Finite Climate Change & Environment

Chris and Charley continue discussing the human and environmental impact of mining for the critical minerals of the green energy transition. In part 2: rare earth elements and nickel.

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Issue 2: Green energy & electric cars

Intro: Why does green energy produce so much toxic waste?

Chapter 1: Comparing wind, solar, nuclear & geothermal energy; mining waste

Chapter 2: The human and environmental costs of green energy mining

Chapter 3: Phasing out cars (even electric ones) to save the planet

Chapter 4: Your life would be way better if we phased out cars

Extra: Hydroelectric is not green energy

Bonus 1: Planet-saving green energy technology we foolishly never developed

Bonus 2: How did Congo (the world’s leading cobalt producer) get the way it is?

Bonus 3: The Congo Wars (1996-2003) and its millions of victims

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Issue 2 is available in written and podcast format

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Image: Climate Rights International, Does Anyone Care? / Riza Salman for CRI

Chris and Charley look at the human and environmental impact of mining for lithium and cobalt, two critical minerals of the green energy transition.

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Issue 2: Green energy & electric cars

Intro: Why does green energy produce so much toxic waste?

Chapter 1: Comparing wind, solar, nuclear & geothermal energy; mining waste

Chapter 2: The human and environmental costs of green energy mining

Chapter 3: Phasing out cars (even electric ones) to save the planet

Chapter 4: Your life would be way better if we phased out cars

Extra: Hydroelectric is not green energy

Bonus 1: Planet-saving green energy technology we foolishly never developed

Bonus 2: How did Congo (the world’s leading cobalt producer) get the way it is?

Bonus 3: The Congo Wars (1996-2003) and its millions of victims

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Issue 2 is available in written and podcast format

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Lithium evaporation ponds (Luis Robayo / AFP):

The dried riverbed of the Trapiche River: Maria Paula Gaido / Ruido:

Double issue means double chapters, and double chapters are way too long to record in one sitting. Chris and Charley sit down again to finish Chapter 1.

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Issue 2: Green energy & electric cars

Intro: Why does green energy produce so much toxic waste?

Chapter 1: Comparing wind, solar, nuclear & geothermal energy; mining waste

Chapter 2: The human and environmental costs of green energy mining

Chapter 3: Phasing out cars (even electric ones) to save the planet

Chapter 4: Your life would be way better if we phased out cars

Extra: Hydroelectric is not green energy

Bonus 1: Planet-saving green energy technology we foolishly never developed

Bonus 2: How did Congo (the world’s leading cobalt producer) get the way it is?

Bonus 3: The Congo Wars (1996-2003) and its millions of victims

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Issue 2 is available in written and podcast format

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Chris and Charlie try to figure out what energy source is best to replace fossil fuels, but things go off the rails immediately…and they wind up with an extended discussion about mining waste?

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Issue 2: Green energy & electric cars

Intro: Why does green energy produce so much toxic waste?

Chapter 1: Comparing wind, solar, nuclear & geothermal energy; mining waste

Chapter 2: The human and environmental costs of green energy mining

Chapter 3: Phasing out cars (even electric ones) to save the planet

Chapter 4: Your life would be way better if we phased out cars

Extra: Hydroelectric is not green energy

Bonus 1: Planet-saving green energy technology we foolishly never developed

Bonus 2: How did Congo (the world’s leading cobalt producer) get the way it is?

Bonus 3: The Congo Wars (1996-2003) and its millions of victims

_____

Issue 2 is available in written and podcast format

__________

After finding that green energy has a worse radioactive waste problem than nuclear energy, Chris lays out green energy deal with the devil: to save the planet from climate change, it will be necessary to sacrifice parts of the planet with mining waste.

Two tables are referenced in this episode:

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Issue 2: Green energy & electric cars

Intro: Why does green energy produce so much toxic waste?

Chapter 1: Comparing wind, solar, nuclear & geothermal energy; mining waste

Chapter 2: The human and environmental costs of green energy mining

Chapter 3: Phasing out cars (even electric ones) to save the planet

Chapter 4: Your life would be way better if we phased out cars

Extra: Hydroelectric is not green energy

Bonus 1: Planet-saving green energy technology we foolishly never developed

Bonus 2: How did Congo (the world’s leading cobalt producer) get the way it is?

Bonus 3: The Congo Wars (1996-2003) and its millions of victims

_____

Issue 2 is available in written and podcast format

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If you’re in the Milwaukee area on Monday, October 13, don’t miss the Finite launch party! Grab some free snacks, meet the editors and cohosts, peep a sneak preview of future issues, and get a discounted subscription!

Anyone who attends will get a free set of bonus chapters!

If you have never been to the Vulture Space community bike workshop, it is worth the trip just to look around.

You can support the Vulture Space mission of protecting the planet by helping ordinary Milwaukeeans repair and maintain their bikes: https://www.vulturespace.org/donate

See you there!

Monday, October 13, 2025
6-8pm
651 N Plankinton Avenue, Milwaukee

Chris and Charley conclude Issue 1 by discussing how mainstream economists and climate scientists can look at the same data and reach wildly different conclusions. How can mainstream economists predict small dents to the economy when climate scientists see existential threats to civilization itself? Perhaps Sahelian desertification and climate change can only be solved if we stop listening to mainstream economists.

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Issue 1: Climate Change and Freshwater

Intro: Why did Lake Chad collapse and why are Cameroonians so thirsty?

Chapter 1: Desertification of the Sahel and Cameroon’s water infrastructure

Chapter 2: Cameroon gains “independence” from France

Chapter 3: Poverty, structural adjustments, and dictators

Chapter 4: The US New Deal’s Soil Conservation Service is a proven model

Bonus 1: More on Cameroon’s independence movement

Bonus 2: How did Ahidjo make himself a dictator?

Bonus 3: How did Biya take control from Ahidjo?

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Issue 1 is available in written and podcast format

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How mainstream economists and climate scientists estimate our climate risk:

Slide from William Nordhaus’s Nobel Prize for Economics lecture summarizing his work calculating that 4 degrees is “optimal” warming:

Exponential increase in fossil fuel consumption:

President Reagan and Ahmaduo Ahidjo:

President Obama and Paul Biya:

Why did Ahidjo suddenly resign in 1982 at the height of his power? How did Paul Biya wrest power from a seemingly all-powerful Ahidjo? Chris and Charley explore the mystery of Cameroon’s 1983 succession.

Subscriber link to bonus chapter: https://www.finitemag.org/2025/04/ahmaduo-ahidjo-paul-biya-cameroon-dictator-transfer-of-power/

Not a subscriber? Subscribe here: https://www.finitemag.org/shop/

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Issue 1: Climate Change and Freshwater

Intro: Why did Lake Chad collapse and why are Cameroonians so thirsty?

Chapter 1: Desertification of the Sahel and Cameroon’s water infrastructure

Chapter 2: Cameroon gains “independence” from France

Chapter 3: Poverty, structural adjustments, and dictators

Chapter 4: The US New Deal’s Soil Conservation Service is a proven model

Bonus 1: More on Cameroon’s independence movement

Bonus 2: How did Ahidjo make himself a dictator?

Bonus 3: How did Biya take control from Ahidjo?

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Issue 1 is available in written and podcast format

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Chris and Charley cover the darkly fascinating cloak-and-dagger story of Ahidjo’s rise to power – with help from the French, of course.

Subscriber link to bonus chapter: https://www.finitemag.org/2025/04/rise-of-ahmaduo-ahidjo-dictator-cameroon-france-neocolonialism/

Not a subscriber? Subscribe here: https://www.finitemag.org/shop/

____________________________________

Issue 1: Climate Change and Freshwater

Intro: Why did Lake Chad collapse and why are Cameroonians so thirsty?

Chapter 1: Desertification of the Sahel and Cameroon’s water infrastructure

Chapter 2: Cameroon gains “independence” from France

Chapter 3: Poverty, structural adjustments, and dictators

Chapter 4: The US New Deal’s Soil Conservation Service is a proven model

Bonus 1: More on Cameroon’s independence movement

Bonus 2: How did Ahidjo make himself a dictator?

Bonus 3: How did Biya take control from Ahidjo?

_____

Issue 1 is available in written and podcast format

__________

Chris and Charlie discuss the global scandal of debt and structural adjustments, how it came to Cameroon and contributed to poverty, underdevelopment, and desertification. Then, they compare IMF structural adjustments to a proven anti-desertification model: how the American New Deal beat the Dust Bowl. To end, they discuss the dire situation of rural Cameroonians, and why desertification can’t be beat without addressing poverty. Remember: land degradation is responsible for a quarter of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. We can’t stop catastrophic climate change without fixing the Sahelian desertification crisis.

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Issue 1: Climate Change and Freshwater

Intro: Why did Lake Chad collapse and why are Cameroonians so thirsty?

Chapter 1: Desertification of the Sahel and Cameroon’s water infrastructure

Chapter 2: Cameroon gains “independence” from France

Chapter 3: Poverty, structural adjustments, and dictators

Chapter 4: The US New Deal’s Soil Conservation Service is a proven model

Bonus 1: More on Cameroon’s independence movement

Bonus 2: How did Ahidjo make himself a dictator?

Bonus 3: How did Biya take control from Ahidjo?

_____

Issue 1 is available in written and podcast format

__________