This just in: Climate scolds aren't known for their intellectual consistency.
Now that we have that shocker out of the way, let's talk about lithium. Lithium is a primary component of modern batteries, used in everything from cellular phones to electric vehicles. It's one of the most strategically valuable commodities in the world right now, and the climate scolds and green-energy advocates shouting over the need for more and more electric vehicles - not to mention the heavy subsidies given to the manufacturers of those vehicles - have resulted in a global explosion in lithium mining and refining.
Why does that matter? Because the explosion in lithium mining and refining is resulting in some very real environmental disasters, often in areas where the local population can't afford to do anything about it.
Back in the Bad Old Days when the wealthy started to enjoy the fruits and freedoms of the Industrial Revolution with steam trains and coal-fired ocean-going liners, the damage to Britain was all too apparent in the coal mines, open-cast mines, the filthy air and disgusting rivers.
Today the solution is simply to relocate the devastation somewhere else. The Chelsea Tractor EV comes with its own consequences. The problem is lithium for batteries and the skyrocketing demand for it, which requires the use of vast evaporation pools in Chile, the world’s second-largest source after Australia:
Raquel Celina Rodriguez watches her step as she walks across the Vega de Tilopozo in Chile’s Atacama salt flats.
It’s a wetland, known for its groundwater springs, but the plain is now dry and cracked with holes she explains were once pools.
“Before, the Vega was all green,” she says. “You couldn’t see the animals through the grass. Now everything is dry.” She gestures to some grazing llamas.
The water, of course, has been taken for the evaporation pools. This is one of two ways of producing lithium, and it's the lower-cost option, being cheaper than hard-rock lithium mining.
It is perhaps belaboring the obvious to note that Chile isn't the wealthiest country in the world. Oh, lithium mining and refining bring jobs, and better-paying ones than many Chileans may be able to get otherwise; that's not the point. The environmental cost isn't even really the point. The point is how the left and climate panic-mongers (but I repeat myself) overlook these environmental messes. Why? Because, very likely, they can't see them. And the demand for lithium, we should note, is currently exploding:
In 2021, about 95,000 tonnes of lithium was consumed globally – by 2024 it had more than doubled to 205,000 tonnes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
By 2040 it’s predicted to rise to more than 900,000 tonnes.
Most of the increase will be driven by demand for electric car batteries, the IEA (International Energy Agency) says.
So why push for ever-greater production of electric vehicles? The more we learn about the specifics, the more we learn that these vehicles are not only not practical for a lot of people, but that they come with buried costs that the climate scolds and renewable-energy advocates don't consider - everything from their increased weight being harder on roads and tires, to the inefficiency of producing electricity at a coal or gas-fired plant to charge EV batteries, to the problems disposing of these batteries once their useful life is over.
And now, increased demand and rapid ramp-up of production are causing actual environmental damage. It is as I am continually pointing out: It's not about the climate; it's not about the environment. It's about the narrative.
Of course, our modern technological lifestyle will continue to require lithium. That demand is only going to go up. Inevitably, some people are going to be adversely affected by the operations involved in mining and refining lithium. That's true of every major technological advance in history, and will continue to be true. That's not the point, here. The point is that the left, who owns the climate-change movement, claims to revere the environment, claims to revere indigenous people living a traditional lifestyle, but they will happily set aside their reverences in exchange for a highly-visible virtue-signal, like an electric car.
That's not a statement of principle. It's shallow, weak thinking, and it's hypocrisy.
Read More: Ship From China Carrying EVs Ablaze and Abandoned, Off Alaskan Isles
Here's an interesting piece of advice:
As ever, whether it’s ‘green tech’ or any other development in history, whichever you spin it, if you want to understand it, just follow the money. Next time you get lectured by a smug ‘I’m doing the right thing’ EV owner, just point them to this article. Perhaps one day they’ll be vilified by the eco-righteous of the hair-shirted future just as those who own diesel and petrol cars are now. It’s certainly looking that way.
Sure, we can point them to this article. But they won't read it. They won't even look at the headline. It's not about information. It's about the narrative; it's about control. And it always will be.
