The Cobalt Pipeline

First of all, there are many things about this article itself that make me really happy. The content is a well designed mix of short videos interspread in an article which references sources, investigates facts independently and is honest about what it could and could not find. They even mention a part where Amazon did not reply to their question and state that Amazon is owned by the same owner as their paper. Overall, I think this is an amazing journalistic piece. Very nice to see that good journalism is still out there and hope this catches on as well.

Now, the subject of the article itself: its really sad that the people of Congo, who should ideally be a part of the global supply chain that brings prosperity to those involved in it, should be exploited so thoroughly. While ensuring the source of cobalt is perhaps the first step, maybe what is needed is better leadership amongst the miners itself (I don't mean this as criticism but as a suggested solution). I can see that the mining companies and those profiting from dirt cheap prices of cobalt would be dead against this, but here again we see what happens when labor is plentiful and there is an absence of any sort of regulation. The fact is that if companies can get around laws to get minerals cheaply, they will. Because the market rewards those who give them raw materials for cheap.

I was surprised the article left out the issue that there are many mines that are controlled by regional warlords in the Eastern Congo. Profits from not only cobalt but other minerals fund regional militias/armies. So its even more egregious than just labor exploitation as these warlords contribute to instability in a region that is far from the control of Kinshasa the country's capital.

It would be good to see something established similar to the Kimberly Accord for diamonds and certifying conflict free acquisition but the cynical part of me thinks that this designation would rendered ineffective due to corruption and falsification.

I've been worrying about how I'll find a phone with a proper keyboard when my current one dies. I knew about the exploitation that went into making electronics, but without cognitive dissonance we wouldn't get anything done.

I think after reading this article, my next phone will be a Fairphone. There are more important things than how easy quickly I can write an email.

Speaking of lithium batteries, I heard from some guy on the Business News that the world is oversupplied with lithium. There's enough to last for decades, apparently.

Not sure if its possible in a warlord controlled situation, but somehow, it seems like these guys need a union.

This reminds me of I, Pencil [1], the story of how a pencil is made. There should be an I, Ethically Sourced Pencil follow up.

1. http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html

I looked up holoprosencephaly, the rare congenital defect mentioned in the article. Stuff of nightmares.

Full browser window videos with sound to exploit pity, blaming tech industry. Had Washington Post descend to that yellow press levels? Or it always had at this level?