>US Study Finds Electric Vehicle Reliance Must be Reduced
“Large-scale mining entails social and environmental harm,” the study says, which can include an increase in drought intensity and reductions in biodiversity.
The study found that “In the United States specifically, 79 percent of known lithium deposits sit within 35 miles of Native American reservations,” and that mining operations are often begun without obtaining the permission of the indigenous people in the area.
There are, therefore, both environmental and social issues regarding mining, the second of which the study says are also apparent outside the US, in South American countries such as Chile and Argentina.
Additionally, as global warming increases, the Earth's water shortage intensifies. Europe is not typically in drought, historically speaking, but even places like the UK were in drought conditions in 2022, and already this year much of France is warned of drought conditions. One US-based example of a proposed lithium mining project would have an equivalent annual water usage of 15,000 US homes. So, it is clear to see that lithium mining actually exacerbates issues (or, at least, an issue) created by global heating, which the lithium itself is intended to ease.
The impact of this on the transport industry is significant, since, despite the use of lithium in batteries for a large number of applications including standard household electronics, the largest demand for lithium comes from the transport industry.
https://www.visordown.com/news/industry/us-study-finds-electric-vehicle-reliance-must-be-reduced
https://www.climateandcommunity.org/_files/ugd/d6378b_3b79520a747948618034a2b19b9481a0.pdf
