CONVENIENCE OF MODERN LIFE comes with environmental trade-offs and inconvenient truths. This report was researched and written using a Mac Book Pro whose power was stored in a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that needs cobalt. The original power stored in the battery was likely generated by coal dug up by miners in eastern Utah and transported to a power plant using trains and trucks powered by diesel fuel refined after being pumped up from fields also located in eastern Utah. _______ ( Originally published by the Canyon Country Zephyr in Sept. 2018. Minor updates were added February 2023.) _______ Consumers in the United States, like myself, use the majority of the world’s cobalt. Prices for it on the world market reflect our skyrocketing demand. But there’s a darker cost: a history of human-rights violations, including use of child labor associated with production of 66 percent of the world’s supply in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Children grub for cobalt in the Democra
It's as if a train were rumbling through spectacular wildlands, destroying everything in its path – a dark vision embraced through time by indigenous spiritual leaders. Aboard the train are rich and influential newcomers who ravage an ancient way of life and the ecosystem every living thing depends on. They not only enjoy the ride, they stoke the engine for profit and tell us it’s a good thing. They call it "progress."