ADVERTISEMENT

Electric Vehicle Push Is Sparking Massive Deforestation, Environmental Damage

abby97

HR Heisman
Sep 16, 2010
6,355
6,514
113
A major nickel mine in a Philippines rainforest has continued to expand, mowing down acres of trees as global demand for minerals essential for electric vehicle manufacturing surges.

The Rio Tuba mine in the region of Palawan supplies an important mineral for electric vehicle batteries in Tesla and Toyota cars, but the mine is nearing an expansion that would cause it to grow from four square miles to 14 square miles, according to an NBC News investigation. The growth of the mine would cause massive deforestation of the land which environmentalists warn could destroy the area’s ecosystem.

Critics of the mine have suggested it could lead to an increased runoff of toxic waste into the environment, further harming the local wildlife, according to NBC News.

“What is at stake there is the life and survival of the people in the communities,” Grizelda Mayo-Anda, an environmental lawyer in Palawan, told NBC News.

The nickel mined in Palawan is ultimately transported to Japan where the firm Sumitomo Metal Mining uses it to make the key ingredient of Panasonic’s lithium ion batteries, company filings showed, NBC News reported. Panasonic, which is a battery supplier for Tesla, recently declared victory in the race to produce a more compact high-powered electric car battery. (RELATED: Elon Musk Says Democrats Should Tank Entire Build Back Better Bill)



The expansion of the Rio Tuba mine and the subsequent destruction of nearly 9,000 acres of ancient rainforest documented by the NBC News report underscores the growing global demand for rare earth minerals which are essential for not only electric vehicles, but solar panels and wind turbines. Worldwide electric vehicle sales, which currently account for just 4% of new car purchases, are expected to surge to as much as 34% of total global sales by 2030, according to an International Energy Agency estimate.

President Joe Biden has made transitioning to renewable energy a key part of his administration’s agenda. As part of his effort, Biden pledged to ensure 50% of new car sales in 2030 are electric vehicles, and he made multiple visits to factories where such vehicles are manufactured.

“I think it’s a really difficult ethical dilemma,” Gillian Galford, a professor at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, told NBC News. “On one hand, we have a very promising technology that can help us address our fossil fuel dependence. But on the other hand, we have lots of environmental harms that can go into getting us to that point.”

The Rio Tuba nickel mine, though, isn’t the only one to face pushback. Mines producing lithium and copper in Chile and lithium in the U.S. have been lambasted by environmental activists.

“Blowing up a mountain isn’t green, no matter how much marketing spin people put on it,” Max Wilbert, an activist protesting a proposed lithium mine site in Nevada, told The New York Times in May.

Mining is responsible for 9% of total Amazon forest loss, a 2017 study published in the journal Nature Communications concluded. In November, more than 100 nations, including the U.S., signed a pact to end deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 United Nation climate conference.
 
Sort of like letting China make everything with almost no rules.

electric is better. The new generation of nuclear plants is a huge piece of the puzzle.

I am confident alternatives for battery materials will happen soon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FlickShagwell
Start supporting mass transportation then. But Rs oppose this, too. Admit it, you don't actually care about any of this from an environmental angle.
If you fly or boat for pleasure you don’t either.
How big is your house?
Mpg of your vehicles?

it’s easy is look like you care. Very difficult to live it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: goldmom
If you fly or boat for pleasure you don’t either.
How big is your house?
Mpg of your vehicles?

it’s easy is look like you care. Very difficult to live it.
Individually a lot of us don't care. You will get no argument from me there. Which is why I think that individually based decisions won't solve this problem.

Restructure transportation. Do away with most cars. Heavily invest in mass transportation. I agree that electric vehicles are just moving around the environmental footprint. I simply want real solutions as opposed to more finger pointing.
 
Last edited:
If you fly or boat for pleasure you don’t either.
How big is your house?
Mpg of your vehicles?

it’s easy is look like you care. Very difficult to live it.

I moved 250 feet from my office. I reduced my fooprint in sq ft too. I have a hybrid that sits 4 and 5 days at a time sometimes.

Its not difficult. You are just a chode.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Menace Sockeyes
I moved 250 feet from my office. I reduced my fooprint in sq ft too. I have a hybrid that sits 4 and 5 days at a time sometimes.

Its not difficult. You are just a chode.
Nope. Lots of suburban hypocrites.

boating and flying should be illegal IMO. See how easy it is. Maybe a committee of tree Huggers should decide if somebody needs a 4x4 or a vehicle that gets under 30mpg.

maybe allow nobody to watch sporting events in person unless they have family playing in game.

it’s so easy to tell others what to do, until it’s your shit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: abby97
Nope. Lots of suburban hypocrites.

boating and flying should be illegal IMO. See how easy it is. Maybe a committee of tree Huggers should decide if somebody needs a 4x4 or a vehicle that gets under 30mpg.

maybe allow nobody to watch sporting events in person unless they have family playing in game.

it’s so easy to tell others what to do, until it’s your shit.
So fragile. "Boating and flying should be illegal". LOL
 
Nope. Lots of suburban hypocrites.

boating and flying should be illegal IMO. See how easy it is. Maybe a committee of tree Huggers should decide if somebody needs a 4x4 or a vehicle that gets under 30mpg.

maybe allow nobody to watch sporting events in person unless they have family playing in game.

it’s so easy to tell others what to do, until it’s your shit.

What are you saying here? Its a God given right to live like a glutton?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Menace Sockeyes
What are you saying here? Its a God given right to live like a glutton?
Yes it is. It surely isn't the goverment's right to tell people how to live in a free society. Especially when "goverment workers" like John Kerry fly private planes to global warming meetings and Al Gore lives in a mansion.
 
Yes it is. It surely isn't the goverment's right to tell people how to live in a free society. Especially when "goverment workers" like John Kerry fly private planes to global warming meetings and Al Gore lives in a mansion.

You and your ilk love to talk about rights....but never any responsibility to anyone. Just selfish assholes like you, If you are not just trolling.
 
A major nickel mine in a Philippines rainforest has continued to expand, mowing down acres of trees as global demand for minerals essential for electric vehicle manufacturing surges.

The Rio Tuba mine in the region of Palawan supplies an important mineral for electric vehicle batteries in Tesla and Toyota cars, but the mine is nearing an expansion that would cause it to grow from four square miles to 14 square miles, according to an NBC News investigation. The growth of the mine would cause massive deforestation of the land which environmentalists warn could destroy the area’s ecosystem.

Critics of the mine have suggested it could lead to an increased runoff of toxic waste into the environment, further harming the local wildlife, according to NBC News.

“What is at stake there is the life and survival of the people in the communities,” Grizelda Mayo-Anda, an environmental lawyer in Palawan, told NBC News.

The nickel mined in Palawan is ultimately transported to Japan where the firm Sumitomo Metal Mining uses it to make the key ingredient of Panasonic’s lithium ion batteries, company filings showed, NBC News reported. Panasonic, which is a battery supplier for Tesla, recently declared victory in the race to produce a more compact high-powered electric car battery. (RELATED: Elon Musk Says Democrats Should Tank Entire Build Back Better Bill)



The expansion of the Rio Tuba mine and the subsequent destruction of nearly 9,000 acres of ancient rainforest documented by the NBC News report underscores the growing global demand for rare earth minerals which are essential for not only electric vehicles, but solar panels and wind turbines. Worldwide electric vehicle sales, which currently account for just 4% of new car purchases, are expected to surge to as much as 34% of total global sales by 2030, according to an International Energy Agency estimate.

President Joe Biden has made transitioning to renewable energy a key part of his administration’s agenda. As part of his effort, Biden pledged to ensure 50% of new car sales in 2030 are electric vehicles, and he made multiple visits to factories where such vehicles are manufactured.

“I think it’s a really difficult ethical dilemma,” Gillian Galford, a professor at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, told NBC News. “On one hand, we have a very promising technology that can help us address our fossil fuel dependence. But on the other hand, we have lots of environmental harms that can go into getting us to that point.”

The Rio Tuba nickel mine, though, isn’t the only one to face pushback. Mines producing lithium and copper in Chile and lithium in the U.S. have been lambasted by environmental activists.

“Blowing up a mountain isn’t green, no matter how much marketing spin people put on it,” Max Wilbert, an activist protesting a proposed lithium mine site in Nevada, told The New York Times in May.

Mining is responsible for 9% of total Amazon forest loss, a 2017 study published in the journal Nature Communications concluded. In November, more than 100 nations, including the U.S., signed a pact to end deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 United Nation climate conference.
LOL. Nickel mines aren't even a drop in the bucket compared to the mass deforestation that ranchers are causing. If you really gave a shit about this, you would understand that. This is the third time I've seen this pretty random, and specific, "gotcha" anti-environmental post disguised as a supposedly environmentally friendly topic. Evidently, right wing propagandists are counting on their followers complete ignorance of anything that they don't directly tell them to be a big factor. The reality is, getting the world off gasoline powered cars is a priority as that is the leading cause of carbon emissions contributing to global climate change. It won't be nickel mines that destroy the rain forests if we don't get a handle on that.
 
Hold on I fail to see why any of this is a permanent problem.

Nickel can be recycled.

Tree's can be replanted elsewhere.

Renewable energy can be created via solar and wind. Nuclear power isn't 100% sustainable but it's far more long term solution than coal and natural gas.

Why is none of this sustainable in the long term, at least far longer term than say oil which is set to run out before my children retire and could conceivably happen in my lifetime if I live to see 90. (I don't expect to live quite that long but it's certainly not out of the question.)
 
What are you saying here? Its a God given right to live like a glutton?
I think the biggest loud mouths on global warming are more often than not the biggest producers of carbon.

some redneck living in a trailer in Kentucky and never ventures more than 100 miles from his birth place his entire life doesn’t really burn a lot of carbon.

contrast that to somebody that loves to tell you how much they care. Never mind they live in a $500,000 house in the suburbs, own a boat, coupe SUVs, travel all over hell on vacation, have kids traveling for sports, and drive to Iowa and Iowa State sporting events.

if you ignore their opinions and just look at their actions who is really doing more harm?
 
I think the biggest loud mouths on global warming are more often than not the biggest producers of carbon.

some redneck living in a trailer in Kentucky and never ventures more than 100 miles from his birth place his entire life doesn’t really burn a lot of carbon.

contrast that to somebody that loves to tell you how much they care. Never mind they live in a $500,000 house in the suburbs, own a boat, coupe SUVs, travel all over hell on vacation, have kids traveling for sports, and drive to Iowa and Iowa State sporting events.

if you ignore their opinions and just look at their actions who is really doing more harm?

That is ridiculous. The giant pickup driving morons in Iowa are overwhelmingly Republicans.

You know, the type that have a King Cab Ford or GM and drive them alone to Hy-Vee in Urbandale and are overcompensating for their small peens?
 
Individually a lot of us don't care. You will get no argument from me there. Which is why I think that individually based decisions won't solve this problem.

Restructure transportation. Do away with most cars. Heavily invest in mass transportation. I agree that electric vehicles are just moving around the environmental footprint. I simply want real solutions as opposed to more finger pointing.
Completely agree with the first part.
2nd part becomes more tricky depending on where you live, but agree with the premise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: billanole
LOL. Nickel mines aren't even a drop in the bucket compared to the mass deforestation that ranchers are causing. If you really gave a shit about this, you would understand that. This is the third time I've seen this pretty random, and specific, "gotcha" anti-environmental post disguised as a supposedly environmentally friendly topic. Evidently, right wing propagandists are counting on their followers complete ignorance of anything that they don't directly tell them to be a big factor. The reality is, getting the world off gasoline powered cars is a priority as that is the leading cause of carbon emissions contributing to global climate change. It won't be nickel mines that destroy the rain forests if we don't get a handle on that.

Honestly climate change almost feels like a done deal at this point. We got like 50 years of oil left and it will probably take 20 years before gas powered cars are a rarity.

At this point it feels more like a race to have an energy infrastructure that we arn't going to run out of in my children's lifetime.
 
Start supporting mass transportation then. But Rs oppose this, too. Admit it, you don't actually care about any of this from an environmental angle.
No sane person wants to get shot or stabbed on the homeless encampments you idiot Liberals call "mass transportation".

And frankly anything that a Liberal thinks is a good idea should go directly into the Trashbin of History. Why? Because you're all Fing morons and completely incapable of rational thought.
 
No sane person wants to get shot or stabbed on the homeless encampments you idiot Liberals call "mass transportation".

And frankly anything that a Liberal thinks is a good idea should go directly into the Trashbin of History. Why? Because you're all Fing morons and completely incapable of rational thought.

The small town Iowa the Republicans have produced

20132076266_2c57ce1856_b.jpg
 
No sane person wants to get shot or stabbed on the homeless encampments you idiot Liberals call "mass transportation".

And frankly anything that a Liberal thinks is a good idea should go directly into the Trashbin of History. Why? Because you're all Fing morons and completely incapable of rational thought.

So you have basically zero substance to offer the conversation.
 
Honestly climate change almost feels like a done deal at this point. We got like 50 years of oil left and it will probably take 20 years before gas powered cars are a rarity.

At this point it feels more like a race to have an energy infrastructure that we arn't going to run out of in my children's lifetime.
It depends on what you mean by a done deal. In order to avoid the severe effects of climate change we needed to keep the overall warming of the Earth below 2 degrees Celsius. Barring the intervention of some technology that can pull carbon out of the atmosphere more efficiently than a tree can we have long passed the point where we can prevent that from happening. Right now we are just trying to keep the warming below 3 degrees Celsius, which we are also failing miserably on. At least there are some token efforts taking place which is more than the push to prevent 2 degrees where we did nothing and massively increased our emissions.

The consequences for giving up on this are huge as much warmer than 4 degrees of temperature rise and parts of the planet may become uninhabitable during certain times of the year. If you think illegal migration is bad now, wait until everyone living in the tropical regions of the planet start to make their way north trying to get to the US and Canada.
 
I moved 250 feet from my office. I reduced my fooprint in sq ft too. I have a hybrid that sits 4 and 5 days at a time sometimes.

Its not difficult. You are just a chode.
Same guy that started a thread about how his life sucks and how he'd just like to get in his car and drive away.
 
I moved 250 feet from my office. I reduced my fooprint in sq ft too. I have a hybrid that sits 4 and 5 days at a time sometimes.

Its not difficult. You are just a chode.

You went to Indianapolis for the Big Game. Was that necessary?
 
  • Like
Reactions: NavalHawk
That is ridiculous. The giant pickup driving morons in Iowa are overwhelmingly Republicans.

You know, the type that have a King Cab Ford or GM and drive them alone to Hy-Vee in Urbandale and are overcompensating for their small peens?

Yea, those Suburban Moms and dads driving those SUVs because they can afford it are just imaginary. Chode.
 
I think the biggest loud mouths on global warming are more often than not the biggest producers of carbon.

some redneck living in a trailer in Kentucky and never ventures more than 100 miles from his birth place his entire life doesn’t really burn a lot of carbon.

contrast that to somebody that loves to tell you how much they care. Never mind they live in a $500,000 house in the suburbs, own a boat, coupe SUVs, travel all over hell on vacation, have kids traveling for sports, and drive to Iowa and Iowa State sporting events.

if you ignore their opinions and just look at their actions who is really doing more harm?
Yes because people that live like that are the biggest global warming Advocates LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: Menace Sockeyes
It depends on what you mean by a done deal. In order to avoid the severe effects of climate change we needed to keep the overall warming of the Earth below 2 degrees Celsius. Barring the intervention of some technology that can pull carbon out of the atmosphere more efficiently than a tree can we have long passed the point where we can prevent that from happening. Right now we are just trying to keep the warming below 3 degrees Celsius, which we are also failing miserably on. At least there are some token efforts taking place which is more than the push to prevent 2 degrees where we did nothing and massively increased our emissions.

The consequences for giving up on this are huge as much warmer than 4 degrees of temperature rise and parts of the planet may become uninhabitable during certain times of the year. If you think illegal migration is bad now, wait until everyone living in the tropical regions of the planet start to make their way north trying to get to the US and Canada.

By a done deal I think that I honestly don't believe that the only thing that is going to stop or slow down climate change is the sheer fact that at some point we will run out of oil.

When the facts of life about running out of oil and oil becomes too expensive because it's harder to find, that's when things are going to get serious.

But we arn't going to get serious about it because of climate change.
 
You went to Indianapolis for the Big Game. Was that necessary?

No...it was not. I have not flown in a long long time though and I only drive 2-3 days a week most weeks.

I do give my lifestyle consideration. Tough for you to grasp I know.
 
No...it was not. I have not flown in a long long time though and I only drive 2-3 days a week most weeks.

I do give my lifestyle consideration. Tough for you to grasp I know.
You're so special. I do travel and I do own 2 SUV's and I don't give a whip about global warming and I won't unless and until the left stops China, India and John Kerry. Until then, I'm good.
 
Yes it is. It surely isn't the goverment's right to tell people how to live in a free society. Especially when "goverment workers" like John Kerry fly private planes to global warming meetings and Al Gore lives in a mansion.

YOU SHOULD HAVE ZERO RIGHTS. Thats a fact.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: abby97
This reminds me of cows standing and pooping in the water they are drinking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: billanole
ADVERTISEMENT