“Cobalt Red”: Smartphones & Electric Cars Rely on Toxic Mineral Mined in Congo by Children (video)
“Cobalt Red”: Smartphones & Electric Cars Rely on Toxic Mineral Mined in Congo by Children (video)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces nearly three-quarters of the world’s cobalt, an essential component in rechargeable batteries powering laptops, smartphones and electric vehicles. But those who dig up the valuable mineral often work in horrific and dangerous conditions, says Siddharth K...
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He does the best job of explaining this that I’ve come across.
I don’t want to support child slavery so I’m trying to quit batteries. instead of upgrading my laptop I got a desktop instead. I don’t plan on upgrading my mobile phone for the same reason and eventually I’ll either just have a pager or nothing.
The electric car is a dilemma. I don’t know which industry is worse; fossil fuel or big tech.
Cobalt free batteries exist and some electric car manufacturers are already using them.
https://electrek.co/2022/04/22/tesla-using-cobalt-free-lfp-batteries-in-half-new-cars-produced/
They might be cobalt free, but how long until we find out that they’re just as oppressive 🤷🏻♂️
Switch to a more efficient fossil fuel car, or maintain your current car for as long as possible. Its more environmentally friendly to maintain something than build an entire new one
Depending on how many miles you drive, this isn't true unfortunately, a new electric car on a "relatively" clean electric grid can pay off its manufacturing emissions in as little as 12 months.
"Using this model, Reuters found that, in the United States, a new 54-kilowatt-hour Tesla Model 3 must be driven 13,500 miles before it becomes cleaner than a Toyota Corolla achieving an average 33 mpg over its lifetime. However, if the same Tesla were driven in Norway, it emissions "break-even point" would come at just 8,400 miles, according to the analysis."
I would love to see a really in depth analysis..