sustainability | Plaid Line + PRIZM + Scottie News

By: Maya Vossen-Nelson

To fight climate change, the world is shifting away from gas only cars and turning to electric vehicles. The alternatives to gas only cars are hybrid cars, which use a combination of electricity and gas to fuel the car, and electric cars, or EVs, that run on only electricity. Electric vehicles are essential to limiting the effects of climate change, but the shift to electric vehicles must be done smartly. Right now, the reductionist’s approach is creating climate crisis solutions that lack the very instrument that they are trying to achieve: sustainability.

In practice, reductionist thinking analyzes complex problems by breaking them down into more simple parts. The solutions that arise from this thinking lack complexity and they negate how change to an isolated part affects the system as a whole.

Reductionist solutions often show up in politics as a quick solution to a large problem, and yet are dysfunctional. In 2022, California announced that by 2035, all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold within the state will be zero-emission vehicles. This absolutism policy fails to address how the world’s current production of EVs cannot support such a rapid shift while upholding ethical and climate obligations.

EVs and hybrid cars use rechargeable lithium ion batteries to power the vehicle in place of gas. Lithium and cobalt are metals that make battery subunits that are essential components to the efficiency and operation of these lithium ion batteries.

Unfortunately, the acquisition of lithium and cobalt used in the production of electric vehicles is not sustainable or humane. Nearly 70% of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo where workers rights and laws are nearly non-existent. The relaxed worker regulations enable child labor in dangerous mines and without safety equipment. The children who are forced to mine with their hands are constantly poisoned by cobalt and many are killed from mining accidents. Mining cobalt also produces hazardous tails and slags that can leach into the environment causing further negative impacts on nearby communities. These issues will increase over time without intervention especially given that according to the Washington Post, cobalt mining is expected to increase 2,000% by 2040.

Without lithium ion battery recycling there is not enough mineable lithium to supply all electric vehicles, phones, and other products. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Earth has 88 million tons of lithium but only ¼ is available to mine. That number may change as technology advances. There could be 2.8 billion EVs produced from 22 million tons of lithium and there are 1.4 billion cars on the road as of January 2023. The growing population and growing amount of other products that rely on lithium and cobalt needs to be considered.

With the extensive use of lithium ion batteries and the attached humanitarian issues with cobalt mining in the Congo, the world cannot stop producing gas-only cars until there are plans in place to prioritize resource diversification to rely less heavily on lithium ion batteries. A more holistic approach must be part of the discussion surrounding the electrification of the automotive industry for EVs to make a sustained impact on the course of climate change.

By: Karl Salkowski

Although plastic bags are terrible for the environment, over 500 billion plastic bags are used yearly; 100 billion are used in the USA alone. The average “working life” of a plastic bag is only 15 minutes, and sadly, according to Stillwatermn.gov, only 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled, and less than 10% are reused. This means that the average family using plastic bags in Stillwater, Minnesota will use over 400 a year. Most of these bags are made of polyethylene and can take centuries to degrade. Because of statistics like these many countries are taking action to construct a cleaner future.

California became the first US state to ban single-use plastic bags in 2014. However, this backfired unexpectedly. Instead of consumers switching away from plastic bags, they instead moved toward thick-walled plastic bags. These thick-walled bags not only cost more, but are worse for the environment. According to Nytimes.com, Californians tossed nearly 50% more plastic bags by weight in 2021 than they did in 2014. In response to this loophole, in September of 2024, California banned all plastic grocery bags regardless of thickness, and required consumers to begin paying 10¢ per paper bag if they lack reusable bags as of 2026.

Some countries have already banned all forms of single-use plastic. One of which is Rwanda. According to Undp.org, in 2008 Rwanda became one of the first countries to ban all single-use plastic bags and bottles. Rwanda even goes as far as to search tourist’s luggage for these single-use plastics upon entering the country. The first country to ban single-use plastic bags was actually Bangladesh in 2002.

More and more countries around the world are beginning to ban single-use plastics. So far, over 3.5 trillion plastic bags have been produced, 160,000 are used a second, and worldwide less than 1% are recycled. These plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down, so it is crucial that countries begin to ban and restrict these plastics as soon as possible.