807: Siddharth Kara | How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara (@siddharthkara) is a British Academy Global Professor, an Associate Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Nottingham University, a Senior Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, and the author of the New York Times bestseller Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives.

What We Discuss with Siddharth Kara:

• Cobalt is an essential component of every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today • — the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles.

• About 75 percent of the world's supply of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo • , often by peasants and children in subhuman conditions who suffer and often die for their trouble.

• The environmental impact of cobalt extraction • , including deforestation and pollution, that leaves behind toxic pits and wasteland • unfit for sustaining life.

• The complex web of actors involved in the exploitation of Congo's mineral resources • , including smugglers, traders, and corrupt government officials.

• As consumers, what can we do to raise awareness and jolt ourselves out of the apathy that allows these atrocities to continue in our names • while holding the multinational interests that perpetrate them accountable?

• And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/807

This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.