Republication by: Lawrence Morra III
Zero Lift-Off Only The Beginning
All republished materials used for informational sharing purposes only on this platform.
September 5, 2021
Check it out this headline and a bit of the article about Florida’s Governor DeSantis; how he’s telling Nut Job Evil Biden to stuff it!
GOP-Led State Checkmates COVID Tyrants
September 3, 2021
“Democrats and their cabal of “scientists” and “health experts” continue to handcuff the American people with endless authoritarian laws and mandates restricting travel and forcing experimental medical treatment.
Thankfully there are brave Republican politicians fighting back.
Beginning on September 16 the state of Florida will start issuing a $5,000 fine to businesses, schools, and even government agencies that require people to show proof of having a coronavirus vaccine.”
“Promises made, promises kept,”
“Governor DeSantis is respecting the right to choose whichever medical treatment works best for you. If you want to get the vaccine, then get it. If you want to wear a mask, then wear it. DeSantis is not outlawing the measures used to stop the spread of COVID-19, he’s granting Floridians with the freedom to operate their lives how they see fit.”
https://thebeardedpatriot.com/gop-led-state-checkmates-covid-tyrants/
Just like the Junk Science highly political propagated nonsense of the Leftist’s and their minions in government, science, education and Big Tech/MSM have pushed for years the insane propaganda of first, “Global Warming,” then lowing the bar to “Climate Change” because they were hanging themselves with the original fiasco showing how “over the top insane” they are promoting to everyone, like “Chicken Little’s The Sky is Falling” scenario climate disaster; of how we only have 50 years or less before most coastlines will be underwater and the “weather apocalypse” will be upon us! But, it was so obvious that wasn’t adding up, and they couldn’t fudge or skew the numbers enough to support their fraudulent scheme for the globalists; while maintaining this propaganda aligned with their “imperative agenda” of reaching “zero man-made carbon emissions,” being added to the atmosphere!
All this effort to cheat mind you, so these same lying schemers can also push electric cars for example, which quite often totally turn into fire death traps with the batteries exploding, especially in hot weather or charging them in such overheated conditions! Not to mention the impracticable factor of not being able to charge them wherever, say like being as convenient compared to the ability to buy gasoline where and when you need it immediately, but, also the horrible fact that to mine all of the rare earth toxic minerals like lithium and cobalt needed to make all the batteries, which definitely don’t last long enough having a life span and “cost benefit analysis” (that somebody botched up Big Time) based on getting humongous miles from the life of the battery to make the purchase even worth it because of the exorbitant production cost. And the more they are recharged the faster they become useless, so overall being extremely expensive to purchase! That by itself is enough of a giant negative in what it takes to produce each battery, then that coupled with the truth of once they’re worn out this is constant producing of extremely hazardous materials an end consequence or byproduct; footprint, DAH!
While even worse than that, during the mining process huge amounts of water are needed and wasted with accompanying subsequent water table contamination along with massive CO2 emissions by all the earth moving equipment needed for such mining; and then that end result of used up batteries, many eventually being dumped into the environment even though people say they won’t; this subsequent earth polluting process finding its way into ground water or the water table further, unless recycled, which isn’t easy or cost effective! Add to all of this the need to completely switch over the whole infrastructure of gasoline stations to battery charging stations or such facilities wherever people park their cars for any length of time! NUTS!!! The Left think they have a better idea but it will destroy the planet and our societies; while making the filthy rich even much richer which is a win/win for the numb skull leftists and the fat cats!
Rare earths make their way to Colorado’s waterways
Valentina Ruiz Leotaud | September 3, 2021 | 5:49 am
“Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder say there is growing concern about REE concentrations, which are not monitored and there are no water quality standards set for them.”
“New research by a team at the University of Colorado Boulder found that rare earth elements are making their way into the state’s water supplies, driven by changes in climate.
The study, which is the first to look at how rare earth elements move within a watershed that is rich in minerals — the Snake River watershed — was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. According to the document, there is growing concern about REE concentrations because they are not monitored and there are no water quality standards set for them.
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The paper is also the first one to dig into how climate change, by altering stream flow and natural weathering processes, is releasing more rare earth elements into streams.
“We documented a concentration range of one to hundreds of micrograms per liter—several orders of magnitude higher than typical for surface waters—with the highest concentrations nearest the headwaters and areas receiving drainage from abandoned mine workings,” the lead author of the study, Garrett Rue, said in a media statement.” © 2021 Glacier Media Group, All Rights Reserved
Native Americans lose bid to halt digging at Nevada lithium mine site
Hey AOC you Democrats are behaving like a bunch of Colonialists!!! I thought Columbus was an asshole to you?
“A U.S. federal judge ruled on Friday that Lithium Americas Corp may conduct excavation work at its Thacker Pass lithium mine site in Nevada, denying a request from Native Americans who said the digging would desecrate an area they believe holds ancestral bones and artifacts.
The ruling from Chief Judge Miranda Du was the second victory in recent weeks for the project, which could become the largest U.S. source of lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries.
The court is still considering the broader question of whether former President Donald Trump’s administration erred when it approved the project in January. That ruling is expected by early 2022.
Du said the Native Americans did not prove the U.S. government failed to properly consult them during the permitting process. Du in July denied a similar request from environmentalists.
Du said, though, that she was not dismissing all the Native Americans’ arguments, but felt bound by existing laws to deny their request.
“This order does not resolve the merits of the tribes’ claims,” Du said in her 22-page ruling.
Vancouver-based Lithium Americas said it would protect and preserve tribal artifacts.
“We’ve always been committed to doing this the right way by respecting our neighbors, and we are pleased today’s ruling recognizes our efforts,” Lithium Americas Chief Executive Jon Evans told Reuters.
No digging can take place until the U.S. Bureau of Land Management issues an Archeological Resources Protection Act permit.
The Burns Paiute Tribe, one of the tribes that brought the lawsuit, noted that the bureau told the court last month that the land holds cultural value for Native Americans.
“If that’s the case, well then there’s going to be harm if you start digging into the landscape,” said Richard Eichstaedt, an attorney for the Burns Paiute.
Representatives for the bureau and two other tribes who sued were not immediately available to comment.”
(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by David Gregorio and Rosalba O’Brien)
Then tell me that this entire horror story with Afghanistan isn’t all about the Big Money to be had, which is going to empower many more evil regimes with horrible nefarious purpose in mind, AKA ISIS and the Islamic Caliphate Plan; brining us all to the doorstep of the Apocalypse! LM
How Afghanistan’s $1 trillion mining wealth sold the war
Frik Els | August 27, 2021 | 12:19 pm Battery Metals Education Exploration Intelligence China Russia and Central Asia USA Cobalt Copper Graphite Lithium Oil & Gas Potash Rare Earth Zinc
Skeleton with copper patina excavated from Mes Aynak archeological site. Image: Saving Mes Aynak (www.savingmesaynak.com)
After the fall of Kabul, US media regurgitates a 2010 New York Times frontpage story on Afghanistan’s mineral riches based on a secret Pentagon memo and a 1977 Soviet geologic map.
“Search for Afghanistan minerals and you get dozens of articles written in the last few days quoting a magical $1 trillion number including gems like The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs (CNN), Afghanistan: Taliban to reap $1 trillion mineral wealth (Deutsche Welle), Biden Just Handed Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth to China (Newsweek), China Eyes Afghanistan’s $1 Trillion of Minerals With Risky Bet on Taliban (Bloomberg) and so on.
All the one trillion dollar articles are derived from a breathless June 2010 New York Times front-page story and interview with General David H Petraeus during which the commander of US forces in Afghanistan referenced a US Dept of Defense “internal memo”.”
“The story of how “the vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists” by the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist James Risen’s opens with a bang (emphasis added):
“The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.”
“The previously unknown deposits including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.”
“The tale of the $1 trillion treasure trove – which has more than a whiff of Indiana Jones about it as told by the New York Times – begins three years after the US invaded Afghanistan:
“In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan [sic] Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country.”
What’s the Carbon Footprint of Making a Tesla Battery?
By
Updated October 11, 2018
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“When it comes to cars, I am an equal opportunity whiner.”
“Among the hundreds of comments complaining about my post Hydrogen: folly or fuel of the future? were many that suggested that TreeHugger or I must be getting paid by Tesla. It’s not true; I whine about every kind of car.
One of the knocks environmentalists and urbanists have against electric cars is that they don’t reduce number of cars on the road, and that there is a huge environmental cost to actually making them. Here is a picture worth 3,000 words: an aerial view of Tesla’s Gigafactory making batteries on Electric Drive in Sparks, Nevada. Frederick Lampert of Electrek did a count and determined that there are 3,000 cars parked in that lot, and the factory is only 30 percent built out.
At the COP23 climate meeting, electric shuttles moved delegates across town, showcasing sustainable energy and green technology. But for farmer Zhang Tuling, green technology means dusty air and stunted crops.
Mr. Zhang lives near a large mine in northern China that extracts a key ingredient for batteries: natural graphite. He can testify to the hidden social and environmental toll of lithium-ion batteries – the very devices that enable renewable energy storage solutions, electric vehicles and mobile power.
The battery market is anticipated to be worth $100 billion by 2025. By 2040, batteries storing solar power for businesses and households will account for 57% of the world’s energy storage capacity.”
“The climate community has noticed. To keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, 100 million electric vehicles should be added to our roads globally by 2030, stated the 2015 Paris Agreement. This means a 50-fold increase from today’s numbers.
Paradoxically, realizing this goal could inflict unintended harm, on both humans and the environment. Discussions from last week’s COP23 in Bonn are making way for action. But in order for batteries to help rather than hinder our climate goals, the following five barriers must be addressed:
The carbon footprint of batteries in electric vehicles
Batteries powering electric vehicles are forecast to make up 90% of the lithium-ion battery market by 2025. They are the main reason why electric vehicles can generate more carbon emissions over their lifecycle – from procurement of raw materials to manufacturing, use and recycling – than petrol or diesel cars. Three factors account for this.
BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle, PHEV: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Image: International Energy Agency, Global EV Outlook 2017
Firstly, producing an electric vehicle contributes, on average, twice as much to global warming potential and uses double the amount of energy than producing a combustion engine car. This is mainly because of its battery. Battery production uses a lot of energy, from the extraction of raw materials to the electricity consumed in manufacture. The bigger the electric car and its range, the more battery cells are needed to power it, and consequently the more carbon produced.
Secondly, once in use, an electric vehicle is only as green as the electricity that feeds its battery. A coal-powered battery is dirtier than a solar-powered battery. Governments can help by speeding up their transition to greener energy.”
“Thirdly, while an electric vehicle has a higher carbon footprint at the beginning of its lifecycle; it is typically cleaner once in use. Over time, it can catch up on the combustion engine car. The point at which an electric vehicle’s lifetime emissions break even with a combustion engine car also depends on the car’s mileage.
For example, in Germany – where about 40% of the energy mix is produced by coal and 30% by renewables – a mid-sized electric car must be driven for 125,000 km, on average, to break even with a diesel car, and 60,000 km compared to a petrol car. It takes nine years for an electric car to be greener than a diesel car, assuming an annual average mileage of 13,500 km (as was the case in Germany in 2002, compared to 12,700 km in England in 2013). Most consumers will have bought a new car by then. The case is similar in the US, but less pronounced in nuclear-powered France.
Unlocking the green potential of electric cars requires more than just increasing production. The system in which they operate must be sustainable too.”
Pollution beyond carbon emissions
“Battery production causes more environmental damage than carbon emissions alone. Consider dust, fumes, wastewater and other environmental impacts from cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; water shortages and toxic spills from lithium mining in Latin America, which can alter ecosystems and hurt local communities; a heavily polluted river due to nickel mining in Russia; or air pollution in northeastern China, as mentioned above.”
Reusing batteries across industries
“As the car example shows, the negative environmental effects of batteries are reduced as the battery lifetime extends. Electric batteries from vehicles can be repurposed and re-used in a different industry, thereby doubling the battery lifecycle to about 20 years.”
“When the capacity of electric car batteries drops below 70-80% after about 10 years of use, they are no longer strong enough to power the car. But they retain enough capacity for stationary storage in various contexts: in households, to balance power plants, or to electrify off-grid communities in rural areas.
However, re-purposing batteries is costly. This is due to limited information and data-sharing about the residual value of battery capacity, a lack of standards, and regulatory uncertainty about liability once the battery changes owners and applications. Overcoming these barriers requires cross-industry, public-private initiatives.”
Image: Second Life-Batteries As Flexible Storage For Renewables Energies by Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie e.V. (BEE), Hannover Messe
Recycling batteries
“An estimated 11 million tons of spent lithium-ion batteries will flood our markets by 2025, without systems in place to handle them.
This matters if we are to address climate change. We must use existing battery resources as best as possible, to avoid pollution from toxic waste and secure a strong supply of raw materials at low environmental cost.
To recycle a battery, it currently costs €1 per kg. But the value of raw material reclaimed is only a third of that. Recycling lithium costs five times as much as extracting virgin material. Hence, only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled in Europe.
However, recycling could be worthwhile. Consider that in 2015, lithium-ion batteries consumed metals and minerals worth $2 billion. The price of cobalt rose by more than 80% over the past twelve months, and cobalt demand is estimated to double by 2020, to 200,000 tons per year. Demand for lithium is expected to quadruple by 2025, to 780,000 tons.
Moreover, lithium is a valuable raw material. To reclaim one ton, 28 tons of batteries have to be recycled. But to extract one ton of virgin lithium from Chile, 1,250 tons of earth must be dug up.
Overall, recycling is promising. But it is currently obstructed by several barriers, including the limited scale of batteries available for recycling; lack of battery standards to simplify recycling; an insufficient policy and incentive scheme to incentivize collection; and limited clarity about liability.”
Balancing the environment with other challenges
“Further relevant issues must be taken into account. These include:
– Social challenges and human rights abuses, such as hazardous working conditions in poverty, exposure to pollution and other issues
– Securing access to key raw materials. More than 60% of cobalt, for example, is sourced from one country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is leading regulators to establish lists of critical raw materials
– Creating opportunities to unlock inclusive economic progress and sustainable development through innovation
Public and private organizations must work in tandem to change the systems underlying battery production and use, from regulation to corporate action and public awareness.
The Global Battery Alliance is a new platform to enable this co-operation. Our climate revolution must not be carried out at the expense of other goals, or of people who can least afford it.”
WOW! That’s one hell of a ride! And if the accident doesn’t kill you the ride sure will! No Thanks!!! I’ll dust off my skate board!!!
My dog would freak out out in that thing! Talk about claustrophobic someone has a sick sense of humor or is really crazy!
Look at all the built in collision factor!
Your body acts as cushion! LM
Aug 2, 2020,10:40pm EDT|912,153 views
The Dirty Secrets Of ‘Clean’ Electric Vehicles
Contributor
“I analyze energy economics and related public policy issues.”
How clean really?
© 2017 Bloomberg Finance LP
“The widespread view that fossil fuels are “dirty” and renewables such as wind and solar energy and electric vehicles are “clean” has become a fixture of mainstream media and policy assumptions across the political spectrum in developed countries, perhaps with the exception of the Trump-led US administration. Indeed the ultimate question we are led to believe is how quickly can enlightened Western governments, led by an alleged scientific consensus, “decarbonize” with clean energy in a race to save the world from impending climate catastrophe. The ‘net zero by 2050’ mantra, calling for carbon emissions to be completely mitigated within three decades, is now the clarion call by governments and intergovernmental agencies around the developed world, ranging from several EU member states and the UK, to the International Energy Agency and the International Monetary Fund.”
Mining out of sight, out of mind
“Let’s start with Elon Musk’s Tesla. In an astonishing achievement for a company that has now posted four consecutive quarters of profits, Tesla is now the world’s most valuable automotive company. Demand for EVs is set to soar, as government policies subsidize the purchase of EVs to replace the internal combustion engine of gasoline and diesel-driven cars and as owning a “clean” and “green” car becomes a moral testament to many a virtue-signaling customer.
Yet, if one looks under the hood of “clean energy” battery-driven EVs, the dirt found would surprise most. The most important component in the EV is the lithium-ion rechargeable battery which relies on critical mineral commodities such as cobalt, graphite, lithium, and manganese. Tracing the source of these minerals, in what is called “full-cycle economics”, it becomes apparent that EVs create a trail of dirt from the mining and processing of minerals upstream.
A recent United Nations report warns that the raw materials used in electric car batteries are highly concentrated in a small number of countries where environmental and labour regulations are weak or non-existent. Thus, battery production for EVs is driving a boom in small-scale or “artisanal” cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of Congo which supplies two thirds of global output of the mineral. These artisanal mines, which account for up to a quarter of the country’s production, have been found to be dangerous and employ child labour.”
This child will be dying or dead before he is an adult by breathing and absorption of toxic deadly heavy metals and rare earth minerals! LM
“Mindful of what the image of children scrabbling for hand-dug minerals in Africa can do to high tech’s clean and green image, most tech and auto companies using cobalt and other toxic heavy metals avoid direct sourcing from mines. Tesla Inc. TSLA +0.2% struck a deal last month with Swiss-based Glencore Plc to buy as much as 6,000 tons of cobalt annually from the latter’s Congolese mines. While Tesla has said it aims to remove reputational risks associated with sourcing minerals from countries such as the DRC where corruption is rampant, Glencore assures buyers that no hand-dug cobalt is treated at its mechanized mines.”
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“There are 7.2 million battery EVs or about 1% of the total vehicle fleet today. To get an idea of the scale of mining for raw materials involved in replacing the world’s gasoline and diesel-fueled cars with EVs, we can take the example of the UK as provided by Michael Kelly, the Emeritus Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge. According to Professor Kelly, if we replace all of the UK vehicle fleet with EVs, assuming they use the most resource-frugal next-generation batteries, we would need the following materials: about twice the annual global production of cobalt; three quarters of the world’s production lithium carbonate; nearly the entire world production of neodymium; and more than half the world’s production of copper in 2018.
And this is just for the UK. Professor Kelly estimates that if we want the whole world to be transported by electric vehicles, the vast increases in the supply of the raw materials listed above would go far beyond known reserves. The environmental and social impact of vastly-expanded mining for these materials — some of which are highly toxic when mined, transported and processed – in countries afflicted by corruption and poor human rights records can only be imagined. The clean and green image of EVs stands in stark contrast to the realities of manufacturing batteries.”
Zero Emissions and All That
“Proponents of EVs might counter by saying that despite these evident environmental and social problems associated with mining in many third world countries, the case remains that EVs help reduce carbon dioxide emissions associated with the internal combustion engines run on gasoline and diesel fuels. According to the reigning climate change narrative, it is after all carbon dioxide emissions that are threatening environmental catastrophe on a global scale. For the sake of saving the world, the climate crusaders of the richer nations might be willing to ignore the local pollution and human rights violations involved in mining for minerals and rare earths in Africa, China, Latin America and elsewhere.”
“While one might question the inherent inequity in imposing such a trade-off, the supposed advantages of EVs in emitting lower carbon emissions are overstated according to a peer-reviewed life-cycle study comparing conventional and electric vehicles. To begin with, about half the lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to produce the car, especially in the mining and processing of raw materials needed for the battery. This compares unfavorably with the manufacture of a gasoline-powered car which accounts for 17% of the car’s lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions. When a new EV appears in the show-room, it has already caused 30,000 pounds of carbon-dioxide emission. The equivalent amount for manufacturing a conventional car is 14,000 pounds.
Once on the road, the carbon dioxide emissions of EVs depends on the power-generation fuel used to recharge its battery. If it comes mostly from coal-fired power plants, it will lead to about 15 ounces of carbon-dioxide for every mile it is driven—three ounces more than a similar gasoline-powered car. Even without reference to the source of electricity used for battery charging, if an EV is driven 50,000 miles over its lifetime, the huge initial emissions from its manufacture means the EV will actually have put more carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere than a similar-size gasoline-powered car driven the same number of miles. Even if the EV is driven for 90,000 miles and the battery is charged by cleaner natural-gas fueled power stations, it will cause just 24% less carbon-dioxide emission than a gasoline-powered car. As the skeptical environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg puts it, “This is a far cry from ‘zero emissions’.”
“As most ordinary people mindful of keeping within modest budgets choose affordable gasoline or diesel-powered cars, experts and policy advisors the world over have felt compelled to tilt the playing field in favor of EVs. EV subsidies are regressive: given their high upfront cost, EVs are only affordable for high-income households. It is egregious that EV subsides are funded by the average tax-payer so that the rich can buy their EVs at subsidized prices.
The determination not to know or to look away when the facts assail our beliefs is an enduring frailty of human nature. The tendency towards group think and confirmation bias, and the will to affirm the “scientific consensus” and marginalize sceptics, are rife in considerations by the so-called experts committed to advocating their favorite cause. In the case of EVs, the dirty secrets of “clean energy” should seem apparent to all but, alas, there are none so blind as those who will not see.”
Cobalt and Lithium Two Demons That Will Haunt Climate Change Activists for Decades to Come
With a push for a greener future due to climate change, mining of cobalt and lithium has increased by many folds, leading to huge environmental and social impacts.
January 3, 2021 20:18 +08
“There is no denying that climate change is real. Ignoring it would have huge consequences in the coming years. Hence, international agencies and governments have begun addressing the problem with numerous initiatives. As for the general public, they are doing their part too by reducing dependence on fossil fuel and switching to greener solutions, albeit slowly. By 2050, most countries have pledged to completely replace fossil-fuel-powered vehicles with electric cars and focus more on alternative energy.
So far, there seems to be no issue as the climate fanatics would rather suggest. With global effort and such initiatives, global warming can be reduced. But the grass is not always greener on the other side. What climate change activists and fanatics ask you to opt for has a great environmental consequence. As scientists look for alternatives to fossil fuel, they are turning to minerals including lithium and cobalt — both used in batteries that are used in electric cars and solar farms.
The two widely used minerals that the so-called green initiative industry is depending on have two consequences — the environmental impact of mining and the use of child labor. “The move towards net zero carbon emissions is going to create new stresses on our planet, at least in the short term. We are going to have to learn how to consider profit and loss with regard to ecosystems just as we do now when we are considering economic issues,” Professor Richard Herrington from the Natural History Museum, London told the Guardian.”
Environmental Impact of Cobalt Mining
“Cobalt — found mostly (60%) in the Democratic Republic of Congo — is used in most lithium-ion batteries to boost its energy density and increase lifecycle besides other electronics components. With a focus on green energy and batteries, cobalt is one of the most useful minerals. But mining it comes with a huge cost. For starters, mining waste from cobalt pollutes rivers and nearby drinking water sources that settlers and animals depend on. Cobalt poisoning can cause heart disease and nerve problems among many others.
Then there is cobalt dust that can cause a variety of health issues including breathing problems, dyspnea, dermatitis, nodular fibrosis and permanent disability. In some cases, it can lead to miscarriages and birth deformities.”
Look at this really apocalyptic, catastrophic environmental contamination that occurred in Brazil when a huge slag toxic waste damn broke! The area will never recover to pristine and healthy conditions for people or animals! The environmental impact is devastating for hundreds if not thousands of miles when all the trickle down effects are considered! LM
Lithium Mining
“Similarly, lithium mining also has huge consequences. Apart from its medicinal usages, lithium is mostly used in batteries, air purifiers and glass industries amongst various others. As lithium extraction is set to increase by many folds in the coming years, environmental hazards cannot be overlooked. In South America — Chile, Argentina and Bolivia — mining of lithium led to a reduction in groundwater level. To mine lithium, miners need to pump out a huge amount of water.”
Look at this sign of highly toxic contamination in the water table!!! DEADLY!!!
The environmental impacts of cobalt and lithium mining for a greener world will have huge consequences (representational image) Pixabay
“For example, to mine a ton of lithium, it can use up to 500,000 gallons of water, leading to water scarcity in the area and drought. Apart from that, mining lithium carbonate causes water and air pollution besides chemical leakages. Then there is the destruction of forests and vegetation due to mining that climate activists are so vocal about. As for health hazards, it can cause seizures, muscle weakness, kidney failure hyperthermia, delirium and even death.”
Social Consequences
“Environmental impacts aside, mining the two minerals have social consequences too. Cobalt is mostly concentrated in Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world, and the mining sector is not well organized. It means that villagers extract cobalt often in an unscientific way, digging up small tunnels without any protective equipment or gloves. All they get is less than $2 a day for that. Hence, often they are joined by their minor family members aged seven or less to help in extracting cobalt that you will one day use in your smartphone.”
“Men, women and children are working without even the most basic protective equipment such as gloves and face masks. In one village we visited, people showed us how the water in the local stream that they drank was contaminated by the discharge of waste from a mineral processing plant,” Mark Dummett from Amnesty International said.
In an investigation, the Human Right Watch found the mining workers living in deplorable conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. At times, the workers were confined to the mining site seven days a week, 24 hours a day without adequate water and rations.”
Major Tech Companies do this to keep batteries free to very low cost; so they make Big Profits and keep the cost of EV’s down so people will buy their junk cars! What do you think the China Communists will do to mine these materials in Afghanistan; they will use slaves and work them to death under the treat of the Taliban executing them or in the least cause them to become deathly ill! What do you think people like Bill Gates and Fauci along with nuts like Biden and Pelosi running the political machine have in store for us to reach their goals!!! LM
A child mining in Kailo, Congo. Mining of cobalt for batteries involve child labor in Congo Wikimedia Commons.
“However, cobalt and lithium aren’t only problems. Mining of copper, iron ore and rare earth minerals also involve similar environmental consequences. All three are essential in solar power plants and electric cars that are supposed to lead to a greener world.”
The good news is that some companies like Tesla are already trying to find a different solution. Tesla announced on its Battery Day in September 2020 that it was aiming to eliminate cobalt. But it would still depend on lithium iron phosphate batteries. As for solar plants, scientists are working on making the photovoltaic cells more efficient. Currently, the photovoltaic cells can only tap somewhere between 10-25 percent of the Sun’s energy. But for now, whatever message climate activists like Greta Thunberg wants to send by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean instead of taking a flight to New York from the UK, it comes with the very environmental impact that they want to highlight. They are also abusing nature in some way even though they want to set a different example.”
Aug 30, 2021,06:43pm EDT|
Soaring Electricity And Coal Use Are Proving Once Again, Roger Pielke Jr’s ‘Iron Law Of Climate’
Contributor
I write about energy, power, innovation, and politics.
China is fast becoming an even more prolific polluter than it already is; which is devastation on an exponential scale! LM
“During the first half of 2021, global emissions from the electric sector jumped by 5% compared to … [+]
Corbis via Getty Images
As the Covid lockdowns are easing, the global economy is recovering and that recovery is fueling blistering growth in electricity use. The latest data from Ember, the London-based “climate and energy think tank focused on accelerating the global electricity transition,” show that global electricity use soared by about 5% in the first half of 2021. That’s faster growth than was happening back in 2018 when electricity use was increasing by about 4% per year.
The numbers from Ember also show that despite lots of talk about the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, coal demand for power generation continues to grow and emissions from the electric sector continue to grow: up by 5% over the first half of 2019. In addition, they show that while about half of the growth in electricity demand was met by wind and solar, overall growth in electricity use is still outstripping the growth in renewables.
The soaring use of electricity, and increasing emissions from power generation confirm the sage wisdom of Rasheed Wallace, the volatile former power forward with the Detroit Pistons and other NBA teams, and now an assistant coach at the University of Memphis, who coined the catchphrase: “Ball don’t lie.” If Wallace or one of his teammates was called for a foul during a basketball game that he thought was undeserved, and the opposing player missed the ensuing free throws, Wallace would often holler, “ball don’t lie,” as if the basketball itself was pronouncing judgment on the referee’s errant call.
I often think about Wallace’s catchphrase while looking at global energy and power trends and substitute my own phrase: numbers don’t lie.
Over the past few weeks Ember, BP, and the International Energy Agency have all published reports which come to the same two conclusions: that countries all around the world — and China, in particular — are doing whatever they need to do to get the electricity they need to grow their economies. Second, they are using lots of coal to get that juice.
As I discuss in my recent book, A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, Electricity is the world’s most important and fastest-growing form of energy. The Ember data proves that. At a growth rate of 5%, global electricity use will double in about 14 years. Furthermore, the electricity sector also accounts for the biggest single share of global carbon dioxide emissions: about 25 percent. Thus, if we are to have any hope of cutting global emissions, the electricity sector is pivotal. Further, the soaring use of electricity shows that low-income people and countries around the world are not content to stay in the dark. They want to live high-energy lives with access to all the electronic riches that we take for granted.”
The Democrats and actually most of our stupid politicians “don’t give a rats ass” about you or me and especially some little kids performing child labor in places out of sight and out of mind, basically playing with toxic substances all day that will kill them! While water tables and rivers above ground or underground will be polluted and damaged indefinitely!!! Yea OK Leftist Liberal Morons I know you have this all figured out! NOT!!!
These same people are ramrodding “authoritarian” “totalitarian” “Control Mandates” upon “free citizens” to mold and shape the populace into the “stooge class of minions” they so desire to create, in order for this “ruling bigoted class of evil despot scums,” like Biden who hasn’t worked an honest day in his life and for 50 years has enriched himself in the billions illegally, by means of this facade, of being a PUBLIC SERVANT working for the people; “give me break,” because all he’s been, is a “politically organized global crime syndicate racketeer!” So he like all the others that are just like him, totally take advantage to “use and abuse” everyone in order to rule over the planet with impunity; like some God given “Monarchy Club,” the NWO engineers! So pray tell, they are all exclusive members of “Fraud Fiasco” while they rake in the trillions of dollars; like say Big Pharm is doing with AKA Fauci who is a supposed Public Servant too, yet he like Bill Gates owns many such “Vaccine Patents” and being among the most Exclusive Club Members; with said vaccines being manufactured and pushed on the world in one huge giant SCAM.
All this while these same power mongers like Soros, Gates, Biden, Pelosi, Rothschild, Rockefeller, Klaus Schwab, Xi Jinping, Putin and the list goes on to all the greedy A-HOLES of the world who will still be flying around in their private gas guzzling jets and huge gasoline powered, “GAS GUZZLING SUV’S” with bullet proof glass no less making them much heavier and less fuel efficient, yup; while “they dictate” to all of us “get your damn Vaccine and Passport or you can’t walk around as a free human being or even have a job to survive!” In other words “they want us to be their “SLAVES;” YOU GET IT DON’T YOU? Let’s tell them to Shove it; like Governor DeSantis is telling Biden and the Whole Stinking Rotten Democrat Party!!!
As they say “Follow the Money Honey!!!” The rich and powerful are so damn corrupted they are walking talking “SIN PERSONIFIED” and they don’t give a damn what happens to anyone, as long as they keep getting more; “POWER!~”
Lawrence Morra III
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