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this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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I wouldn’t necessarily say this is great news, it’s nice because it’s in the US but lithium mining is terrible for the environment.
At least some regulations are in place in the US to make it not the worst place I guess.
I don't know how it's regulated in Australia, Chile and Argentina (honestly I would love someone to enlighten me,) but I suppose less dependency on ccp is a good thing.
I’m curious, is lithium mining any worse for the environment than any other mining? If so, why is that?
Because it seems to me that all mining is terrible for the environment, and there’s no reason that I know to complain about lithium over gold or oil or coal.
It’ll be mined outside of the environment.
That's assuming the front doesn't fall off.
The mining disagree with is bad for the environment.
The mining that is "essential" is good for humanity.
Mining is a much more significant part of life than most people suppose. There’s an old saying “if it isn’t grown, it’s mined.” Think that one through with as many examples as you can and you’ll realize that aside from wood and food, we mine virtually everything: salt, metals, all the gravel for roads, rare earth elements, gases like helium, all petroleum products namely plastics, etc etc it goes on and on.
Yet there are still people in the world that think “It’s 2023 - why haven’t we done away with mines?”
Even with food, potash is mined for fertilizer to grow food. Not as direct but still applies.
Good point. I wonder if the Haber process counts as mining, too.
That’s a false equivalency, I also think that those other types of mining should be stopped but the article was about lithium.
So you think we shouldn't build anything new, and that all old things should eventually be left to decay? Just making sure I understand you correctly.
I'm guessing they probably meant something among the lines of the four Rs: Reduce, reuse, recycle and repair.
I believe that it is about reducing the amount of waste, programmed and perceived obsolescence as well as making electronic devices easier to repair.
A fair point, although recycling only provides a fraction of the replacement needs of a population. Some things are only partially recyclable and other things are not recyclable at all, at least not without massive energy cost and industrial capacity.
Vs oil drilling the alternative it's at least got good tradeoffs.
Lithium doesn't have any energy in it. Lithium batteries store energy generated by other sources. This will have no effect on oil drilling.
It can offset the need for fossil fuels when used to store energy from off peak demand periods when clean energy is still being produced.
Not sure why anyone tries so hard to look obtuse. Ya know what lithium turns into and how terrible oil drilling is for the environment. Overall it's a clear climate victory.
Demand is so high that the mining will happen.
So let the US absorb the environmental cost rather than exporting it to developing nations run by warlords who have ZERO environmental regulations or accountability for the health of their citizens.
The US isn’t some environmental paragon but it is one degree removed from 3rd world hell holes that can’t wait to exploit their environment to the maximum.
Also be glad this was found in an arid rocky nowhere desert instead of in the heart of the Amazon or on top of an aquifer that millions depend on.
It’s all relative, but if you accept that litihium is already established as an essential element for the modern world (and how can anyone deny this) then everything about this discovery is relatively good news.
And that’s not even to mention the environmental benefits of making batteries cheaper so that renewable energy storage and electric cars and other beneficial technologies can scale up more.