Jose Avila and Dugras Carmona Barajas secured solar panels to the roof of Brien. Electric pickups that squeal temporary plates erupt over the cracked pavement of Interstate 5 through North Seattle. The King County family has gotten a new electric heat pump to replace the dirty oil furnace.
These are snapshots of a future with fewer fossil fuels.
And the technology needed to guide the world to a new energy paradigm requires the mineral: copper. lithium. cobalt. nickel. manganese. graphite.
Mining these materials is essentially a dirty extraction process. There are sudden costs disproportionately paid by communities that deal with the heritage of contamination.
The Seattle Times moved to some of these locations near British Columbia’s expanding copper mines, and to the world’s largest lithium deposit, the world’s largest lithium deposit, on the Oregon Nevada border. Community members shared their stories to help light up the balance between the new mining boom and its complex effects in and around the Columbia River Basin.
The amount of material needed to supply energy transfer is incredible.
For example, Adam Simon, a professor of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Michigan, says offshore wind turbines need between 40 and 260 meters of copper, depending on their capacity.
A typical 40 kilowatt-hour electric car battery, about the size of a Nissan leaf, requires more than 8 pounds of lithium, 34 pounds or more copper, 77 pounds of graphite, 56 pounds of nickel, nearly 55 pounds of aluminum, and 7 pounds of cobalt.
Washington state must rely heavily on other states and countries for minerals and production, as well as on these resources to achieve its clean energy goals.
Jay Turner, a professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College and author of “Charging: The History and Lessons of Battery for a Clean Energy Future,” says leaving fossil fuels on the ground and using clean energy instead requires a major change.
“The first step is to acknowledge that when making a clean energy transition, electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels need to be deployed on an unprecedented scale,” Turner said.
More clean energy technology means more materials and more mining. Even if it is recycled alone, it cannot be done yet.
Turner is essential to source these materials in a sustainable way, and that is not an easy task.
The mining of the past tells us an important story. In the Columbia Basin, mines, smelters and hydroelectric dams have indefinitely damaged ecosystems and communities.
However, the planet has already warmed above 1.5 degrees Celsius at pre-industrial levels. Gnaw of Rising Tides in an ancient village on the Pacific coast. Farmers and fish compete with data centres for water. Neighborhoods are leveled with Megafire.
To avoid more damage, the world needs to embrace the fossil fuel transition, balancing climate change and with the frontline communities of resource extraction.
“We’ll take a lot of mindful efforts on everyone’s side in ways that will take time and help with this and help to improve the climate crisis,” John Naranjo said. Free, advance, informed consent Managers of the National Wildlife Federation help organizations build relationships with tribal communities.
Naranjo is a tribal member of Santa Clara Pueblo, whose land and health are affected by the radioactive waste of Los Alamos.
”…building relationships for greater profits takes time. After that, most of the time we will get positive results. That’s what I pray for. ”
The report for this project was partially funded by the Fund for Environmental Journalism Environmental Journalists Association.
