Did you know that a major part of the destruction of the bonobo’s rainforest in the DRC, their natural habitat, is because of cell phones? It’s all because of an essential cell phone ingredient called Coltan, short for Columbite-tantalite. Coltan is a mineral extracted from the deep forests of the Congo and throughout Central Africa. In Africa, the Coltan industry is not regulated and miners destroy these forests while mining for Coltan - they destroy the natural habitats of the bonobos, gorillas, elephants and other African species.

In addition to mining Coltan, the miners also hunt these animals for food – and the animals are now on the brink of extinction. Coltan is very valuable, meaning that whoever finds it can sell it for a lot of money. As a result, miners are fighting over mining grounds and Coltan – and this started and sustained a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo – hurting many animals and the people that live in the Congo in the process.

So, back to our question in the title of this post…It may seem really simple. Of course, you want to pick Bonobos and the environment over cell phones – but think about it. Haven’t we come to depend on our phones? Look at these three scenarios…

1. Your grandparents were expecting you home at 2:00, but you and your cousins are stuck in traffic. You don’t want your grandparents to worry - how nice that you can call them on your cell phone and let them know where you are!

2. Your dad is driving you to your new friend Eli’s house and he gets totally lost – how lucky that he can call Eli’s mom from the car for directions.

3. Your family is taking its annual road trip to Yellowstone National Park and your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere – how incredible that help is just a cell phone call away.

But, cell phones are relatively new! While you have probably never known life without a cell phone, some of us at bonobokids.org lived for many years without cell phones! Some of us for 25, 40, even 55 years!!!

Here is your challenge for today: look at the situations above (1,2,3). In each scenario, we solved the problem with a cell phone. Can you think of solutions without the cell phone??? We dare you! And we can’t wait to hear your answers – we’ll post some of the best solutions in over the next few weeks.

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