Cobalt Red: How the blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, by Siddharth Kara.

• Macmillan publishers
• 288 pages
• published 31/01/2023
• ISBN: 9781250284303

This is not a ‘light-hearted’ read. It’s actually quite harrowing, but I think it should be essential reading for everyone. We all should understand the origins of the metals and rare-earth minerals that make up the products we use every day, especially because climate groups are often calling for their expanded use in the name of switching energy sources – while ultimately changing nothing else.

For me, this knowledge is important and related to degrowth because degrowth is calling for ‘a reduction in energy and material throughput in over-consuming nations while improving the wellbeing of people in those nations and global justice’. The sources of the materials we need for renewable energy highlight the vast injustices in the global supply chain and the very reason why we should be aiming to use as little energy and materials as possible. Please do read this book and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

This NPR article features an interview with Siddharth Kara, and his experiences that he also documents in the book, Cobalt Red.

About the author, Siddharth Kara:

“SIDDHARTH KARA is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery. He is a British Academy Global Professor and an Associate Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Nottingham University. Kara has authored three books on modern slavery and won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. Kara’s first book was adapted into a Hollywood film, Trafficked. A feature film inspired by Cobalt Red is currently in preproduction. He divides his time between the U.K. and the US.”

Follow Siddharth on X (formerly Twitter).

About Erin Remblance, your host during #DegrowthLitMonth:

Erin Remblance established her early career in blue-chip fast-moving consumer goods companies in Sydney & London, but always sensed there was more important work to be done. Having children gave her the space to explore the environmental and cultural crises on the planet that need to be urgently addressed. She shifted her focus to dedicate her life towards educating people on climate change, degrowth, planetary boundaries, modern monetary theory and more. Erin is a writer, researcher, co-creator of (re)Biz, wife, and mother of three children. She lives north of Sydney, Australia with her family, on the occupied ancestral country of the Gayemagal people.

Follow Erin on Substack, LinkedIn, (re)Biz and X (formerly Twitter).

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