Today foreignpolicy.com had a slide show about where lithium comes from. It's not really a sad story since Bolivia is actually trying to make sure it gets some money out of the deal as opposed to what has happened with previous natural resources.
But something about it really struck me. I guess it is just that lithium batteries is this growing high tech area so it seems so odd to know that it comes from people digging evaporation ponds and moving around old plastic tubs by hand. I imagine that a lot of what we take for granted comes from similar sources. But the change from an image of middle class people sitting in front of computers in cubicles or taking measurements in electronics labs to the woman holding a plastic tub was a bit jarring this morning.
Oh well, I'm sure in a day or two I'll have reverted back to my previous set of mental images.
2 comments:
your blog posts bring interesting dimensions of life into my kitchen. Thank you!
Haha, you cynic! Well have you (reverted back to your previous mental images)?
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