The Unspeakable Suffering of the People of the Democratic Republic of Congo

The titanic companies that sell products containing Congolese cobalt are worth trillions, yet the people who dig their cobalt out of the ground eke out a base existence characterized by extreme poverty and immense suffering. They exist at the edge of human life in an environment that is treated like a toxic dumping ground by foreign mining companies. Millions of trees have been cut, dozens of villages razed, rivers and air polluted, and arable land destroyed. Our lives are powered by a human and environmental catastrophe in the Congo.” – Siddharth Kara