The Whole Elephant: The Best of 2024
When I read about households or communities that claim to reduce their ecological footprint by using solar PVs, industrial wind turbines, batteries and/or e-vehicles, I fret and sigh. Calling these technologies “green” is like weighing an elephant by the tip of its tail. It ignores the energy, extractions, water, toxic waste, CO2 emissions, intercontinental shipping and wildlife habitat losses involved in manufacturing these products, their infrastructures and their end-of-life waste. It fails to recognize the ecological impacts of “green” products on the largely indigenous communities that make their raw materials.
“Green” is an unregulated marketing term, just like “zero-emitting,” “clean” and “sustainable.” Manufacturers use it freely—without calculating their products from cradles-to-graves.
People who aim to reduce their ecological footprint deserve cradle-to-grave analysis and respectful, comprehensive answers to their questions…before they purchase a product or technology.
Here are my best reports about mapping our technosphere to discover our biosphere and some ways to rethink our crises.
My hearty thanks to all readers.
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THE POWER GRID
Discovering Power’s Traps: a primer for electricity users
Fire hazards at the battery storage system coming near you
SOS: San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power’s Legacy
A Time-Sensitive Invitation to Protect New Mexico from Smart Meters’ Fire Hazards
SOLAR PVs
21 questions for solar PV explorers
Do I report what I’ve learned about solar PVs—or live with it privately?
E-VEHICLES
How/can we protect the Earth when we need a car?
Who’s in charge of EV chargers?
When Land I Love Holds Lithium: Max Wilbert on Thacker Pass, Nevada
MINING
A longer-lasting Internet starts with knowing our region’s mineral deposits
Mining the sacred: questions for a sustainable relationship with the Earth (co-authored with Aaron French)
Digital enlightenment: an invitation to trace one of 125 substances in your smartphone
RULES & REGS
Policies for More Ecologically-Sound Tech
What choices do we have when a corporation wants to do business?
How corporations can “take” endangered specieis…legally
The Great Salt Lake is Disappearing. So, Utah Banned the Rights of Nature. A guest essay by Will Falk
Who decides what’s sustainable? (includes resources about unsustainability of solar PVs, wind turbines, A.I., data centers, smartphones and nuclear power)
PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT
In a dark time, Roethke said, the eye begins to see
Imagining a techno-sustainable Palestine
LEARNING YOUR BIOREGION
A longer-lasting Internet starts with knowing our region’s mineral deposits
Mapping a favorite meal’s supply chain: toward eating within our means
FRESH THINKING
Calming behavior in children with autism and ADD: a free, EMR-reduction protocol
A recipe for respecting nature and technology’s limits—and another for exploiting them
Jerry Mander’s eight attitudes toward technology
While facing existential threats, what do precautionary actions look like?
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THANKS for writing. At this time, what do you think are the best ways to dispel illusions that our industrial-consumer political economy can continue??
Thanks for sharing. It’s certainly a difficult subject - EVs use a lot of different minerals in their batteries for example. Cobalt generates a lot of conflict in Africa.