Peter W. Klein
Director of the University of British Columbia School of Journalism
Director of the International Reporting Program (UBC)

Monday, April 23, 2012
7:00pm
Eben Holden

Ghana:  Digital Dumping Ground
Film, Lecture, Q & A
An Evening with Peter W. Klein

On the outskirts of Ghana's biggest city sits a smoldering wasteland, a slum carved into the banks of the Korle Lagoon, one of the most polluted bodies of water on earth. The locals call it Sodom and Gomorrah.

Correspondent Peter Klein and a group of graduate journalism students from the University of British Columbia traveled to Ghana as part of a global investigation -- to track a shadowy industry that's causing big problems here and around the world.

Peter Klein will show us his recent documentary film that is a product of their global investigation into the dirty secret of the digital age -- the dumping and dangerous recycling of hundreds of millions of pounds of electronic waste across the developing world. The report also uncovers another byproduct of our disposable culture - data fraud, as thousands of old hard drives are finding their way into criminal hands.

Peter W. Klein is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and filmmaker. He has reported from around the globe for CBS News 60 Minutes, as well as other network programs. He writes for US publications and oversees independent productions out of his studio in Vancouver. He is also the director of the University of British Columbia School of Journalism, and runs the school’s International Reporting Program. In 2009-2010 he was the host of the national Canadian public affairs program The Standard.