A hidden deposit of lithium in a US lake could power 375 million EVs::undefined

  • kaitco@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    64
    arrow-down
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m sure this won’t have a major ecological impact, right? Right…?

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      83
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I’ve passed by this ‘sea’. I invite you to visit, if you’ve ever wanted to directly experience what southern California might be like post-humans.

      A multitude of enterprising resorts quietly decaying in the harsh inland sun. The only sound is that of hot wind gently peeling paint off so many little abandoned liquor stores and gas stations in between.

      Nobody swims. The fish don’t live, and the errant fowl take off just as quickly as they land. This time capsule of the 1960s smells like death, and its strangely yellow dust is concerning even if you didn’t know how much fertilizer runoff was dumped in there by surrounding date farms.

      So, no.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s got strongly developed post apocalypse vibes. You can pull down just about any street and be like “I should not be here…”

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          Now I want to visit. I mean, there should be 1000 and 1 reason to visit USA and California in particular, but that’s the first one which really gives a feeling.

          • Brkdncr@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            You’d also like the 3rd largest city in California, California City. Both are portraits of a generation that could afford to dream big and avoid financial ruin.

            • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              6
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Bakersfield too, if you want to find life hanging on a bit better than some of the inland counties. California has a lot of strange feelings if you take the time to look in the right corners.

              • A desert megacity next to the sea? Los Angeles.
              • Incredibly posh people surrounded by the destitute? Newport beach in orange county.
              • A slow-motion wave of impenetrable fog gently cresting the mountains around it? San Francisco.

              This state has a lot more to it than TV and movies let on. Don’t just drive it, check it out on motorcycle or bicycle too.

      • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        If a person IS strangely into all of that stuff then I actually recommend the annual Fallout New Vegas festival they hold in Goodsprings Nevada, instead.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      31
      ·
      1 year ago

      The lake was a runoff for the colorado river back when farmers over used water and the leftover was dumped ino that “lake”. The lake in its current state is too saline and dried up to ecologically be stable. The buildup of farm chems over the year cause dust in problems in socal when winds picked it up.

      • gibmiser@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        26
        ·
        1 year ago

        Well, when you put it that way using a part of the country we already ruined to try and help us not ruin any more of it, it sounds like a damn good idea

      • SwampYankee@mander.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        1 year ago

        Fun fact, the beach is made entirely out of barnacles and it smells like someone ate 10 pounds of salmon and then ripped ass straight up your nose. Don’t go in the water, you’ll die!

        • TunaCowboy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          1 year ago

          I was there about twenty years ago, the banks were made up of rotting marine life (mostly fish) 12 - 18 inches deep.

          • SwampYankee@mander.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            The barnacles must be a more recent phenomenon, I was there a couple years ago. There were still fish skeletons lying around, but mostly this:

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      The entire thing is a lesson in the hubris of man. It was created as a major ecological impact of a failed engineering project. It’s being destroyed by irrigation.