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

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        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
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          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
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            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
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              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
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        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
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      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
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        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
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        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
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          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
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            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:

    • Nudding@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No, we have to mine and destroy as much of the world as we can before the collapse, its the human way :)

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      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.

  • sartalon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I used to fly out here when practicing low-level desert flight (helicopters, I was an aircremwan).

    We would land right next to the lake but not overfly it. At night, it was like a perfect mirror.

    But man did it smell, it was eerie af, and the dust sometimes made all your gear stink for days.

    I seem to recall an orange? grove that grew next to where we would land. I always wondered if it’s proximity to the Salton Sea affected their taste.

    It continually got worse and worse, and this was back in 2003-2012, while I was out there.

    Edit: One of my favorite photos, of a sign, where we would land.

    Yes, those are bullet holes, no not from us.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Looks like we have our next Discovery channel reality TV show. Which cast member finds a bomb in today’s episode? Tune in to Lithium Blast at 9 o’clock central to find out!

  • thenumbernine@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    It really doesn’t seem feasible, I mean how are they going to get the third world children there to mine it?

  • psychothumbs@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s so funny seeing the people trying to fearmonger about not having enough lithium and other minerals for electric vehicles.

      • spongebue@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        What if I told you there are more practical vehicles out there that can also tow things, and few people actually tow anything particularly heavy?

          • spongebue@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            If that’s what I thought, I would have said “no people” instead of “few people”

            There are a ton of pickup trucks on the road. The Ford F-Series has been the best selling car in the US for decades. Since the context is about that and towing, do you really think the number of pickups on the road is proportional to people who really need that kind of towing capacity as they drive around suburbia?

  • Codex@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s a cool old documentary about the place called Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea, narrated by John Waters. It goes into the history of the place and shows a little of how dilapidated and decayed it now is (well, now was, when it came out in 2006).

    It tries to livin up the modern day stuff by showing some of the “colorful” characters who lived there. I have to imagine there was a lot not being said, and I’m sure 20 years of further decay have not made it the friendliest and funnest place to be.

    Edit to add: Apparently some enterprising soul has uploaded it to YouTube: https://youtu.be/8TjGAWxL23c

    • mongooseofrevenge@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In the last year or so I heard about how the water level is dropping due to drought which is concentrating all the pollutants in the lake. It’s also becoming l so saline that the few species living in the lake are dying and washing up on shore. Then the high winds are blowing around extra salty sand combined with dead carcass particles so it’s actually a breathing hazard to be around. This is also combined with the runoff of pesticides from the farms to the north that also polite the water. So it sounds like a great place to hang out!

      • TunaCowboy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In the last year or so

        It’s been like that for decades. I was there about twenty years ago, the stench was gag inducing, and there’s no getting used to it. The banks in every spot I visited were made up of rotting marine life 12 - 18 inches deep.

    • capital@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Environmentalists: “We really need to address climate change”

      Me, an environmentalist: “let’s mine like crazy for the materials we’re sure to need”

      Environmentalists: “no, not like that!”

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Also though, let’s not pretend we wouldn’t strip mine Lake Tahoe if there was unobtainium under it.

  • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sounds like so much. Than you stop for a second and realize how many cars there are in the USA and go “huh”.

    (It is 289million cars. My guess, this would probably last 15-20 years.)

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I think they mean the Salton Valley. There’s no such place as the Salton Sea. Never was.