I keep thinking about an old Kaiser study: if someone believes firmly in one idea—say that the Earth is flat—and then hears that the Earth is round, the person will likely attach more strongly to their original belief.
I've decided to repost notes and references that I published a year ago about slave labor involved in solar panels:
In Slavery Poisons Solar Industry’s Supply Chains, Miles Pollard reports that roughly 80% of solar components are manufactured in China using slave labor.
See European Parliament resolutions regarding forced labor in China to make solar PVs. See the 2021 U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which expanded the mandate that all U.S. companies importing silicon from Xinjiang confirm supply chains free of forced labor. In June 2021, a US Withhold Release Order prevented imports containing silicon from Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd and its subsidiaries from entering the U.S. until importing companies could prove they were not made with forced labor.
What to do? Solar corporations should obtain nearby communities’ free, prior and informed consent before mining or smelting. They can use standards like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s Solar Scorecard. The Solar Equipment Buyers’ Guide for Supply Chain Traceability explains how manufacturers can track finished solar modules’ material origins.
Before buying solar PVs, require the manufacturer to trace its supply chains.
Katie, so appreciate your steady. focus on safe use of resources, both as individuals and communities. Your point about electronic technologies using enormous amounts of fresh water is of urgent concern here in the dry West.
Thanks to Katie for this work. As to Bill mckibben: a huckster (net worth ~$5M ) and a fraud (aligned with global financiers of ‘clean’ energy as their PR flake). Moreover, what does he know about the ‘neighbors’ of the proposed industrial battery project?
Here are links about forced labor involved with solar PVs--and policies that may help reduce the practice:
https://www.heritage.org/renewable-energy/commentary/slavery-poisons-solar-industrys-supply-chains
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0375_EN.html
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf
https://www.bluegreenalliance.org/resources/labor-environmental-organizations-urge-strong-implementation-of-the-uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act/
https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/2016/10/free-prior-and-informed-consent-an-indigenous-peoples-right-and-a-good-practice-for-local-communities-fao/
https://seia.org/research-resources/solar-equipment-buyers-guide-supply-chain-traceability/
I've decided to repost notes and references that I published a year ago about slave labor involved in solar panels:
In Slavery Poisons Solar Industry’s Supply Chains, Miles Pollard reports that roughly 80% of solar components are manufactured in China using slave labor.
See European Parliament resolutions regarding forced labor in China to make solar PVs. See the 2021 U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which expanded the mandate that all U.S. companies importing silicon from Xinjiang confirm supply chains free of forced labor. In June 2021, a US Withhold Release Order prevented imports containing silicon from Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd and its subsidiaries from entering the U.S. until importing companies could prove they were not made with forced labor.
What to do? Solar corporations should obtain nearby communities’ free, prior and informed consent before mining or smelting. They can use standards like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s Solar Scorecard. The Solar Equipment Buyers’ Guide for Supply Chain Traceability explains how manufacturers can track finished solar modules’ material origins.
Before buying solar PVs, require the manufacturer to trace its supply chains.
Katie, so appreciate your steady. focus on safe use of resources, both as individuals and communities. Your point about electronic technologies using enormous amounts of fresh water is of urgent concern here in the dry West.
Thanks to Katie for this work. As to Bill mckibben: a huckster (net worth ~$5M ) and a fraud (aligned with global financiers of ‘clean’ energy as their PR flake). Moreover, what does he know about the ‘neighbors’ of the proposed industrial battery project?
Something something Max Wilbert and that's all you need to know more or less.
yep!