The left is entirely paradoxical, and nowhere is that more obvious than the “clean” energy narrative, a truth so inconvenient that even Forbes just published a new report exposing the disconnect: “Is Clean Energy Powered By Dirty Batteries?”

Spoiler alert: Yes, that’s exactly what keeps the industry going… along with “dirty” oil, “dirty” mining, and “dirty” human slavery:

A still from the video I shared with ⁦⁦@joerogan⁩ …

This is an industrial mine in the DRC …
This is where the cobalt in our gadgets and cars comes from …
According to all their “Audits” and “Impact Reports”, this does not exist. pic.twitter.com/cRpMDXHhLW

— Siddharth Kara (@siddharthkara) December 28, 2022

Author Arlene Blum writes this:

Lithium-ion batteries are a linchpin of the clean energy transition.

[snip]

Unfortunately, lithium-ion batteries themselves aren’t so clean. Even aside from much-discussed environmental issues with lithium and cobalt mining, these batteries are manufactured with harmful chemicals that end up in our environment, homes, and bodies.

How can it still be called a “clean” energy transition if the path there is contaminated by “dirty” things, both perceived and actual? I’ve routinely noted that oil is not a dirty fuel as it is one of the few, truly renewable sources of energy, but rare earth mineral mining practice and child slavery are inarguably “dirty” components of this supposed “clean” energy transition.

The biggest use of cobalt is in electric vehicle (EV) batteries consuming just over one-third of the supply.

Around 60% of the world’s cobalt comes from Congo. An estimated 40,000 child slaves mine the cobalt working up to 12 hours a day in horrendously inhumane conditions. pic.twitter.com/tYDdVjpSKa

— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) October 7, 2024

Blum’s item briefly acknowledges the environmental destruction caused by the mining practices (seen in excerpt above), completely avoids the slavery element, and focuses on an additional “dirty” aspect of the batteries necessary for this “net zero” future, which is the number of shockingly toxic compounds known as “forever chemicals” used in battery creation:

PFAS are used in the batteries as electrolytes and in battery components as binders or separators. And PFAS can leach from batteries during manufacturing, use, and disposal or recycling. Indeed, recent peer-reviewed research led by scientists at Texas Tech University and Duke University confirms that the use of PFAS in lithium-ion batteries is leading to significant air and water pollution.

A “significant” contributor to air and water pollution? Again, facts aren’t fitting with progressive leftist reality, and things aren’t as “clean” as they’d have us believe. Additionally, Blum reports that the use of flame retardants are another serious concern, and although they’re required for bureaucratic standards, they have no “proven effectiveness” in “real-world scenarios.” Have you seen an E.V. burn? Temperatures “typically” reach around 5,000° F; a traditional combustion engine fire only sees temperatures of around 1,500° F.

Now, I’m not suggesting that lithium-ion batteries are inherently immoral (though African and Chinese slave labor is), but their production is not at all a “clean” process, and no one should be pretending that it is—I’m currently writing this using technology running on lithium.

What I am suggesting though is that progressive greenies are hopelessly uninformed, inconsistent, and their ideas are ruining the world.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.