
We have been told that going electric will help save the planet by reducing emissions, but can we be so sure that mining rare minerals is better?
On Sunday 10th November, I was having a café con leche in the main square of Cáceres, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Extremadura, when I witnessed the protest against the proposed lithium mine. Impassioned roars of ‘NO A LA MINA’ could be heard amid the violent beating of drums, whilst hundreds of the city’s locals contested, what they feel, could be an environmental catastrophe. I ditched my coffee to get closer to the action and was approached by a creepy gas-mask-clad Cacereño. They handed me a flyer listing as many as nine reasons against the site, said to be only 600m from the city’s residential area. I just wanted to know what the lithium would be used for.
(more…)