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Electric cars seemed like a really good solution to combat climate change. But is it really the best solution? From all of the CO2 that is produced, 14% is produced by transportation vehicles. This number doesn't even take into consideration the amount of CO2 is released from all the processes of producing a car. The good side of electric cars is that there is no emission of CO2 when driving because there is no fossil fuel that is being burned. But " if the electricity used to charge cars comes from the burning of fossil fuels, it doesn’t matter if the EC is not polluting while being driven, as this pollution was already released in some distant power plant" (Gonçalves, 2018, para. 8). It is like walking in a circle. We improve from one side but we get worse on the other. The process of making a car, factories, transporting materials, and extracting chemicals are the same for electric and conventional cars. In the end, both are generating carbon emissions. Why the process of electric cars also pollutes? Mainly because the earth elements needed for batteries are found underground and mining for the lithium creates a vast majority of pollution. Meanwhile, since the electric car market is growing, people will need to find ways to recycle these batteries creating new businesses and jobs in the future. Overall the problem with electric cars is that they emit CO2 in three stages of their lives. During manufacturing, producing the energy need to charge them and when they are out of use. One solution could be using more bicycles or creating energy from solar panels and wind turbines.

Apa: Gonçalves, A. (2018, September 25). Are Electric Cars Really Greener?. youmatter. Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://youmatter.world/en/are-electric-cars-eco-friendly-and-zero-emission-vehicles-26440/

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The main place where lithium is extracted is from the Atacama Salt Flats in Chile. Lithium is a valuable resource mainly to produce batteries that go into phones and cars. With the electric car revolution, the value of Lithium has risen and people are concerned about its effects on the environment. We have an environmental problem caused by the mining of lithium. The problem is that lithium cannot be substituted to create batteries and batteries aren't fully capable of being recycled yet. Salt Flat extraction requires a big amount of water to extract the lithium and as a result, many towns are drying out. One solution can be reducing the amount of water that is being used and recycling it. Chiles lithium mining company wants to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Apa: Southwell, H. (2020, October    11). Inside Chile's Struggle To Make    Lithium Mining 'Greener' For The Electric Car Revolution. TheDrive. Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.thedrive.com/news/37004/inside-chiles-struggle-to-make-lithium-mining-greener-for-the-electric-car-revolution

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Link: https://www.thedrive.com/news/37004/inside-chiles-struggle-to-make-lithium-mining-greener-for-the-electric-car-revolution

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The Atacama desert in Chile is the driest desert on earth and it has a big amount of basins filled with salty brine that contain lithium carbonate. Chile is called the Saudi Arabia of Lithium because around 40 percent of the world's lithium supply comes from Chile. Boddenberg and Houmann (2020), said that "The two mining companies operating in the Atacama, Chilean SQM and American Albemarle, pump up nearly 2,000 liters (530 gallons) of brine every second, and more than 63 billion liters in a year" (para.10). For example, the average family consumes roughly 300 gallons a day. With that amount of water extracted, you could supply water to two families every second. Many people and animals had thrived in the Atacama Desert and mining companies are exploiting the amount of water leading to a huge problem for societies that live near the Desert. The exploration of this water is creating a problem for agriculture and education. The farmers don't receive the amount of water they need for growing their crops and people that are trying to study agriculture are having difficulties because there is no water to grow and study the plants. The water is not only valuable for Lithium extraction, it is an essential element for human life. It is spiritual and cultural life because we need it to survive.

Apa: Boddenberg, S & Houmann, N. (2020, January, 23). Lithium extraction for e-mobility robs Chilean communities of water. DW. Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.dw.com/en/lithium-extraction-for-e-mobility-robs-chilean-communities-of-water/a-51844854

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Link: https://www.dw.com/en/lithium-extraction-for-e-mobility-robs-chilean-communities-of-water/a-51844854

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This article talks about lithium as a super new good idea for electric automobility but also considering it a dangerous practice for the environment.
Accordingly, transportation is responsible for 24 percent of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, whereas road vehicles are by far the biggest emitters, accounting for around 75 percent of all CO2 emissions in 2018.
Although it seems to be an amazing idea to “promote electric automobility as a decisive contribution to averting the climate crisis and air pollution” (Hartung, 2018), “the production of high-performance batteries is also accompanied by an increasing demand for raw materials, including the light metal lithium” (Schlosser, 2020). So… is it?
Well, of course, it is a great idea for the Chilean economy for the simple fact that “Due to the transformation of the automotive industry, the German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA 2017) estimates a doubling or rather tripling of the lithium demand by 2025” (Schlosser, 2020). It sounds great, huh?
Why does it benefit Chile a lot? Well, let’s just say that according to the author’s article, “The world's largest lithium reserve is stored in the Salar de Atacama, the salt flat of Chile (USGS 2017)”. All of this could help Chiles's economy, but could I have other side effects?
In general, the article is about 40 pages long. It has a lot of specific information (scientific, political, and historical). And it has great citations from other trustworthy articles.
Schlosser, N. (2020) “Externalised costs of electric automobility: Social-ecological conflicts of lithium extraction in Chile”.

Apa: Schlosser, N. (2020, June). Externalised costs of electric automobility: Social- ecological conflicts of lithium extraction in Chile. ECONSTOR. Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/222406/1/1703743695.pdf

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Link: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/222406/1/1703743695.pdf

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Nowadays we see that our phones, tablets, computers, and electric cars have a Lithium-ion battery on them. Batteries used before like acid and nickel-cadmium tend to run out of power very quickly and they had to be thrown away, creating a lot of dangerous waste. In 1991, Sony released the first-ever Lithium-ion battery that could get recharged after it ran out of power. Batteries are very popular and they seemed like an amazing idea, but many people didn't know the consequences that this could bring to the environment shortly. Many rivers that are located near a lithium mine can be found with dead animals because these chemicals are spilling and polluting the river affecting the wildlife that lives there. "South America, Argentinians in the Salar de Hombre Muerto natural salt pan have expressed concerns over the lithium mining in the region, citing contamination to streams and the irrigation of crops" (Murray, 2019, para.35). This not only affects the rivers but it can also affect the soil and our food that we buy at the supermarket. Although electric cars help reduce the CO2 in our environment, extracting lithium causes air contamination. But what if we could recycle these batteries? The only problem is that we are not yet there. "Research in Australia found that just 2% of the country’s 3,300 tonnes of lithium-ion waste is recycled" (Murray, 2019, para.45). One of the alternatives is to create aluminum batteries instead of lithium to reduce the impact on the environment. But nothing is sure yet, only time will tell.

Apa: Murray, J. (2019, October 14).

Is the Nobel Prize-winning lithium-ion battery really having a positive impact on the environment?. NS ENERGY. Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/lithium-ion-battery-environmental-impact/

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Link:
https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/lithium-ion-battery-environmental-impact/

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What's happening today? In Chile, many protesters from indigenous communities around Atacama's salt flats have started to protest and blocked access to the lithium company and operations. Indigenous communities that live near the desert say that they are leaving a social inequality because a big amount of water is being used and as a result leaving these communities without fresh water. Roads are being blocked, closed and some workers weren't able to return to work. Many workers had to change their schedules due to a large number of protests. People want the state to hear them and listen to their concerns with the environment. This is becoming a big problem because riots have started and this has led to some violence. "Protests across Chile that started over a hike in public transport fares boiled into riots, arson, and looting that have killed at least 17 people, injured hundreds, brought more than 7,000 arrests, and caused more than $1.4 billion of losses to businesses in a week" (Sherwood, 2019, para.12). This problem is not only affecting indigenous communities and the environment. It is also affecting companies by making them lose a lot of money. This is becoming a loss for everyone.

Apa: Sherwood, D. (2019, October 25). Chile protesters block access to lithium operations: local leader. REUTERS. Retrieved April 15, 2021, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests-lithium-idUSKBN1X42B9

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Link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests-lithium-idUSKBN1X42B9

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Link: https://youmatter.world/en/are-electric-cars-eco-friendly-and-zero-emission-vehicles-26440/