Stories about Less of What We Don't Need.
Photo by Daniel Henryk Rasolt.
In Colombia, activists and scientists are boosting mega-dam resistance by showing the cumulative impacts of these destructive projects. When El Quimbo was constructed, its reservoir flooded 80 square kilometers of forest and fertile agricultural land, displaced around 450 families, and killed the livelihoods of fishermen downstream.
Dear Ecologists,
Could we discuss silicon, that substance on which our digital world depends? [1] Silicon is a semiconductor, and tiny electronic switches called transistors are made from it. Like brain cells, transistors control the flow of information in a computer’s integrated circuits. Transistors store memory, amplify sound, transmit and receive data, run apps and much, much more.
A 2019 study by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney found that demand for lithium could exceed supply by next year, which would drive up prices and interest in more lithium mining. Demand for cobalt and nickel, also key battery components, will exceed production in less than a decade.
“Cobalt is the metal of most concern for supply risks as it has highly concentrated production and reserves, and batteries for EVs are expected to be the main end-use of cobalt in only a few years,” the report’s authors found.
But there’s also concern that we still don’t adequately understand the risks of operating giant underwater tractors along the seafloor.
