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Originally Posted by Truenorth00
Plenty of worries. Just not enough for anybody to do anything about it. Did concerns about toxic waste or pollution or ancillary resource demand stop the development of any other resource or growth of sector?
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That's in the past, though. I am thinking (perhaps erroneously) that in today's more environmentally aware (i.e. Greta, millennial outrage about the problems created by previous generations, lip service to climate change by some governments, etc.) society that it would be harder to put into mass production things that might create new/more environmental issues.
Perhaps, though, they will be able to justify it as a net improvement over burning defunct dinosaurs...
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Originally Posted by Truenorth00
Moreover, pollution from mining is local/regional. The impact of fossil fuels is global. So nobody really gives a shit about these crocodile tears and the concern trolling over lithium extraction impacts because it doesn't impact most of the population.
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I was thinking more from a supply point of view, such as Cobalt being sourced mainly from the DRC, and the ensuing child labour issues, etc. But maybe you're right in that nobody gives a shit (and that perhaps much of the outrage crowd are really hypocrites in accepting such situations as long as it achieves goals that they want to happen), in which case it's a non-issue except for those who suffer the immediate impacts of it.
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Originally Posted by Truenorth00
People didn't stop buying cars and putting distilled fermented dino juice in them when they found out about global warming. They won't care about the impact of lithium/nickel/cobalt/(other element you want to concern troll about) extraction either.
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I think your view on this a little narrow. IC engines have been in common use in automobiles for well over a century, and all the infrastructure, supply chains, vehicle manufacturing, etc. has been in place and in use by almost 100% of the users during this time. It would be unreasonable to expect our entire society to suddenly stop using what amounts to the only method available to 99% of us all of a sudden - this includes methods of transporting goods and transit, which we all depend on to live, and not just pleasure driving. In fact, the concept of efficient, usable electric vehicles would not have even been possible 20-ish years ago, as the advent of electronics/computing technology that has come to the mainstream in the last couple of decades is what has made EVs a viable option.
So, now most of us believe there is a climate issue that has to be dealt with, and the technology is being developed, so the next step will be to deal with the practicalities that will be necessary to implement this technology on a mass scale. It doesn't happen overnight.
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Originally Posted by Truenorth00
Have you missed the last few pages? Plenty of folks questioning whether it is truly coming.
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I skimmed them over, but there was too much speculation and inflammatory comments to be bothered to take it all too seriously. Plus... it's only the opinions of a few skyscraper forum members that you're talking about. I'm talking about the mass of people in the 'real world'...