Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Safe to say I won't be buying a new device with a rechargeable battery for the foreseeable future, because THERE IS NO ETHICAL SOURCE FOR COBALT. 
That of course, is the least that I can do as an individual. As the author outlines, some of the biggest things that need to happen are actions by companies, the mining companies and the companies upstream that use the cobalt in their products, as well as the Congolese government, all assuming that the value of human life comes before profit motive. 
I hesitate to call this a disheartening read because I'm a lot more angry than depressed. Kara has done an excellent job of detailing the many forms of abuse and corruption that keep the poorest in the Congo unable to find better options than mining for cobalt by manual labour in hazardous conditions with no safety provisions available (which is what artisanal mining means in these circumstances), and simultaneously ensures that they do not share in the massive profits such a product yields in the global economy. Slavery conditions, assaults, illnesses, maimings and deaths would be bad enough, but there's also a detrimental environmental component as there always seems to be with mining. 
I appreciate how often the author acknowledged his data gathering was hampered (unable to name sources for fear of putting lives at risk, unable to access mines or procure statistics because the companies would not permit it); it makes the point put forward in the epilogue that finding a way to safely hear directly from artisanal miners all the more critical, all the more powerful.
 The historical parallels Kara puts forward, of the history of human rights abuses and political manipulation for profit since the dawn of colonization in the Congo emphasizes the stark contrast between what we want to believe about a modern Western society with its tech gadgets and the complete lack of progress, the enduring injustices that are shoring up that system.
Please read this book.  

⚠️SA, child labour, child trafficking, misogyny, racism, forced labour and debt bondage resulting in slavery conditions, child death, child prostitution, major injuries