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Copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium – all essential ingredients for the green transition – but what are they? And why do we need them? Joining Climate Curious to explain is a member of an Indigenous group in Siberia; the Buryat peoples, Galina Angarova.
Created by TEDxLondon
Executive produced by Josie Colter
Produced by Ben Beheshty
Curated by Deesha Chandra
Hosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst
Communications by Tara Cooper and Issey Gladston
Transcript
00:00 Introduction to Climate Quickies
00:23 Impact on Indigenous Communities
00:37 Introduction from Galina Angarova
01:22 Understanding Critical vs. Transition Minerals
02:14 Global impact of mineral extraction
04:55 Conclusion
Introduction to Climate Quickies
[00:00:00] Maryam Pasha: Welcome to Climate Quickies, bite sized nuggets of climate goodness from our 10x London experts in under 5 minutes.
[00:00:08] Ben Hurst: In this week’s Climate Curious, we’re talking minerals. Specifically, how transition minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel which are vital for many green [00:00:20] technologies, impact indigenous people.
[00:00:23] Ben Hurst: Sharing her thoughts with us today, we have a member of an indigenous group in Siberia, the Buryat peoples, Galina Angarova. Let’s head over to her now to hear more. Stay curious.
Introduction from Galina Angarova
[00:00:37] Galina Angarova: So, um, I come [00:00:40] from an indigenous community west of Lake Baikal, which is, um, the largest and the deepest freshwater lake containing 20 percent of the world’s freshwater in the world.
[00:00:50] It’s called the sacred lake among our people. It is the sacred place where we perform our traditional ceremonies. [00:01:00] So I come from the Abzai clan of the Iherit nation of the Buryat peoples. Um, we are big nation of about 400, 000 people. And I come from the Iherit nation, which is about 70, 000 people, which is part of that bigger group of peoples, Buryat [00:01:20] peoples.
Understanding Critical vs. Transition Minerals
[00:01:22] Galina Angarova: The term critical minerals is driven by. The industry by the mining industry and some spaces. They’re called critical minerals. So we choose to call them transition minerals. So everything you call critical becomes critical, right on the market. So these are minerals, um, such as cobalt, [00:01:40] copper, lithium.
[00:01:42] Nickel and a list of 30 some minerals that are used in the production of clean and renewable energy technologies, including batteries for electric vehicles and larger, um, technology, battery technologies that are [00:02:00] used for accumulating the energy and storing the energy. Um, again, other, um, technologies like solar wind.
[00:02:11] And many other new technologies.
Global Impact of Mineral Extraction
[00:02:14] Galina Angarova: In 2022, when the study came out, uh, about the impacts and it was kind [00:02:20] of predicted. Um, but we just didn’t know the total number because in some of the countries, the numbers can go as high as 80 to 90 percent like in the United States. Um, there’s some study that, um, also became available around the same time or a little bit early [00:02:40] than the study from the University of Queensland showing that for some of the minerals, transition minerals, the numbers can go up to 89, 90%, uh, Uh, and they are located in the 35 mile radius within the Native American reservations.
[00:02:55] So, and then in Africa, I think it’s around [00:03:00] 75%. So there are various numbers that are floating around, but the premise is that there’s really a large percentage of those minerals are on Indigenous Peoples lands.
[00:03:13] Galina Angarova: And it poses an existential threat to many communities around the world. [00:03:20] The truth is that life on earth is sustained by a delicate balance of interconnected systems and disrupting this balance has far reaching consequences.
[00:03:33] Every action that we take has a consequence. This is the reality that is deeply understood by [00:03:40] many indigenous peoples. We recognize that someone always pays the price. For this type destabilizing this equilibrium too often, it is the most vulnerable among us who bear the burden, those least responsible for the crisis, yet, [00:04:00] yet most affected by its consequences.
[00:04:03] And it’s true for indigenous peoples.
[00:04:06] Galina Angarova: So to your question, one of the solutions put forward to address the issue of climate change is the transition. To a green economy to net zero, which aims to mitigate [00:04:20] carbon emissions through the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies and electric mobility, including electric vehicles, though, this idea sounds really hopeful and optimistic.
[00:04:31] I too want to believe in it. It’s current frameworks perpetuate the same harms. of the fossil fuel industry. [00:04:40] So driving a new wave of extractivism into Indigenous lands to supply the green economy with minerals like lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, and others, which I named before, as devastating Indigenous peoples lands and territories.
Conclusion
[00:04:55] Ben Hurst: Thanks for listening to this quickie.
[00:04:57] Maryam Pasha: This episode was created by our superstar podcast team at TEDxLondon. Until next time,
[00:05:03] Ben Hurst: Stay curious.
