Electric Cars Are Racist
If I forget thee, O Africa
Like most people, I’m not sure I could live without my smart phone. Or airline travel. Or lightbulbs.
I enjoy my stainless-steel appliances.
Society as we know it wouldn’t function well without battery-powered machinery in manufacturing, ceramics, electronic appliances.
What do all these things have in common?
They all use the mineral cobalt.
And where does most of that cobalt come from?
The Democratic Republic of Congo.
We’ll just call it by its short name, the DRC, since its kleptomaniac rulers haven’t exactly been democratic.
A list of this central Africa country’s resources would have you believe that it’s one of the wealthiest, healthiest and most educated, metropolitan, amazing places in the world.
DRC is home to an abundance of natural wealth, including minerals such as diamonds, gold, copper, cassiterite (tin ore) and coltan — known for its unique electrical properties — as well as coffee, timber and oil. Nearly one in every five diamonds comes from the DRC.
And it’s where 70% of the world’s cobalt originates.
