The Congo has a long, cruel history that peaked in the colonial era. Joseph Conrad wrote about the ivory trade in ‘Heart of Darkness’ in 1899. Although, thankfully by then the scourge of slave trading was largely gone. He argued there was little difference between ‘so-called civilized people in London and those described as savages’. Are ‘blood batteries’ containing cobalt echoes of Conrad’s concerns regarding imperialism?
Why Do Some People Call Lithium Cells Blood Batteries?
James Conca contributed a hard-hitting piece in Forbes that he titled “Blood Batteries – Cobalt and the Congo.” In it, he says the Congo cobalt trade is the ‘perfect intersection’ between caring about the environment and concern about the social issues resulting from the ‘technological revolution of non-fossil fuels’.
There is no denying the corruption, environmental pollution, extreme poverty and child labor following in the wake of the Democratic Republic’s major income stream. And there is also no denying the undemocratic nature of the harsh regime that governs it. We could be propping the system up with every lithium battery we purchase.
Blood, Sweat and Batteries in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Vivienne Walt and Sebastian Meyer wrote a thought piece in Fortune Magazine. They tell the tale of 15-year-old Lusaka who gets up at 5 a.m. every morning, and walks for two hours to the work station. This is where he then works for 12 hours on a cobalt mine to earn $9 ‘on a good day’. After that, he walks another two hours to get home.
Lusaka is proud of what he does as it is earning money for his family. Are there echoes of imperialism in this? Or is this just the way the world works? The western world has been on a romp since someone discovered they could make lithium-ion batteries seven times stronger by adding cobalt. This has spawned a green revolution of technology finally able to out-compete fossil fuels.
A child may have contributed to the cobalt in the blood batteries in the smartphones you see today. Perhaps one of them put bread on Lusaka’s table, or helped take years off his lifetime. Lithium battery manufacturers cannot say for certain where they source their cobalt. Should this matter?
Related
Cobalt’s Role in Lithium-Ion Batteries
Cobalt Demand Increases – Should We Worry
Preview Image: Did Children Mine the Materials in Your Phone
