Apple Store

Heads of state, business and technology leaders, and throngs of consumers, who were touched by his products, are paying tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday at age 56.

It remains to be seen whether these moves will result in real improvements, but they’re at least an implicit pledge of change, and they almost invite an even brighter spotlight on the largely dark backstory behind Apple’s glistening products.

The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson has been reading the news on Apple’s supply chain, and shares some thoughts on Apple, human rights, and us.

The concerns have been mounting for years, but suddenly, with last week’s blockbuster NY Times series on Apple’s supply chain, the question is on everyone’s lips: have the defining consumer products of our time been created at an intolerable human and environmental cost?