Funding for this podcast comes from Math Works, creators of Mat Lab and Simulink software,

accelerating the pace of engineering and science. Learn more at Math Works.

com.

I've signed a historic piece of legislation here in the United States that

includes the biggest most important climate commitment we have ever made in

the history of our country. President Biden set the goal.

Cut U.S. carbon emissions in half by 2030.

So let this be the moment we find within ourselves the will to lock a resilient, sustainable clean energy economy to preserve our planet.

Achieving that goal will require vast amounts of lithium.

This lithium deposit is one of the richest ones in North America.

Copper.

We are at probably an inflection point in the annual demand for copper.

Cobalt.

The only way to survive in that part of the Congo is to pick up a strip of rebar

or their bare hands that start digging in pits for COBOL because it's everywhere.

Nickel. And if you're looking at a Ford F-150 lightning, you know, we're looking I think almost at about 180 pounds of just nickel in that battery.

Each element serves a different purpose, but they all have one important thing in common.

Without mining there will not be a clean energy transition.

But increasing mining to meet our clean energy needs

comes at a cost. If we're going to be using these materials, we need to first of all be honest with ourselves and be more aware.

Especially if you look at the environmental and social costs of becoming a smelting and mining and battery hub to the world.

It's not up to you to decide what to do with this land. This is their land. This is their ancestral land and they don't want this to happen.

...