What is our responsibility as consumers?

Yesterday I tried something new as I was biking towards Casper, Wyoming: listening to my ipod while I was biking. This is something I don't normally do due to safety concerns, but I figured I have a chase car following me, a wide shoulder to ride on and as my fellow riders have been doing, I rode with only one earbud in.

It occured to me as I was flying down a descent through some amazing desert scenery (I think REM's "I am Superman" was playing) that I was most likely riding with a piece of Congo in my pocket. Congo is one of the few places in the world where the minerals that go into our consumer electronic devices are found. In fact, greed for Congo’s natural resources has been a principal driver of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history.

This is from the Raise Hope for Congo website:
Profit from the mineral trade is one of the main motives for armed groups on all sides of the conflict in eastern Congo - the deadliest since World War II. Armed groups earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the militias to purchase large numbers of weapons and continue their campaign of brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas. The majority of these minerals eventually wind up in electronic devices such as cell phones, portable music players, and computers.

So as we consider Congo, and our response to the crisis there, is it appropriate to do some soul searching and ask ourselves: "what small part might my own appetite for the latest and greatest gadgets, my own materialism, play in the current conflict in Congo?" And do those of us from nations that are the largest consumers of these electronics then have an obligation to do something about the crisis?

Food for thought. Storm coming in. Gotta pack up.
Peace from Hay Springs, NB.
Mike