article on cobalt.)

Korean Bat Flip: The Art of Letting Go

In the United States, if you flip your bat after you hit a home run, that’s a big no-no. Better to be staid, respectful. But in South Korea, the code is different: bat-flipping is not just part of the game, it’s a joyful art. This article explores how bat-flipping became popular in South Korea and what it says about Korean vs. American culture.

#62 is done! Today, I’d like you to try to read at least one article all the way through and then to leave a comment on the article by clicking on the discussion bubble next to the headline. You might like it! See you next Thursday at 9:10 am.