do your own research, make your own decisions
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Posted:Mar 6, 2022 12:14 pm
Last Updated:Mar 14, 2022 5:58 pm 2971 Views
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a short time ago on a trip with my youngest , her husband, my grands, i was shown a few pics of the difference between a pipeline and a site where lithium was mined. why? what is lithium and why is it important one may ask? i will say that whether you come at it from a religious or biblical perspective or a scientifical one, we are stewards of our planet and should take care of it. as with most inventions or "new ways" to make our human lives more convenient or comfortable, there is a cost. and many times we've only to find out those cost in much later years....ie the use of mercury in various items, lead, oils and its derivatives. no one foresaw that 100 years after the first cars run on gas, there would be such a multitude of them and those proclaiming the hazards of exhaust emissions. with that being said let's take a look at something from todays world.
many who want, proclaim the benefits of going from fossil fuels to electric cars, a lessening of a carbon imprint on the world. some times, we as humans can, fall into a group of those who can't see the forrest because we concentrate on the tree. most anytime we, humans, go mine an element from the earth, there is a cost, either in health, geological or environment. the pictures i have hopefully added, show the difference between what finished pipelines look like and what it looks like mining for lithium. why lithium? all EV vehicles run off batteries with a lithium base, mixed with cobalt, manganese, nickel and graphite. the mixture of these create a chemical reaction that generates electricity, which the car or vehicle runs off of. the battery, once it's charge is low enough or out, can be recharged over time, depending on the size of the car and the battery it needs. each time it is recharged its capacity is deminished. the information i got was that most will last 10-20 years, but that depends on how much it is driven, the miles one puts on the vehicle. one would ask, can it be renewed, rebuilt, made to use again? every article i read mentioned that many of the car parts are renewable only 5% of the batteries are. so where do they go? thrown away, winding up in land fills or other places, only to leak the metals contained in them into the ground and water. while these metals are found in the human body and needed, one gets most of them in a reasonably healthy diet. look up the side effects of each of these metals when over exposed, it will stun and amaze you. the mining of lithium is documented causing numerous effects on the surrounding water that is used to mine,(it takes 500,000 gallons of water to produce 1 ton of usable lithium-ion.) fish kills and other herd animal (cows, sheep, horses etc.) and creatures in the wild. the photos show the how litium mining leaves large holes in the earth, with irrevicable geological and environmental damage. one might say, fill it up with dirt! from where? you'd have to have dirt dug from somewhere to fill it up again? then there's the question of what contaminates would you find there to pollute the new dirt? well fill it up with water and make a recreational lake for swimming, boating, fishing. would you go in water, or eat something from a body of water that could over expose you and your family to a danger? and there is a definate limited amount of lithium, and most any metals you can harvest from the earth. oil found in the earth come from decomposed materials over time. the water used to mine lithium promotes, contributes to drought, less drinking or home use water, less success on vegetable and grain farming, production and harvesting. one would ask, well what's the answer? i don't have any but maybe one, and it's definitely say "no way in hell!" i will give that answer later. my point is this. i'm all for improvements, taking care of the planet and such. we must not grab onto something new just because it sounds good now. there should be a lot of questions, such as any short term effects, long term effects to our health, environment, geologic. let's not look at the tree and neglect the forest. get a whole picture. get all the facts, from both sides. then ask yourself if needed, which is the least harmful. and then, like the Oracle in "the Matrix" trilogy said to Neo, "i'm waiting for you make up your own damn mind!" don't follow talking points, ideology, popularity, influential, because of political influence or party. i'm reminded of the later, the political ideology or influence, of what a famous person said about politicians. "politicians and diapers are much alike. they both need to be changed often. and much for the same reasons!" Samuel Clemmons, (aka....Mark Twain)
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