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The first electric battery was invented in 1800 and most batteries built since have basically worked the same way. What makes lithium-ion batteries different are the materials that make it lighter, rechargeable and longer-lasting.

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The first electric battery was invented in 1800 and most batteries built since have basically worked the same way. What makes lithium-ion batteries different are the materials that make it lighter, rechargeable and longer-lasting.

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Lucy Crane: Mining Our Way to a Low Carbon Future

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As the world transitions to a decarbonised economy, we need to mine more materials than we have ever done before to support those low carbon technologies. From wind turbines to batteries for electric cars, to the two thirds of the periodic table that are in your mobile phone, we have to find a way to sustainably extract materials.

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We are an independent, grassroots collective of people resisting the Thacker Pass lithium mine. We work in solidarity with regional indigenous people. Thacker Pass, or Peehee mm’huh, is sacred land to the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone, and critical wildlife habitat. We invite all people with good hearts to help us stop the greenwashing!

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We are an independent, grassroots collective of people resisting the Thacker Pass lithium mine. We work in solidarity with regional indigenous people. Thacker Pass, or Peehee mm'huh, is sacred land to the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone, and critical wildlife habitat. We invite all people with good hearts to help us stop the greenwashing!
JOIN US TO DEFEND THIS LAND!

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We are an independent, grassroots collective of people resisting the Thacker Pass lithium mine. We work in solidarity with regional indigenous people. Thacker Pass, or Peehee mm'huh, is sacred land to the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone, and critical wildlife habitat. We invite all people with good hearts to help us stop the greenwashing!

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HOW THE U.S. FELL BEHIND IN LITHIUM PRODUCTION

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HOW THE U.S. FELL BEHIND IN LITHIUM PRODUCTION

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How the U.S. fell behind in lithium production

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Electric vehicle growth will be responsible for more than 90% of demand for lithium by 2030. The price of lithium is soaring, and establishing domestic supply of lithium has become the modern-day version of oil security. But today, the U.S. is far behind, with only 1% of global lithium being mined a…

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Elon Musk tweeted Tesla may get into the lithium mining and refining business directly and at scale because the cost of the metal, a key component in manufacturing batteries, has gotten so high.

"Price of lithium has gone to insane levels," Musk tweeted. "There is no shortage of the element itself, as lithium is almost everywhere on Earth, but pace of extraction/refinement is slow."

The Tesla and SpaceX tech boss was responding to a tweet showing the average price of lithium per tonne in the last two decades, which showed a massive increase in prices since 2021. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the cost of the metal has gone up more than 480% in the last year.

There are indeed deposits of lithium all over the United States, according to the the U.S. Geological Survey, a division of the U.S. Department of Interior.

Lithium is valuable in electric vehicle batteries because it is both the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. That means that batteries made with lithium have a high power-to-weight ratio, which is important when dealing with transportation.

Friday's tweet is not the first time Musk has raised the idea of Tesla mining its own lithium.

In 2020, Tesla secured its own rights to mine lithium in Nevada after a deal to buy a lithium mining company fell through, according to Fortune, which was siting "people familiar with the matter."

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Elon Musk says Tesla may have to get into the lithium business because costs are so 'insane'

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Elon Musk tweeted Tesla may get into the lithium mining and refining business directly and at scale because the cost of the metal, a key component in manufacturing batteries, has gotten so high. "Price of lithium has gone to insane levels," Musk tweeted.

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Bio U10 Article 6 -- OpEd on how to save the planet

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THESE TRIBAL ACTIVISTS WANT BIDEN TO STOP A PLANNED LITHIUM MINE ON THEIR SACRED LAND

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THESE TRIBAL ACTIVISTS WANT BIDEN TO STOP A PLANNED LITHIUM MINE ON THEIR SACRED LAND

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Off a lonely highway in northern Nevada, a collection of brightly colored tents, a horse trailer and latrines suddenly comes into view. It's a stark contrast to the pale, sagebrush covered mountains.

"I've been camped here for about a month and a half now," says Gary McKinney, who's ducked under the shade of his tent, its nylon fabric flapping in the near constant wind.

McKinney, a Shoshone-Paiute tribal member from the Duck Valley Reservation in Nevada, wears black sunglasses and an American Indian Movement ski hat and tank top, exposing his tattooed, muscled arms. He's one of a dozen or so tribal and environmental activists who started camping here early this year, a peaceful occupation, they say, in protest of a planned lithium mine on federal Bureau of Land Management land.

"I'm prepared to stay out here and oppose this mine for as long as it takes," McKinney says, "as long as it takes."

The mine, which was given initial approval by federal land managers earlier this year, is at the site of what's thought to be North America's largest deposit of lithium, a metal used in lithium ion batteries, a key component to electric cars and cell phones.

But to some native people, especially elders, the mine would be built atop sacred land. Thacker Pass, site of the protest camp, is called Peehee Mu'huh in Paiute, which translates to "rotten moon."

"They have people that are buried out there, so therefore that place to us is a very sacred place," says Myron Smart, a Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone tribal member, the reservation closest to the proposed mine.

Smart says the land is strewn with cultural artifacts, traditional foods and medicinal plants, some of which are a lifeline to elders.

"During the pandemic, when it first started, that's what our people used to get by," Smart says.

Legal battles beginning

Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of the Canadian firm Lithium Americas began doing environmental and archeological studies in the remote Thacker Pass area, adjacent to the Fort McDermitt Reservation along the Oregon border nearly a decade ago. The company says its operation would increase U.S. lithium production tenfold. Demand is forecast to triple by 2025 as more automakers transition to electric motors.

Jonathan Evans, CEO of Lithium Americas, says the resource will be mined and processed locally in Nevada - most of the global supply of lithium today is processed in China, he notes, making the US even more vulnerable to supply chain interruptions like recently during the pandemic.

But more broadly, Evans is pitching the mine as playing a vital role in addressing climate change and pollution from fossil fuels-based vehicles - a key driver in rising global temperatures.

"These materials have to come from somewhere as you pivot from what we've been used to for the last 100 years to a new technology," Evans says.

But environmental groups and two area tribes - the Burns Paiute and Reno-Sparks Indian Colony - see things differently, accusing the mine's backers and lithium proponents more broadly of "greenwashing."

"We can't flush out all of the water from out of here and rip up all the grass, and the sage brush and flip it around and call it green energy," says Gary McKinney, the tribal activist.

Last Friday in federal court in Reno, the tribes and environmental groups petitioned for a preliminary injunction to halt all the company's preliminary work at the site of the mine until a broader lawsuit challenging the government's approval makes its way through the courts. A decision on the injunction is expected as early as this week. The larger court battle likely won't begin until the end of the year.

Mine backers dismiss it as 'deep green resistance'

In nearby Winnemucca, Jan Morrison says most of the opponents of the mine are from outside the area and part of what some locals begrudgingly refer to as the "deep green resistance."

"Some of the people at the camp don't have any standing, they're not local, but it's a great opportunity to get some exposure," Morrison says.

Morrison is the chief economic development officer for Humboldt County, Nev. where hard rock mining has a long history. The industry has brought relative prosperity to the region which tends to have a higher median income and better average wages than most rural areas.

"The processing can be done within the state of Nevada, the supply chain is entirely domestic," Morrison says. "I think that's one of the most strategic moves we can make."

The lithium mine promises some 1,500 construction jobs initially, then 300 more permanent ones over its predicted forty year lifespan. The company says it's also prioritizing training and hiring tribal members. CEO Jonathan Evans says for three years they've been consulting with the local Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone tribe, the closest reservation to the mine, and only this Spring did it come up that some of the land is a sacred massacre site.

"We want to continue to have that consultation and input," Evans says. "If there's new information, great, let's get it out in the open and talk about it and figure out how we can work together to address any concerns."

Activists say you can't have it both ways

The company says it's not concerned that the ongoing legal challenges may delay the mine from moving forward. Officials note that the last three US presidents have identified lithium as a key mineral for national security.

Still, the battle unfolding in Nevada is a major test to the Biden administration which has made climate change and reducing fossil fuels a priority. They need the lithium to transform the nation's transportation system. But earlier this year, President Biden installed the nation's first ever indigenous Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland. She's pledged to mend a legacy of mistrust of the US government in Indian Country and give native voices a seat at the table in public lands decisions.

Some of the mine's opponents in Nevada see more of the same.

"I think it's maybe just to get political gain," says Daranda Hinkey, a Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone tribal member. "Like, 'oh we are listening to people,' but are you?"

Hinkey helped form People of Red Mountain, one of the groups challenging the mine. She moved back to the reservation during the pandemic and learned more about the traditional significance of the land near the proposed mine after talking with elders. Like on most reservations, stories tend to be passed down by oral tradition and much of the tribes' history is still not taught in schools.

"Maybe the BLM didn't know about the massacre that happened here because the indigenous people don't necessarily trust the BLM," Hinkey says. "It's time to hear those voices."

Is this the next standing rock?

The Department of Interior declined NPR's interview requests. But in court filings, the government says it made a reasonable effort to consult with tribes and that the initial mining exploration won't harm cultural resources.

Lithium Nevada says it will reclaim the land as it goes.

The Fort McDermitt tribe, closest to the mine, hasn't taken a formal stance. Tribal leaders could not be reached for comment though a recent survey showed its 1200 person membership appears split on whether the mine should go forward.

Tribal members are also curious whether the protest up at the camp will escalate like it did at Standing Rock in North Dakota, or possibly turn into another national environmental flashpoint, such as the battle over the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

In tiny Fort McDermitt, Larina Bell understands concerns about protecting sacred land. But she says other mines here over the years helped the tribe and her family. She and her son are one of about 40 locals who have either started or plan to take part in the mining company's job training program.

"I'm interested in it because I have three kids," Bell says. "My oldest one is 22 and he's willing to work but then the thing is, there's no place to work here."

Right now there are only a few jobs with the tribe, the school or the one grocery store, Bell says, so you have to leave the reservation for opportunity.

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These Tribal Activists Want Biden To Stop A Planned Lithium Mine On Their Sacred Land

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Off a lonely highway in northern Nevada, a collection of brightly colored tents, a horse trailer and latrines suddenly comes into view. It's a stark contrast to the pale, sagebrush covered mountains. "I've been camped here for about a month and a half now," says Gary McKinney, who's ducked under the shade of his tent, its nylon fabric flapping in the near constant wind.

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DARANDA HINKEY - THACKER, LITHIUM & PEOPLE OR RED MOUNTAIN

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DARANDA HINKEY - THACKER, LITHIUM & PEOPLE OR RED MOUNTAIN

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Daranda Hinkey - Thacker, Lithium & People of Red Mountain

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When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, indigenous and white families unite to drive out the company in a campaign to protect their water and way of life. A co-production of Vision Media Maker (VMM).

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When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, indigenous and white families unite to drive out the company in a campaign to protect their water and way of life. A c o-production of Vision Media Maker (VMM).

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When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, indigenous and white families unite to drive out the company in a campaign to protect their water and way of life. A c o-production of Vision Media Maker (VMM).

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Bio U10 Article 5 -- Researchers Find Evidence That Fracking Can Trigger an All-New Type of Earthquake

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Bio U10 Article 4 -- We Just Found The Strongest Evidence Yet That Fracking Affects Human Health

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Bio U10 Article 2 -- Nonrenewable Energy

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Bio U10 Article 1 -- Where Do Fossil Fuels Come From

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ARGENTINA'S INDIGENOUS KOLLA PEOPLE SPEAK ABOUT LITHIUM MINING AND SELF-DETERMINATION

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ARGENTINA'S INDIGENOUS KOLLA PEOPLE SPEAK ABOUT LITHIUM MINING AND SELF-DETERMINATION

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Argentina's Indigenous Kolla people speak about lithium mining and self-determination

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THE TROUBLING EVOLUTION OF CORPORATE GREENWASHING

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THE TROUBLING EVOLUTION OF CORPORATE GREENWASHING

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https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/aug/20/greenwashing-environmentalism-lies-companies

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In the mid-1980s, oil company Chevron commissioned a series of expensive television and print ads to convince the public of its environmental bonafides. Titled People Do, the campaign showed Chevron employees protecting bears, butterflies, sea turtles and all manner of cute and cuddly animals.

The commercials were very effective - in 1990, they won an Effie advertising award, and subsequently became a case study at Harvard Business school. They also became notorious among environmentalists, who have proclaimed them the gold standard of greenwashing - the corporate practice of making diverting sustainability claims to cover a questionable environmental record.

The term greenwashing was coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986, back when most consumers received their news from television, radio and print media - the same outlets that corporations regularly flooded with a wave of high-priced, slickly-produced commercials and print ads. The combination of limited public access to information and seemingly unlimited advertising enabled companies to present themselves as caring environmental stewards, even as they were engaging in environmentally unsustainable practices.

But greenwashing dates back even earlier. American electrical behemoth Westinghouse's nuclear power division was a greenwashing pioneer. Threatened by the 1960's anti-nuclear movement, which raised questions about its safety and environmental impact, it fought back with a series of ads proclaiming the cleanliness and safety of nuclear power plants. One, featuring a photograph of a nuclear plant nestled by a pristine lake, proclaimed that "We're building nuclear power plants to give you more electricity," and went on to say that nuclear plants were "odorless [...] neat, clean, and safe".

Some of these claims were true: in 1969, Westinghouse nuclear plants were producing large amounts of cheap electricity with far less air pollution than competing coal plants. However, given that the ads appeared after nuclear meltdowns had already occurred in Michigan and Idaho, the word "safe" was arguable. Westinghouse's ads also ignored concerns about the environmental impact of nuclear waste, which has continued to be a problem.

The mysterious case of the stolen towels

In 1983, when Jay Westerveld first got the idea for the term greenwashing, he wasn't thinking about nuclear power - he was thinking about towels. An undergraduate student on a research trip to Samoa, he stopped off in Fiji to surf. At the sprawling Beachcomber Resort, he saw a note asking customers to pick up their towels. "It basically said that the oceans and reefs are an important resource, and that reusing the towels would reduce ecological damage," Westerveld recalls. "They finished by saying something like, 'Help us to help our environment'."

Westerveld wasn't actually staying at the resort - he was lodging at a "grubby" guesthouse nearby, and had just snuck in to steal some clean towels. Even so, he was struck by the note's irony: while it claimed to be protecting the island's ecosystem, he says, the Beachcomber - which, today, describes itself as "the most sought-after destination in the South Pacific " - was expanding. "I don't think they really cared all that much about the coral reefs," he says. "They were in the middle of expanding at the time, and were building more bungalows."

Three years later, in 1986, when he was writing a term paper on multiculturalism, Westerveld remembered the note. "I finally wrote something like, 'It all comes out in the greenwash.' A guy in the class with me worked for a literary magazine and had me write an essay about it." And, as the magazine had a large readership in nearby New York City, it wasn't long before the term caught on in the wider media.

Westerveld's essay came out a year after the launch of Chevron's People Do campaign. As critics later pointed out, many of the environmental programs that Chevron promoted in its campaign were mandated by law. They were also relatively inexpensive when compared with the cost of Chevron's ad budget: environmental activist Joshua Karliner estimated that Chevron's butterfly preserve cost it $5,000 per year to run, while the ads promoting it cost millions of dollars to produce and broadcast.

The People Do campaign also ignored Chevron's spotty environmental record: while it was running the ads, it was also violating the clean air act, the clean water act and spilling oil into wildlife refuges. But Chevron was far from the only company digging deep into the greenwashing cesspool. In 1989, chemical company DuPont announced its new double-hulled oil tankers with ads featuring marine animals clapping their flippers and wings in chorus to Beethoven's Ode to Joy. However, as environmental nonprofit Friends of the Earth pointed out in its report Hold the Applause, the company was the single largest corporate polluter in the US.

Other corporate claims were equally outrageous: forestry giant Weyerhaeuser ran ads claiming that it was "serious" about caring for fish - even as it was cutting down trees in some of its forests and destabilizing salmon habitats.

Muddying the waters

By the early 1990s, consumers were wising up to sustainability concerns: polls showed that companies' environmental records influenced the majority of consumer purchases. This interest in the environment brought an increased awareness of the greenwashing; by the end of the decade, the word had officially entered the English language with its inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary. Since then, the trend has only increased: a 2015 Nielsen poll showed that 66% of global consumers are willing to pay more for environmentally sustainable products. Among millennials, that number jumps to 72%.

"People are getting more aware of the rarity of the Earth and the ways that our actions impact it," says Jason Ballard, CEO of sustainable home improvement retailer TreeHouse. At the same time, he notes, greenwashing has become more complex. "It's the dark side of a very positive development," he says.

One shift has been outreach. Many companies are now working to engage customers in their sustainability efforts, even as their core business model remains environmentally unsustainable. The Home Depot and Lowes, for example, both encourage customers to do their part by offering onsite recycling for several products, including compact fluorescent lights and plastic bags. Meanwhile, they continue to sell billions of dollars per year worth of environmentally damaging products, such as paints that are loaded with toxic ingredients and which release noxious fumes.

"It's misdirection, and it's intended to shift the customer's focus from a company's appalling behaviors to something that's peripheral," Ballard says.

The bottled water conundrum

Another trend, says Jonah Sachs, CEO of branding agency Free Range Studios, is linking sustainability claims to other issues, such as personal health. "There's this perception that personal health and environmental sustainability are two sides of the same coin," he says. "Sometimes this is true, but many times it isn't. Bottled water is a great example: in terms of health, it's much better than soda or other drinks, but in terms of the environment and sustainability, it's ridiculous."

The water industry trades heavily on images of rugged mountains and pristine lakes to sell its products. And many companies - Nestle, in particular - spend millions of dollars trying to convince the public that their bottled water isn't only good to drink, but is also good for the planet. Over the past few years, the bottled water giant has claimed that its Eco-Shape bottle is more efficient, that its Resource recycled plastic bottle is more environmentally responsible and that its use of plant-based plastics is less damaging to the planet.

In 2008, Nestle Waters Canada even ran an ad claiming: "Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world." Several Canadian groups quickly filed a complaint against the company. Five years later, during Earth Day 2013, the International Bottled Water Association doubled down on the sustainability claims, announcing that bottled water was "the face of positive change" because the industry was using less plastic in its bottles and relying more on recycled plastic.

Sustainability promises aside, only about 31% of plastic bottles end up getting recycled, which means that "the face of positive change" creates millions of tons of garbage every year, much of which ends up in landfills or the ocean.

And the water that goes in the bottles is often equally unsustainable. Nestle's Arrowhead water claims that "Mother Nature is our muse" and boasts that it "has a team of experts dedicated to watching over each one of our 13 spring sources" to ensure responsible water stewardship. This sounds promising until one considers that those springs are in California, which has been in a state of drought for five years. The company also bottles water in Arizona and Oregon, both of which are also experiencing droughts.

A golden oldie

Some of the classic greenwashers are also taking cues from the new greenwashing playbook. In 2013, amid worries about unemployment and continued concerns about energy sustainability, Westinghouse put a fresh face on its old claims with a brand new commercial. "Did you know that nuclear energy is the largest source of clean air energy in the world?" the ad asked viewers right before claiming that its nuclear power plants "provide cleaner air, create jobs, and help sustain the communities where they operate".

What the commercial failed to mention was that, two years earlier, Westinghouse was cited by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for concealing flaws in its reactor designs and submitting false information to regulators. And, in February 2016, another plant that uses Westinghouse reactors, New York's Indian Point, leaked radioactive material into the surrounding area's groundwater.

Greenwashing may have taken on a new shape in the last decade, but it's still as murky as ever.

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The troubling evolution of corporate greenwashing

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The term "greenwashing" was coined in the 1980s to describe outrageous corporate environmental claims. Three decades later, the practice has grown vastly more sophisticated