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I don’t think the point of contention is whether it’s recyclable. Primary issue is: what is the local environmental impact of MINING lithium? For folks who don
by wibagusto 5y ago
I don’t think the point of contention is whether it’s recyclable. Primary issue is: what is the local environmental impact of MINING lithium?
For folks who don’t live in Maine it’s a no-brainer: sure, go for it! Bring the USA more domestically produced lithium.
But… mining fucks up entire ecosystems and pollutes water etc… and even if companies can “promise” the operation will be clean, come to implementation they likely walk back on that and the damage is done.
- supperburg 5y agoI don’t suppose there’s a mining expert who could weigh in?
- wibagusto 5y agoFor what it’s worth you don’t need a mining expert to know that establishing a large scale mining operation will fuck up the local region somewhat. At the very least, all the demolition and vehicles, fuel, explosives, chemicals. Shits going to leak into the rivers one way or the other. In addition, they would likely use up a ton of local water supply. It’s a no-brainer. Maine is not in the middle of some desert.
- hutzlibu 5y agoFor what's it worth, I live in a area that has done extensive mining for over 1000 years with no big natural disaster caused by it. Today it is only operational by small scale in comparison, (and it never experienced the big chemical industious mining), but you absolutely can mine the earth without creating havoc. It is just a lot more expensive then. Which is why most mining is done in remote, or poor areas, with laughable regulations, where no one dares complain for the jobs.
- wibagusto 5y agoFor what it’s worth, people mined rocks to build the pyramids multiple thousands of years ago. They don’t mine using an army of slaves wielding chisels anymore.
- crowbahr 5y agoWhat's the local environmental impact of drilling oil? Because it's worse than lithium and contributes to a global catastrophe that threatens billions of lives.
- ceejayoz 5y agoSure, but the available options aren't limited to "mine lithium in Maine" and "do absolutely nothing".
- peytoncasper 5y agoGenuinely curious, what are the alternatives to the three? 1. Mine lithium 2. Drill oil 3. Do nothing You have to store energy somehow, even if the entire world shifted to walking everywhere. Goods still need to traverse the world and thus far there hasn't been anything else with a high enough energy density to get close. The argument being made is that if mining lithium becomes more popular, its likely to lead to advancements that do limit its ecological impact and provide a more sustainable method for storing energy...
- ceejayoz 5y agoAlternatives: Mine somewhere else. Non-lithium approaches to storing energy.
- crowbahr 5y agoIf America is benefiting from the Lithium we should also be mining it at home. Let's not shift our negative cost externalities to a different nation but instead own them.
- peytoncasper 5y agoDo you have examples of portable, non-mined or extracted alternatives to storing energy?
- 5y ago