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posted by janrinok on Monday June 07 2021, @06:38PM   Printer-friendly

Electric Car Batteries Are Turning This Country Into an Actual Hellscape:

As the demand for gadgets and electric cars grows, so too are the mining operations that dig up cobalt to use in lithium-ion batteries.

And that's become a serious problem for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, The New Yorker reports, which sits atop about 3.4 million metric tons of the stuff — half of the entire planet's supply. A massive, gold rush-like mining industry was born after residents in poverty-stricken areas discovered ore deposits under their homes. But now, many are finding that digging up the valuable mineral has failed to lift them out of poverty. And meanwhile, dangerous conditions are killing miners as exposure to the metal is poisoning both people and the environment.

A lack of regulations and enforcement over the mines has resulted in the miners, who risk their health and safety for financial security, being exploited by officials and traders who are unscrupulously lining their own pockets, according to The New Yorker. One miner told the publication that he now struggles to pay his $25 monthly rent even as the value of cobalt continues to soar — and the only alternative was to work at a major corporation's mine for considerably less money.

Meanwhile, thousands of children have been put to work as well, according to The New Yorker, some of whom say they can't remember the last time they could afford a meal. In order to keep them working, the kids are often even drugged with appetite suppressors.


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 08 2021, @02:35PM (10 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 08 2021, @02:35PM (#1143137) Journal
    Indeed. I get you're trying to be sarcastic, but that is indeed true.

    Notice the worst example you could come up with was just minor economic issues in some remote North Dakota town (boomtown phenomena like expensive prices and hard time finding people to do work and nebulous accusations of "sex trafficking").

    While the "hellscape" of DRC is an exaggeration (after all, all those cobalt mines and their surrounding areas are still just small parts of the country, much like Williston is a smart part of the US), it remains that the US collectively is much better than the Congo is collectively. There's something wrong with the narrative.
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 08 2021, @04:10PM (9 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 08 2021, @04:10PM (#1143179)

    nebulous accusations of "sex trafficking"

    Not so nebulous if you are facing a 6x "normal" homicide rate [wikipedia.org].

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    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 08 2021, @05:02PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 08 2021, @05:02PM (#1143200) Journal
      Sorry, it just got more nebulous. Now, you're citing vague nation-level statistics. So what does this have to do with the "hellscape" of the Congo?
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 08 2021, @05:05PM (7 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 08 2021, @05:05PM (#1143203) Journal
      To elaborate on that, the 6x homicide rate is for Canada. You're not even bothering to cite data for the right country.
      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 08 2021, @06:17PM (6 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 08 2021, @06:17PM (#1143231)

        Wow, sure seems like a defensive nerve was struck there. Were your ancestors "too good" to be associated with the indigenous in carnal relations? Mine weren't, they just went ahead and married 'em in the church, but there was (and I imagine still is) that segment of society in deep denial that such unseemly things could ever happen in their family.

        As for stats 'n such, the most common noise on the subject lately openly acknowledges the lack of accurate data on the topic, the frequency with which Native Americans are listed as "other" on police and coroner's reports and other forms of under-reporting that affect the "official" stats on the topic in both the US and Canada, but especially the US.

        Williston, ND - 70 miles south of the Canadian border - indigenous issues there undoubtedly more similar to the Canadian indigenous situation than, say, the Miccosukee or Navajo.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:55PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 08 2021, @07:55PM (#1143261)

          What does that have to do with levels in the Congo?

          Just to be clear, the Congo is the kind of african tribal jungle hellscape where outright massacres and genocides go underreported unless enough pale-skinned people happen to be around that people in cushy northern hemisphere places get bothered to care. An example that might tickle the ol' memory bone might be that the DRC is right up by a place called Rwanda, and a lot of the same tribal lands and activites cross over there.

          So, uh, the USA's that bad, huh? In the last fifty years or so? Do tell.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 08 2021, @09:35PM (4 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 08 2021, @09:35PM (#1143277) Journal

          Wow, sure seems like a defensive nerve was struck there.

          Because my "defensive nerves" are more important than the terrible shape of the Congo?

          Were your ancestors "too good" to be associated with the indigenous in carnal relations?

          Probably not. There doesn't seem to be any chiefs in my woodpile according to the family genealogists, but there's a lot of poor women about whom we only know their first names. They could belong to out-group ethnicities like Native Americans, Blacks, Jews, Germans, Scot-Irish, whatever.

          Williston, ND - 70 miles south of the Canadian border - indigenous issues there undoubtedly more similar to the Canadian indigenous situation than, say, the Miccosukee or Navajo.

          Why would that be? You have different country laws and systems for starters.

          • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:32PM (3 children)

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 08 2021, @11:32PM (#1143316)

            Why would that be? You have different country laws and systems for starters.

            You just don't get out much, do you?

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            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:29AM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 09 2021, @12:29AM (#1143339) Journal

              You just don't get out much, do you?

              You are quite the font of non sequiturs today. Why would me getting out more make even the slightest difference between US and Canada law and systems for dealing with native American tribes? Much less make that difference smaller than the difference between the circumstances of US tribes (which aren't that different, let us note)?

              And notice how we've veered? I get that both your original post and the post you were replying to were both trying to be sarcastic. But the US doesn't have to do freedom perfectly to be better than a country that has suffered through serial tyrants, the worst war since the Second World War, and some of the worst poverty in the world. It's not a high bar.

              I think there's a lot of toxic narratives spinning through this discussion. These poison dialogue by wasting time on stuff like Canadian treatment of native Americans.

              My take on this is that there's little point to sanctimonious complaints about mining companies when people are starving on the streets. This is how the developed world became the developed world, though hard work and tremendous sacrifice. My take is that everyone will need to pass through this trial in order to become developed world - there are no short cuts.

              • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 09 2021, @02:03AM (1 child)

                by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday June 09 2021, @02:03AM (#1143388)

                Why would me getting out more make even the slightest difference

                We can start with an appreciation for the influence of physical proximity on culture and attitudes, something that national borders and legal systems are weaker than - at least for open borders where people cross easily.

                the US doesn't have to do freedom perfectly to be better than a country that has suffered through...

                One might say that the US screws our own people just as badly, perhaps worse, in mining towns than the DNC does theirs, considering how bad the rest of the DNC has it in non-mining towns.

                wasting time on stuff like Canadian treatment of native Americans.

                Not a waste of time if you're an abused native American.

                there's little point to sanctimonious complaints about mining companies when people are starving on the streets.

                Is this because there's no people starving on the streets of mining towns? Is this why my mother made me eat my peas because there are starving children in Africa? Seems you are the one in non-sequitor land now.

                This is how the developed world became the developed world

                In revisionist victor writes the history land, sure. Ask Queen Lili'uokalani how the developed world became the developed world, she's one of the few "from the other side" who has managed to get a bit of her perspective written and recorded for posterity.

                hard work and tremendous sacrifice

                On the part of those who don't participate in the after-party, most often.

                My take is that everyone will need to pass through this trial in order to become developed world - there are no short cuts.

                My take is that you have very little imagination and less than no creativity. There are many better paths to socio-economic development, whether or not those who hold the power in the world will let them be traveled is a much more pertinent question.

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                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 09 2021, @04:24AM

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 09 2021, @04:24AM (#1143424) Journal
                  Ok, before we start, is there some sort of medication you should be taking? Take that medicine first.

                  We can start with an appreciation for the influence of physical proximity on culture and attitudes, something that national borders and legal systems are weaker than - at least for open borders where people cross easily.

                  I assure you that a lot of Canada is further away from Williston than the Navaho are, such as most of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (which contain most of Canada's native American population). Looking at the map, the Four Corners monument, which is in Navaho land is only 1100 miles away from Williston. You barely get to Nunavut with that.

                  And given that we're talking about issues like sex trafficking and boom towns that are directly influenced by national legal and economic systems, you're just wrong here.

                  One might say that the US screws our own people just as badly, perhaps worse, in mining towns than the DNC does theirs, considering how bad the rest of the DNC has it in non-mining towns.

                  Sorry, I don't judge the truth of something by your ability to say stupid things. One might say that the Moon Nazis mine Moon cheese, but that doesn't make it even slightly true.

                  wasting time on stuff like Canadian treatment of native Americans.

                  Not a waste of time if you're an abused native American.

                  Those Congolese aren't native Americans nor am I. So that leaves you. Are you an abused native American? Somehow I doubt it. Sounds like this is indeed a waste of time as a result.

                  there's little point to sanctimonious complaints about mining companies when people are starving on the streets.

                  Is this because there's no people starving on the streets of mining towns? Is this why my mother made me eat my peas because there are starving children in Africa? Seems you are the one in non-sequitor land now.

                  Why ask a question like that? Have I or anyone else claimed that mining towns were a perfect cure for hunger? Given your entire post to this point, you have pulled non sequitur after non sequitur.

                  This is how the developed world became the developed world

                  In revisionist victor writes the history land, sure. Ask Queen Lili'uokalani how the developed world became the developed world, she's one of the few "from the other side" who has managed to get a bit of her perspective written and recorded for posterity.

                  Yet another non sequitur comes forth. Sorry, oppressing Hawaii doesn't magically make the US a developed world country.

                  hard work and tremendous sacrifice

                  On the part of those who don't participate in the after-party, most often.

                  At some point, you have to accept that we're not going to share in the fruits of everything we help create, especially well after our deaths. It makes no sense as a result to stake a claim to that.

                  My take is that everyone will need to pass through this trial in order to become developed world - there are no short cuts.

                  My take is that you have very little imagination and less than no creativity. There are many better paths to socio-economic development, whether or not those who hold the power in the world will let them be traveled is a much more pertinent question.

                  Show us these better paths. And perhaps you can explain why you're waiting on approval from the powers that be, rather than just implementing these plans yourself?