Yes Niels550, you are right about that. If you don't mind, I'd like to explain why lithium and renewables must replace burning coal as an urgent priority. Scientists have highlighted that the burning of coal by any country is the driving force of increased carbon dioxide levels (plus increased levels of pollutants and volatiles that cause cancer, asthma, etc). But because of the dumbing down of public discourse and the deliberate undermining of science, many people don't know that carbon dioxide molecules are very efficient at absorbing sunlight rather than allowing the sunlight to pass through the atmosphere. As a result, by increasing carbon dioxide levels, more infrared light is trapped by the Earth's atmosphere (greenhouse effect) and it is causing the global warming and the climate change that we are experiencing. Unfortunately the molecules of carbon dioxide that are released today (by buring fossil fuels) will take more than 100 years to be absorbed by oceans and forests. Hence, as we go past the so-called tipping point there will be a "runaway" effect on climate change. That is, once we exceed the tipping point we can't stop the increased carbon doxide levels and its effect on extreme weather events, as well as increases in sea levels, droughts, fires, melting of glaciers, icecaps, etc. I'm a sceintist (biophysicist) and I am convinced that we have unfortunately reached or gone past the tipping point. What else will happen? Well, one feature that is generally not discussed, is the heating of the Russian and Canadian tundra. Normally, these habitats have soils which are frozen all year round, but at the tipping point the tundras are starting to defrost in summers. As a result, methane is starting to be released from the tundra as organic matter in these soils decomposes. Importantly, methane is about 25 times more efficient at absorbing sunlight than carbon dioxide. So at the tipping point, there will be a dramatic runaway in global climate change. As I said, I feel that we are at that tipping point right now and we can't stop the runaway effect because of time-lags in absorbing carbon dioxide and methane. In conclusion, we are only at the very beginning of the global changes that are being fuelled by burning coal and other fossil fuels. The faster we bring on renewables and lithium, the better, amego.
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