Siddharth Kara
Person
Siddharth Kara is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery, and a Rights Lab Visiting Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at the University of Nottingham. He is known for his books on modern slavery and cobalt mining, including Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Works by Siddharth Kara
- BBBlood Batteries
creator · paper · 2023
What Siddharth Kara has said on podcasts
35 statements
- on Congolese battery-metal mining conditionsNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Congolese mining conditions have continued degrading amid rising battery-metal demand.
“the conditions, they're not much better, you know, and in some ways they've continued to degrade because the fever for these battery component metals”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:29
AI data centers require the same critical minerals as battery technologies.
“they require all the same metals and minerals”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 3:16
Central Africa contains the largest, highest-grade reserves of crucial elements and rare earth metals.
“the largest and highest-grade reserves of these crucial elements and rare earth metals are in Central Africa”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 4:14
- on Congolese Copper Belt forest lossNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Mining removed 40–60% of forest area across the studied Congolese mining region by 2022.
“40, 50, 60% of the forest area is gone”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 5:40
Kolwezi-area water contained heavy metals at 10–950 times WHO safety limits.
“there was between 10 and 950 times the World Health Organization maximum recommended limit for human safety”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 6:37
Mining deposits inevitably requires deforestation at the deposit site.
“deforestation is inevitable”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 8:02
Mining supply chains do not inherently require misery and environmental destruction.
“It doesn't have to be that way.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 8:57
- on Congolese artisanal cobalt miningNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
At least 300,000 people dig cobalt manually on a typical day.
“there are at least 300,000 people, men, women, and children, digging for cobalt with their bare hands and pickaxes and shovels”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 14:51
- on Congolese artisanal cobalt miningNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
About 37% of Congolese cobalt diggers work under conditions Kara calls absolute slavery.
“about 37%, so more than 1 out of 3, are working in conditions we'd call absolute slavery”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 15:09
- on Child labor in Congolese cobalt miningNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Nearly 10% of daily Congolese cobalt diggers are children, roughly 30,000 children.
“almost 10% are kids, so roughly 30,000 kids on any given day, not in school”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 15:19
- on Annual phone and tablet upgradesNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Consumers should question annual phone and tablet upgrades because they increase mineral demand.
“do you have to upgrade the phone and the tablet every year just 'cause the tech company tells you to?”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 16:20
Environmental protection should not shift destruction onto Congolese communities.
“we can't save our piece of the planet by destroying their piece of the planet”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 17:10
Replacing cobalt batteries with alternative chemistries does not eliminate mining harms.
“when you say, all right, done with cobalt, we're just gonna do lithium iron phosphate battery or lithium table salt battery, whatever, same deal, same deal”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 20:39
- on Chinese uranium sourcing from CongoNeutralSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Kara cannot verify allegations that Congolese uranium reaches China for nuclear expansion.
“Now, I can't verify any of that.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 28:56
- on Chinese companies operating in AfricaNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Chinese companies operating in Africa provide no meaningful human-rights standards.
“there's nothing by way of human rights standards when you're talking about Chinese companies operating in Africa”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 30:46
Virtues Mining appears to be improving artisanal-mining standards in southeastern Congo.
“the feedback I've gotten so far is they seem to be improving standards around artisanal mining”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 32:01
Cobalt exposure is toxic through skin contact and inhalation.
“Cobalt is toxic to touch. It is toxic to breathe.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 33:42
Slavery-like labor exploitation persists in evolved modern forms.
“the institution of oppressing, subjugating, and extracting the labor of someone persists and has evolved into the modern era”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 43:56
Jamaica’s sugar exports were five times the combined exports of the thirteen American colonies around 1773–1774.
“the value of those sugar exports from Jamaica was 5 times the combined value of all 13 exports of everything from all 13 colonies”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 1:01:13
Moral forces and faith ultimately succeed despite evil and oppression.
“the forces of good and the spark of goodness within us and the faith we have in higher power invariably emerges and does succeed”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 1:36:58
- on Reparations for Atlantic slaveryPositiveSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Formerly enslaved people’s descendants are owed reparations in principle.
“something is owed”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 1:48:10
- on British slave-owner compensation loanNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
British taxpayers repaid the slave-owner compensation loan until 2015.
“the British taxpayers was repaying that loan up until 2015”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 1:51:21
The United States is currently failing to serve as a good model for the world.
“This country has to be a better model, and it pains me that right now we're not being a very good model.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:00:40
Ordinary Palestinians and Jewish people primarily want peace and safety for their children.
“They just want peace, safety for their kids”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:02:42
Agentic AI can be simulated under ethical parameters prioritizing human life and peace.
“You give it some certain parameters and above all, a value of human life. And okay, what does it do? You run some simulations and see what does it do?”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:15:38
Modern technology has high human costs and extreme environmental contamination.
“the body count of our tech is high and the Earth contamination meter is off the chart”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:17:10
Technology companies can improve conditions deep in their mineral supply chains with modest resources.
“there's literally nothing stopping them from allocating a de minimis amount of resources relative to their balance sheets and a handful of headcount to going down to the bottom of their supply chains and doing things better”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:22:22
Apple can improve Congolese mine conditions because the task is less complex than product design.
“The complexity of design associated with their products far exceeds the complexity of improving conditions in a mine in the Congo. It's not that hard.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:23:06
Technology companies should provide protective equipment and containment at Congolese mines.
“let's get some basic PPE out in this place. Gloves, hats, a uniform, protection masks from the toxics”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:23:55
- on Cobalt recycling for EV batteriesNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Existing technology struggles to recycle cobalt to EV-battery grade.
“It is hard under existing tech to recycle cobalt to a sufficient grade for EV batteries.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:24:34
- on Apple iWatch recycled cobalt planPositiveSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Apple has discussed making the iWatch use only recycled cobalt by approximately 2030.
“Apple has talked about by a certain year, maybe it's 2030, The iWatch being only recycled cobalt”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:24:46
Companies cannot abandon environmental and human-rights damage after ending cobalt extraction.
“you cannot just leave behind an apocalypse”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:26:44
- on Technology companies’ Congolese mining impactsPositiveSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Technology companies should repair Congolese environmental damage and fund social infrastructure.
“have to still go back and repair and fix, plant some trees, clean up the water, build some hospitals and schools and so on”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:26:53
- on Water near Congolese mining villagesNegativeSep 22, 2026· The Joe Rogan Experience: Protect Our Parks
Water near Congolese mining villages is hyperacidic and deadly.
“The rivers and streams and well water around the villages came back in the 4s and 3s, which is called hyperacidic. It's deadly.”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:28:33
Mining contamination prevents agriculture in affected Congolese areas.
“you can't grow things there now because the water is poisoned and the earth is poisoned”
Open the episode · #2556 - Siddharth KaraListen at 2:29:05
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
