Transportation
Cobalt makes its way to the DRC's ports through a series of rail and waterway networks
The Effects of Extraction
This is a false color analysis image using light spectrums not visible to the human eye. What these light bands show here are healthy forest regions in pink, and urban and deforested regions in white. We can see that mining has eradicated the ecology of much of this area.
Rapid Growth
Urban area of Lubumbashi in 1985
Urban area of Lubumbashi in 2016
A Warming Climate
This is another false color analysis image using different bands of light to estimate the surface temperature of Lubumbashi and its surrounding area. This image gives further evidence to the adverse effects of rapid population growth and deforestation due to mining. The demand for cobalt has risen sharply as the world seeks fossil fuel alternatives, but this investigation shows the need for responsible action at every level of the process, not just in the final product.
