A visiting Harvard professor and modern slavery activist exposed the “ghastly” cobalt mining industry in the Congo in a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experiencewhich went viral. The video has already amassed over a million views and counting.
Siddharth Kara, author of “Cobalt Red: How The Blood of The Congo Powers Our Lives,” told podcast host Joe Rogan that there is no such thing as “clean cobalt.”
“That’s all marketing,” Kara said.
Kara told Rogan that the level of “suffering” of the Congolese working in the cobalt mines was staggering.
Podcast giant Joe Rogan reacted to a guest’s stories about the cobalt mining industry in a recent episode.
(The Joe Rogan/Spotify Experience)
Asked by Rogan if there were any cobalt mines in the Congo that did not depend on “child labor” or “slavery”, the visiting Harvard professor told him there were none.
“I’ve never seen one and I’ve been to almost every major industrial cobalt mine” in the country, Kara said.
One reason is that the demand for cobalt is exceptionally high: “Cobalt is found in every lithium rechargeable battery manufactured in the world today,” he explained.
As a result, it’s hard to think of a piece of technology that doesn’t rely on cobalt to work, Kara said. “Every smartphone, every tablet, every laptop, and most importantly, every electric vehicle” needs the mineral.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the poorest nations in the world. (AP Photo/Clarice Butsapu)
GREEN ENERGY PROJECTS FACE STRONG LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL OPPOSITION ACROSS THE COUNTRY
“We cannot function day to day without cobalt, and three quarters of the supply comes from the Congo,” he added. “And it’s mined under appalling, heartbreaking and dangerous conditions.”
But “generally, the world doesn’t know what’s going on” in Congo, Kara said.
“I don’t think people are aware of how horrible it is,” Rogan agreed.
The biden administration recently signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to bolster the green energy supply chain, despite the DRC’s documented problems with child labor.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CONTINUE TO PUSH EXTREME MEASURES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GLOBAL ENERGY CRISIS
Cobalt initially “took off because it was used in lithium-ion batteries to maximize their charge and stability,” Kara explained. “And it just so happens that the Congo has more cobalt than the rest of the planet combined,” she added.
The men work at a gold mine in Chudja, northeastern Congo, one of the areas where so-called “conflict minerals” are mined.
(AFP Photo / Lionel Healing)
As a result, the Congo, a country of approximately 90 million people, became the center of a geopolitical conflict over valuable minerals. “Before anyone knew what was happening, [the] chinese government [and] Chinese mining companies have taken control of almost all the big mines and the local population has been displaced,” Kara said. Subsequently, the Congolese are “under duress.”
He continued: “They dig in absolutely subhuman and heartbreaking conditions for a dollar a day, feeding cobalt up the supply chain into every phone, every tablet and especially electric cars.”
British rapper Zuby recommended that his almost one million followers watch the interview.
“This latest Joe Rogan Experience podcast is heavy,” he wrote. “If you have a smartphone or electric vehicle (that’s 100% you), I highly recommend giving it a listen.”
Some, if not all, of the world’s famous technology and energy companies are implicated in the humanitarian crisis, Kara said.
“This is the bottom of the supply chain for your iphonefrom your Tesla, from your Samsung”, he asserted.
Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
