I read an article about the new rising demand for lithium due to its use in the manufacturing of hybrid and electric cars. Most car manufacturing countries do not have a source for lithium, and thus investment is picking up speed in countries with lithium reserves, and creating a new export for some potentially very lucky economies. However, there doesn't seem to be any discussion of the footprint of this new search for lithium, and while it is great to purchase an eco-friendly automobile, I do think most consumers would want the manufacturing of these cars to be as eco-friendly as possible as well. How can we push for lithium production to be developed in a sustainable manner from the start? Is this on any environmental group's/movement's radar? For the article on the new lithium demand: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/business/energy-envir
onment/10lithium.html?th&emc=th.

I've been doing a little reading on lithium mining, and I've found mostly good news. It turns out that many environmentalists do approve of lithium mining, despite the fact that it can cause some environmental damage. In order to mine lithium, miners just pump up underground brine and filter the brine for valuable elements like lithium. It requires some energy, some water, and can be hazardous for workers if precautions are not taken.

On the other hand, it's generally the most environmentally friendly mining process. Other than the small amount of resources used to process the brine, it doesn't leave a huge ecological footprint behind. Even the brine itself gets injected back into the ground where it was extracted from.

Also, lithium is recyclable. Hopefully, consumers actually do recycle their lithium batteries, since the metals inside lithium batteries can actually pollute water sources and pose a health hazard.

http://www.downtoearthnw.com/blogs/down-earth/2010/jan/
28/lithium-mining-cleaner-coal/

http://blog.betterplace.com/2009/12/the-truth-about-lit
hium-abundant-and-recyclable/

http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/3285