Rare Earth Magnets

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Biggest issue is with children swallowing them. You are not going to swallow one are you?
 
All new technology adds toxins to the environment, 'Going Green' is no different. It just changes what toxins and where they are released. EVs use between 2 and 5 kg of rare earth magnets.
 
All it means is that we need to update our harvesting and processing methods so as not to destroy the environment. The same thing used to happen with placer gold mining... massive amounts of cyanide and mercury were part of the process. Now we still mine gold but have the capability to do it much more cleanly and with far less environmental impact. I'm confident rare earth and lithium production will go through the same phases.
 
That sounds, to me, like it is a given that we will continue shopping at the same pace forever. We need to stop shopping. There are better ways of living. Not just better ways to extract finite resources. Maybe you are just being realistic... About people and expectations.
 
That sounds, to me, like it is a given that we will continue shopping at the same pace forever. We need to stop shopping. There are better ways of living. Not just better ways to extract finite resources. Maybe you are just being realistic... About people and expectations.
Unless the two biggest factors contributing to excess consumption change, then consumption isn't going to change. Population growth and rate of population growth essentially make it impossible for levels of consumption levels to drop. The entire system is predicated not on breaking even but on excessive growth, and unless the size of your market increases your maximum potential growth has a hard-cap on it. Businesses don't like this idea hence the driving force in the market consists of products with a limited lifespan with an ever larger consumer base... ergo perpetual sales, both as replacements and with ever larger numbers of customers.
 
All it means is that we need to update our harvesting and processing methods so as not to destroy the environment.... I'm confident rare earth and lithium production will go through the same phases.
It won't happen soon enough. There are currently no cost effective way to extract lithium in an environmentally friendly way. And we can't get to the 50% new EVs by 2030 that Uncle Joe wants without a massive increase in mining = more environmental damage.
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022...s-reveal-the-dark-side-of-our-electric-future
Unless the two biggest factors contributing to excess consumption change, then consumption isn't going to change. Population growth and rate of population growth essentially make it impossible for levels of consumption levels to drop.....
Add to your two factors: social media. People in 3rd world contries (where almost all of the population increase is happening) are wanting the life styles they see on youtube, et.al. Stoking the consumer feeding frenzy.
 
Add to your two factors: social media. People in 3rd world countries (where almost all of the population increase is happening) are wanting the life styles they see on youtube, et.al. Stoking the consumer feeding frenzy.

Reminds me of my thoughts several decades ago when GM started salivating over potential sales to 1 billion Chinese. Oh boy, now we'll have some real pollution.

TV did the same thing in the U.S.A. All the 1950's kids saw all that neat stuff out there we just had to have.
 
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While there are great advances being made and there is great potential, I think it’ll be tough to comply with mandates in ten or fifteen years while cutting back on the power grid and such. How affordable are these vehicles going to be if we’re being forced to comply. Being a now retired fire fighter a concern is the responder safety of EV’s. They are locally having a training on this in a few weeks I may attend to maybe record for future training in my department. One way I might be able to still help out my community.
 
Being a now retired fire fighter a concern is the responder safety of EV’s. They are locally having a training on this in a few weeks I may attend to maybe record for future training in my department. One way I might be able to still help out my community.
Seems there is still much to learn about proper storage and firefighting when dealing with lithium. Remember this fire from a year ago?

https://abc7chicago.com/morris-fire-update-evacuation/10849672
Here they interview the Chief: https://www.ehs.com/2021/07/morris-...gency-planning-hazardous-chemical-management/

"The Red Cross credits Steffes for his leadership during the lithium battery fire that occurred in Morris in June of 2021. They said Steffes led the effort to evacuate thousands of people from the area and consulted with agencies around the world to coordinate the unique response to the fire.

"At one point, more than 40 firefighting companies were on hand helping to battle the blaze."

https://www.wcsjnews.com/news/local...cle_ec5a8d42-cb98-11ec-bd40-3bda56f9135a.html
 
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