The Climate Minute

The middle ground in the choice between EV usage growth and damaging lithium mining may be in EV sharing.  We discuss an innovative program in Boston that offers inexpensive EV sharing to disadvantaged communities. Is this a path to equity, livable cities and reduced Li demand? 

Increasing demand for electric vehicles means increasing demand for lithium. New mining is damaging, but recycling lithium will reduce that damage. We speak with an expert on the benefits of recycling, but also consider the concrete steps we should take now to ensure a robust recapture process in the future.

One philosophical approach says that how we mine lithium is just as important as why we mine it. The ‘end’ of a green economy is tied to the means we use to get there. We speak with an expert who tells us that nonviolence is a good tool to use in thinking about how we make the just transition to a new energy economy.

As the global demand for new lithium surges, a pristine spot in Nevada is slated for an open pit lithium mine. An ongoing encampment at Thacker Pass offers resistance. Listen in to activist and author Max Wilbert, who raises difficult questions such as: When we speak of sustainability, are we sustaining life, or just a life-style?

 If we don’t recycle it, then we must mine new lithium. We speak with an expert from EarthWorks on the troubling truth that lithium mining, from brine or ‘hard rock’ is damaging to local environments and communities.  We discuss how to tell if your lithium is responsibly sourced.

Mining lithium for EV batteries puts the tradeoff of green transport and local environmental damage in high relief. We talk to an expert who has studied the question. Her advice is to look at the current moment as a 'critical juncture' that will define our path into the decarbonized future, but also to try to imagine a middle ground where we have a green society that does not destroy local habitats. 

As heat waves and floods assault us, humans are in the midst of a great societal energy transition. We must find ways to decarbonize. The question is no longer if, but rather how, to build the clean energy system we need. The coming changes are so broad that they can be hard to comprehend. It is helpful to narrow the discussion. In this series of podcasts, we study the big question of how to build a new future thru the lens of a specific issue: the production and use of lithium. Listen in as we dip our toes into the oceans of questions about how to build a just energy transition. 

It turns out that those hot humid August days are great opportunities to take climate action.  We talk with an expert about how to cut carbon emissions and save money, by participating in Green Energy Consumer Alliance's "Shave the Peak" program. It is free and will make you feel better about the heat.

Climate activist can take advantage of opportunities to speak with their elected officials.  Lobbying can seem intimidating. What is the best way to do it?  We talk to a legislator about what he hopes to hear from people who come to talk to him about pending legislation.

 How do you build a moral code based on principles the Sun has ‘taught’ us? How can we incorporate scientific lessons about ecological systems into our lives?