Start the Week Challenges and solutions
13 snips
Apr 13, 2026 
John Kampfner, journalist who documents daring policy experiments; Natasha Walter, writer exploring feminism and climate; Nicholas Niarchos, reporter on critical mineral supply chains. They debate the costs of green tech, brutal realities of artisanal mining and ownership models. They discuss how climate and extractivism shape gendered harms, and survey pragmatic national solutions from housing to care.
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Cobalt Became The New Dirty Commodity
- The critical mineral supply chain, especially cobalt, is now one of the dirtiest global industries.
- Nicolas Niarchos links this to vast environmental harm, human suffering and geopolitical concentration through China.
Odilon's Story Shows Artisanal Mining's Trap
- Odilon Kajumba-Kilanga personifies the artisanal miner trapped by global demand and local corruption.
- Niarchos follows Odilon in Katanga to show how hand-mining turned into wage slavery amid collapsing safety and opportunity.
Artisanal Mining Is Not Small Scale Hobby Work
- Artisanal mining means hand excavation with basic tools, not small quaint craft activity.
- Niarchos explains global capitalism transforms it into dangerous deep digs, collapses and unregulated labour dominated by corrupt actors.
