In his Pulitzer Prize-finalist book Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, author Siddharth Kara exposes the severe humanitarian and environmental catastrophe driving the global green energy revolution. The book details how the demand for lithium-ion batteries which power smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles (EVs) has devastated the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which produces roughly 75% of the world’s cobalt supply. 1. Threats to the People of the Congo The book paints a harrowing picture of what Kara describes as a modern-day form of slavery and severe corporate predation for profit: Sub-Human & Dangerous Labor: Over 150,000 "artisanal" miners (including tens of thousands of children as young as six) dig for cobalt manually using basic tools like pickaxes, rebar, or their bare hands. Fatal Accidental Collapses: Miners operate in deep, hand-dug tunnels lacking ventilation, rock bolts, or safety supports. Tunnel collapses occur frequently, burying workers and children alive. Severe Toxicity and Health Hazards: Cobalt is toxic to touch and breathe. Because the workers are not provided with protective gear like masks or gloves, they inhale toxic dust daily. This causes severe lung diseases ("hard metal lung disease"), birth defects in newborns, and developmental issues. Violent Exploitation: Local populations are systematically displaced from their homes as entire towns are bulldozed to clear space for expanding mines. The mines themselves are heavily policed by corrupt armed militias and private security forces. 2. Threats to Planet Earth Kara challenges the narrative of the "clean, green energy revolution" by demonstrating the immense ecological toll of extracting these minerals: Mass Deforestation: Huge swathes of the Congo Basin forest the world's second-largest tropical rainforest and a crucial carbon sink for mitigating global climate change are being clear-cut to make way for massive industrial open-pit chasms. Water and Soil Contamination: Mining operations dump toxic waste and heavy metals into local river systems. This creates heavily polluted waterways where fish cannot survive and the water becomes poisonous to drink. Air Pollution: The continuous pulverization of earth and constant movement of heavy machinery creates a permanent haze of toxic, metal-laden dust that contaminates the air for miles around the mining epicenters.