Mining all of the lithium, cobalt, rare earth minerals, and other elements required for a wind- and solar-powered economy would unleash massive and widespread environmental devastation, according to a newly published study.
The study, authored by Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) senior policy advisor Paul Driessen and published by The Heartland Institute, concludes that climate activists impose more environmental harm than good when they insist on a wind- and solar-powered economy.
“Expanding mining on the scale needed to meet the renewable energy requirements of the Green New Deal and other proposed renewable energy mandates would cause unimaginable harm to the environment, wildlife, and humans,” the study, titled, “How the Green New Deal’s Renewable Energy Mining Would Harm Humans and the Environment,” reports.
Particularly troubling is the “renewable” economy’s reliance on rare earth minerals mined in China, lithium mined in Argentina, Chile, and Tibet, and cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (pictured).
The study comprehensively documents the environmental and human health misery imposed by such mining.
For example, “There’s not one step of the rare earth mining process that is not disastrous for the environment,” reports Greenpeace China program director Jamie Choi, according to the study.
Also, the study cites a 2018 study by Harvard University researchers concluding it would require covering one-third of the land in the United States with wind turbines just to meet existing electricity demand.
Transforming all automobiles to electric power would likely push that total closer to one-half of the United States. What would happen to all the wildlife in America if half our country is devoted to wind turbines?
As the study shows, the clear impact of global warming activism is imposing more environmental harm than good.
Read more at Climate Realism
The Greenies will just insist on doing all this without any new mining.
You know, because they are so scientifically enlightened.
All the material used to make the Bird and bat chopping Wind Turbines comes fro the ground the anti-drilling,anti-fracking nit-wits want our fossil fuels left in the ground then they hop aboard their cars and use that same fossil fuels to return home where they again use fossil fuels to heat or cool their homes
As far as the Greens go the adage “Out of sight, Out of mind” fits. They don’t see the environmental damage done to make these things, nor does it seem to sink in that not only is the mining of these rare earth metals an ecological disaster but that the solar panels and in particular the wind turbines require a lot of fossil fuels to make and install them (think of the very tall pole but also the massive amounts of concrete needed to install the turbine).
They are so f*ing clueless what it takes to make and install these monstrosities. And that’s not even counting the unreliability of the electric power generated.
This dovetails well. May 27, 2019 US-China Trade War: Are Rare Earths China’s “Ultimate Weapon”?
In a May 20 article the China government paper, Global Times, wrote of the Xi Jinping visit, “The visit [is] seen as a sign of backing from the top leadership for the domestic rare-earth industry.”
https://journal-neo.org/2019/05/26/are-rare-earths-china-s-ultimate-weapon/
Rare earth metals are not actually that rare. Just require mining. So the ecological damage has been shifted to places like China where they don’t care as much about the environment. The U.S. could easily ramp up rare earth metal production if the environmental permits could be issued.