"Clean" Energy

The Great Transition David Wallace-Wells is promoting involves a few "sacrifice zones" : "A United Nations study found that meeting international climate goals by 2030 could require building as many as 80 copper mines, 70 lithium mines and 70 nickel mines to supply the materials for electric vehicles, solar panels and a host of other low-carbon technologies." All of this requires water which is getting harder to find: "With long-term declines in groundwater levels putting thousands of domestic wells at risk and causing the ground to sink in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, state regulators are moving forward with efforts to force local agencies to take stronger steps to begin to rein in chronic overpumping by California’s agriculture industry." Dr. Stephan Lezak, writing in the NYTimes, believes "Although mining will never be zero-impact, it has the potential to be fair and responsible." Yes, just as capitalism has the potential to be equitable and peaceful. In dreamland. Environmentalists are fighting mine proposals all over. One Biggie is the Resolution copper mine in Arizona but there is a proposed rare earths mine in my backyard. How do we get the "clean" energy future without mining? Not to worry says Wallace-Wells: " clean power, primarily from wind and solar, that will be so cheap and abundant that the dirty old sources can’t possibly compete." Nice and CHEAP! and CLEAN! In this bright green vision "the rapid progress made not just in renewable energy, but also with those pieces of the climate puzzle once known as the hard-to-abate sectors: things like steel making, cement production and various other areas of heavy industry and infrastructure for which there are suddenly green alternatives..." Green Alternatives! Thankyou technology! Just in the nick of time. Now I can relax.