Climate Point: Lithium holds promise and risk, and Biden's new national monument
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I’m Janet Wilson from Palm Springs, California.
Minerals critical to electric batteries are gaining center stage, as California, New York and other states implement aggressive measures to slow climate change, including phasing out gasoline-powered cars.
Prices have skyrocketed 500% for lithium, dubbed "white gold" or "the new gasoline," which helps hold a long-lasting charge in batteries for vehicles, smartphones and charging stations. Destructive mining and wasteful evaporation ponds are the main extraction methods, but environmentally friendlier brine extraction is being eyed by domestic and foreign investors, and incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act could drive up production in the U.S. or trade-friendly countries.
How could the huge global demand affect local communities? In California's hot, dry and poverty-stricken Imperial County, local leaders are cautiously hopeful that lithium and other minerals could turn the region into an economic powerhouse, while guaranteeing benefits for all. I spent time with three of them in a region literally "down under" the rest of the U.S.
For the birds. Species loss is a huge issue that can fly below the radar. A study out Wednesday on American birds finds while more than half of U.S. avian species are declining, ducks and other water birds have increased by 34% and 18% respectively, largely thanks to wetlands restoration. It's evidence that we homo sapiens can undo some of the harm we've wrought. But "beloved gems such as Rufous Hummingbirds, songsters such as Golden-winged Warblers, and oceanic travelers such as Black-footed Albatrosses" have all reached tipping points toward extinction, says the new Audubon report.
More wildlife corridors aimed at helping mountain lions, elk and other mammals navigate ancient trails under or over busy highways are being built with increasing frequency, partly due to $350 million allocated by Congress. Felicity Barringer maps it out in a must-read for Stanford's & the West, with a killer photo of a downed bighorn next to a North Dakota highway.
Read on for more, including news on the new national monument set aside by President Biden this week, and great reportage on how lemurs and other primates are adapting to climate change, and how a hurricane in one state, like Ian in Florida, can spike homeowner insurance rates elsewhere. We've had 15 disasters that topped $1 billion in costs this year already, per new Climate Central data, well above the historical seven events per year.
For stories that require a subscription, sign up and get access to USA Today and 200 other news sites across the country. If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox for free once a week, sign up here.