The Darker Side of Green Technology

Did you really believe that “green” is actually good for the environment or the economy.  The Fake News media, with Leftist politicians and academia, have been lying to us for years about the effects of the alternatives to current technology and material usage.

“ As demand for rechargeable batteries grows, companies and their investors have a responsibility to prove that they have ethical supply chains, a priority when implementing green policies, and that they are not profiting from the misery of miners working in terrible conditions like those in the DRC. The energy solutions of the future must not be built on callous human rights abuses.

When a company has contributed to, or benefited from, child labor or adults working in hazardous conditions, it has a social and moral responsibility to remediate the harm suffered. This means working with other companies and governments to remove children from the worst forms of child labor and support their reintegration into schools, as well as addressing their health and psychological needs.  And likewise, it means also addressing the needs of their communities.

It’s clear. Proactive environmental regulations that are non-existent, and human rights abuses that are ever-pervasive, are both lurking on the dark and quick side of green technology.”

At the end of the day, fossil fuel is the most responsible energy source.  Want to kill people early, enslave them, then the Green Dream is the way to go.

The Darker Side of Green Technology

By Ron Stein, Founder and Ambassador of PTS Advance, PTS Advance,   8/15/19 

A lot of folks worldwide are speed-talking about the great need for people to stop using those dirty fossil fuel driven cars and trucks and start driving those nice clean electric vehicles.

But, please, before you hop onto the EV bandwagon, let me put the brakes on that fake news.

It would be helpful to know that those vehicles have a very troubling history — a dark and dangerous side of environmental atrocities and human rights abuses associated with mining for the exotic minerals that power those cars.

The key minerals used in today’s EV batteries are cobalt, of which 60 percent is sourced from one country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and lithium, of which more than 50 percent is sourced from the Lithium Triangle in South America, which covers parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

Currently, believe it or not, 20 percent of all cobalt is mined by hand. Amnesty International has documented children and adults mining cobalt in narrow man-made tunnels, at risk of serious lung disease, crippling injuries and, sadly, fatal accidents.

.The exotic minerals of lithium and cobalt are both extremely limited in their supply and available locations, compared to, for example, crude oil that can be found at various depths in almost every country and ocean on earth. The limitations of supply and the minable locations for these in-demand commodities present a very serious challenge as to how to continue the so-called EV revolution when those supplies begin to diminish.

Simply stated, the mere extraction of the exotic minerals cobalt and lithium used in the batteries of EVs presents significant social challenges, severe human rights abuse challenges, and serious environmental challenges. Not only are working conditions hazardous, but living conditions are abysmal, with workers making such meager wages that they are forced to live in abject poverty. And whether on-duty or off, they are regularly exposed to out-of-control pollution and many other environmental threats that cannot be ignored.

The cobalt mined in these horrendous conditions in the DRC, located in central Africa, then enters the supply chains of some of the world’s biggest and most popular brands. There are no known “clean” supply chains for lithium and cobalt, yet these rich and powerful companies continue to blatantly avoid supply chain transparency laws now in effect such The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act SB657 and the U.S.  Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2014-H.R.4842, and offer up the most complex and implausible excuses for not investigating their own supply chains. 

The “dirty little secret” of Tesla Motors is turning into a major problem for the EV industry — and perhaps mankind. If you think Tesla’s Model S is the green car of the future, think again. The promises of energy independence, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and lower fuel costs, are all factors behind the rise in the popularity of electric vehicles. Unfortunately, under scrutiny, all these promises prove to be more fictional than factual.

 Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy undertook a study to look at the environmental impact of lithium-ion batteries for EVs. Not surprisingly, the study showed that batteries that use cathodes with nickel and cobalt, as well as solvent-based electrode processing, have the highest potential for environmental impacts, including resource depletion, global warming, ecological toxicity, and adverse effects on human health.

 The largest contributing processes include those associated with the production, processing, and use of cobalt and nickel metal compounds, which may cause adverse respiratory, pulmonary, and neurological effects in those exposed.

 As demand for rechargeable batteries grows, companies and their investors have a responsibility to prove that they have ethical supply chains, a priority when implementing green policies, and that they are not profiting from the misery of miners working in terrible conditions like those in the DRC. The energy solutions of the future must not be built on callous human rights abuses.

When a company has contributed to, or benefited from, child labor or adults working in hazardous conditions, it has a social and moral responsibility to remediate the harm suffered. This means working with other companies and governments to remove children from the worst forms of child labor and support their reintegration into schools, as well as addressing their health and psychological needs.  And likewise, it means also addressing the needs of their communities.

It’s clear. Proactive environmental regulations that are non-existent, and human rights abuses that are ever-pervasive, are both lurking on the dark and quick side of green technology. 

And it’s clear that people worldwide need to know this — and know that it soon must be stopped.

 Ronald Stein is Founder and Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure of PTS Advance, headquartered in Irvine, CA