Here’s an excerpt from the National Geographic piece, The Price of Precious, explaining more: Congo is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country and one of its richest on paper, with an embarrassment of diamonds, gold, cobalt, copper, tin, tantalum, you name it—trillions’ worth of natural resources. But because of never ending war, it is one of the poorest and most traumatized nations in the world. It doesn’t make any sense, until you understand that militia-controlled mines in eastern Congo have been feeding raw materials into the world’s biggest electronics and jewelry companies and at the same time feeding chaos. Turns out your laptop—or camera or gaming system or gold necklace—may have a smidgen of Congo’s pain somewhere in it. The environmental devastation that must occur so that these minerals can be installed in your smartphone is mind-boggling–especially when you consider that only a fraction of these perfectly reusable minerals are harvested from used phones before they’re trashed. But even that pales in comparison to the true revelation of how our insatiable desire for the latest and greatest technology is literally killing those who have no other option but to work in the mines. Something to consider before using the word “need” and “smartphone” in the same sentence ever again, unless you buy the only one made with conflict-free materials. All images © Marcus Bleasdale/National Geographic. inhabitat/marcus-bleasdales-stunning-photos-reveal-the-ugly-truth-behind-smartphone-manufacturing/conflict-minerals-mm8226/?extend=1
Posted on: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 14:42:53 +0000
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