Australian Politics Forum - Windfarms destroying Earth

BlOoDy RiPpEr

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Windfarms destroying Earth
Apr 18^th, 2015 at 9:36pm

LYING hidden in an little-known corner of China is a town that will horrify you.

Baotou is the world’s biggest supplier of rare earth minerals — the fundamental ingredients used to make today’s technologies — and it’s hell on Earth.

This pastureland turned wasteland on the edge of the Gobi desert is a toxic nightmare, evidence of the horrific effect the pursuit of consumerism has had on Earth.

A recent exploration of the area was undertaken by designers Liam Young and Kate Davies from Unknown Fields, a nomadic design studio from London that travels around the world to explore the sacrifices made on our landscape to produce contemporary cities and technologies.

“Huge areas of the world are sacrificed in the service of our shining gleaming futures,” says Young.

“The landscapes we visit are so often ignored or forgotten yet they play a fundamental role in shaping our world. We think it is important travel to these places, to tell stories about them and think about the opportunities and consequences they suggest for how we design today.”

In 1950 Baotou had a population of just 97,000. However the mining for rare earth minerals led to a population explosion and today there are 2.5 million people living and breathing the lucrative industry.

China produces over 95 per cent of the world’s rare earth minerals and two thirds of this comes from Baotou.

“For example a smart phone has 8 different rare earths in it. Everything from the material used in its memory to the red coloured pixels of its screen and the polish used on its glass. They are also fundamental ingredients in what we talk of as green energy industries, for example, wind turbines are one of the largest consumers of neodymium magnets,” says Young.

The rare earth industry has transformed Baoutou and the devastating environmental impacts are clear.

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Bam Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 21905 Gender:	Re: Windfarms destroying Earth Reply #1 - Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:15pm Windfarms destroying Earth Blatantly misleading thread title. Looks like someone's got a vested interest in the fossil fuel industry. Care to tell us about it?
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John Smith Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 72209 Gender:	Re: Windfarms destroying Earth Reply #2 - Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:22pm Baotou The Mount Tom Price iron ore mine in WA whats the difference apart the fact that the Chinese own one and Gina the other?
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Setanta Gold Member Offline \/ Peace man! Posts: 15914 Northern NSW Gender:	Re: Windfarms destroying Earth Reply #3 - Apr 18^th, 2015 at 11:01pm Everybody needs a thneed.
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Very_Vinnie

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #4 - Apr 18^th, 2015 at 11:05pm

BlOoDy RiPpEr wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 9:36pm:

LYING hidden in an little-known corner of China is a town that will horrify you.

Baotou is the world’s biggest supplier of rare earth minerals - the fundamental ingredients used to make today’s technologies - and it’s hell on Earth.

Quote:

Rare earths elements are used for a growing number of applications. At the forefront of this wave of discovery are new technologies being developed for computer science uses, industrial engineering, renewable energy sciences and military applications.

Here are a few examples of how rare earth elements are being utilized in the world today:

Electronics:
•Television screens, computers, cell phones, silicon chips, monitor displays, long-life rechargeable batteries, camera lenses, light emitting diodes (LEDs), compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), baggage scanners, marine propulsion systems.

Manufacturing:
•High strength magnets, metal alloys, stress gauges, ceramic pigments, colorants in glassware, chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powders, plastics creation, as additives for strengthening other metals, automotive catalytic converters.

Medical Science:
•Portable x-ray machines, x-ray tubes, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) contrast agents, nuclear medicine imaging, cancer treatment applications, and for genetic screening tests, medical and dental lasers.

Technology:
•Lasers, optical glass, fibre optics, masers, radar detection devices, nuclear fuel rods, mercury-vapour lamps, highly reflective glass, computer memory, nuclear batteries, high temperature superconductors.

Renewable Energy:
•Hybrid automobiles, wind turbines, next generation rechargeable batteries, biofuel catalysts.

Other interesting facts about uses for rare earths:
•The rare earth element europium is being used as a way to identify legitimate bills for the Euro bill supply and to dissuade counterfeiting.
•An estimated 1 kg of rare earth elements can be found inside a typical hybrid automobile.
•Holmium has the highest magnetic strength of any element and is used to create extremely powerful magnets. This application can reduce the weight of many motors.

The renewable energy sector is but ONE of an almost endless myriad of consumers of rare earth elements
The story is about 3 years old - and gets reprinted often by climate change denial and anti-renewable energy lobby groups

... and always with the implication wind turbine manufacturers are the only consumer

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I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

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Mattyfisk Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 92279 Gender:	Re: Windfarms destroying Earth Reply #5 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 12:39am Suck on that one, leftards. The little Chinks are trying to out-mine Aussie. As if.
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Armchair_Politician

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #6 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 7:44am

John Smith wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:22pm:

Baotou

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/10/30/business/Rarejp/Rarejp-popup.jpg

The Mount Tom Price iron ore mine in WA

http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/228830/Tom_Price_w480.jpg

whats the difference apart the fact that the Chinese own one and Gina the other?

How about the fact that 2,500,000 people don't live anywhere near the Mt Tom Price iron ore mine in WA?

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Scott Morrison DID wipe the floor with Bull Shitten!!!

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Bam

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #7 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 8:30am

BlOoDy RiPpEr wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 9:36pm:

LYING hidden in an little-known corner of China is a town that will horrify you.

Baotou is the world’s biggest supplier of rare earth minerals — the fundamental ingredients used to make today’s technologies — and it’s hell on Earth.

This pastureland turned wasteland on the edge of the Gobi desert is a toxic nightmare, evidence of the horrific effect the pursuit of consumerism has had on Earth.

A recent exploration of the area was undertaken by designers Liam Young and Kate Davies from Unknown Fields, a nomadic design studio from London that travels around the world to explore the sacrifices made on our landscape to produce contemporary cities and technologies.

“Huge areas of the world are sacrificed in the service of our shining gleaming futures,” says Young.

“The landscapes we visit are so often ignored or forgotten yet they play a fundamental role in shaping our world. We think it is important travel to these places, to tell stories about them and think about the opportunities and consequences they suggest for how we design today.”

In 1950 Baotou had a population of just 97,000. However the mining for rare earth minerals led to a population explosion and today there are 2.5 million people living and breathing the lucrative industry.

China produces over 95 per cent of the world’s rare earth minerals and two thirds of this comes from Baotou.

“For example a smart phone has 8 different rare earths in it. Everything from the material used in its memory to the red coloured pixels of its screen and the polish used on its glass. They are also fundamental ingredients in what we talk of as green energy industries, for example, wind turbines are one of the largest consumers of neodymium magnets,” says Young.

The rare earth industry has transformed Baoutou and the devastating environmental impacts are clear.

Link? Source?

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You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to hold opinions that you can defend through sound, reasoned argument.

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John Smith

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #8 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 8:38am

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 7:44am:

John Smith wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:22pm:

Baotou

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/10/30/business/Rarejp/Rarejp-popup.jpg

The Mount Tom Price iron ore mine in WA

http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/228830/Tom_Price_w480.jpg

whats the difference apart the fact that the Chinese own one and Gina the other?

How about the fact that 2,500,000 people don't live anywhere near the Mt Tom Price iron ore mine in WA?

ahhh, so you think mining should be banned if it's anywhere near towns? So we close down the mines at Mt Isa? Cooper Pedy? Broken hill? just to name a few

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Our esteemed leader:
I hope that bitch who was running their brothels for them gets raped with a cactus.

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Noneofyourbusiness

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #9 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:08am

John Smith wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 8:38am:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 7:44am:

John Smith wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:22pm:

Baotou

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/10/30/business/Rarejp/Rarejp-popup.jpg

The Mount Tom Price iron ore mine in WA

http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/228830/Tom_Price_w480.jpg

whats the difference apart the fact that the Chinese own one and Gina the other?

How about the fact that 2,500,000 people don't live anywhere near the Mt Tom Price iron ore mine in WA?

ahhh, so you think mining should be banned if it's anywhere near towns? So we close down the mines at Mt Isa? Cooper Pedy? Broken hill? just to name a few

I think you over estimate the amount of people who live in Australian mining towns and the levels of pollution they are exposed to.

But if obfuscation is your only argument, then I say go with it.

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John Smith

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #10 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:12am

Noneofyourbusiness wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:08am:

John Smith wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 8:38am:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 7:44am:

John Smith wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:22pm:

Baotou

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/10/30/business/Rarejp/Rarejp-popup.jpg

The Mount Tom Price iron ore mine in WA

http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/228830/Tom_Price_w480.jpg

whats the difference apart the fact that the Chinese own one and Gina the other?

How about the fact that 2,500,000 people don't live anywhere near the Mt Tom Price iron ore mine in WA?

ahhh, so you think mining should be banned if it's anywhere near towns? So we close down the mines at Mt Isa? Cooper Pedy? Broken hill? just to name a few

I think you over estimate the amount of people who live in Australian mining towns and the levels of pollution they are exposed to.

But if obfuscation is your only argument, then I say go with it.

not at all .... of course our towns are smaller ... we have a similar land mass with one billion four hundred eighty million less people. It's sort of a given that our towns are smaller Cheesy

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Our esteemed leader:
I hope that bitch who was running their brothels for them gets raped with a cactus.

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President Elect, The Mechanic Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 17501 Gender:	Re: Windfarms destroying Earth Reply #11 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:30am Dan Andrews and other left spastics are about to dump over 800 ugly wind towers into country Victoria ruining our places to live and taking up valuable farming lands...
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Noneofyourbusiness

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #12 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:30am

John Smith wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:12am:

Noneofyourbusiness wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:08am:

John Smith wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 8:38am:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 19^th, 2015 at 7:44am:

John Smith wrote on Apr 18^th, 2015 at 10:22pm:

Baotou

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/10/30/business/Rarejp/Rarejp-popup.jpg

The Mount Tom Price iron ore mine in WA

http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/228830/Tom_Price_w480.jpg

whats the difference apart the fact that the Chinese own one and Gina the other?

How about the fact that 2,500,000 people don't live anywhere near the Mt Tom Price iron ore mine in WA?

ahhh, so you think mining should be banned if it's anywhere near towns? So we close down the mines at Mt Isa? Cooper Pedy? Broken hill? just to name a few

I think you over estimate the amount of people who live in Australian mining towns and the levels of pollution they are exposed to.

But if obfuscation is your only argument, then I say go with it.

not at all .... of course our towns are smaller ... we have a similar land mass with one billion four hundred eighty million less people. It's sort of a given that our towns are smaller Cheesy

And don't forget the levels of pollution being produced. Unless your argument is based solely on the fact the both photos show a lack grass and trees therefore they are exactly the same situation.

God I hope so. Grin

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red baron

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #13 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 9:51am

This is where the essential ingredients Neodyium to power Windfarms comes from, enjoy:

precious minerals

rare earth china
Health hazard ... pipes coming from a rare earth smelting plant spew into a tailings dam on the outskirts of Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

Tuesday 7 August 2012 22.59 AEST Last modified on Wednesday 4 June 2014
From the air it looks like a huge lake, fed by many tributaries, but on the ground it turns out to be a murky expanse of water, in which no fish or algae can survive. The shore is coated with a black crust, so thick you can walk on it. Into this huge, 10 sq km tailings pond nearby factories discharge water loaded with chemicals used to process the 17 most sought after minerals in the world, collectively known as rare earths.

The town of Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, is the largest Chinese source of these strategic elements, essential to advanced technology, from smartphones to GPS receivers, but also to wind farms and, above all, electric cars. The minerals are mined at Bayan Obo, 120km farther north, then brought to Baotou for processing.

The concentration of rare earths in the ore is very low, so they must be separated and purified, using hydro-metallurgical techniques and acid baths. China accounts for 97% of global output of these precious substances, with two-thirds produced in Baotou.

The foul waters of the tailings pond contain all sorts of toxic chemicals, but also radioactive elements such as thorium which, if ingested, cause cancers of the pancreas and lungs, and leukaemia. "Before the factories were built, there were just fields here as far as the eye can see. In the place of this radioactive sludge, there were watermelons, aubergines and tomatoes," says Li Guirong with a sigh.

It was in 1958 – when he was 10 – that a state-owned concern, the Baotou Iron and Steel company (Baogang), started producing rare-earth minerals. The lake appeared at that time. "To begin with we didn't notice the pollution it was causing. How could we have known?" As secretary general of the local branch of the Communist party, he is one of the few residents who dares to speak out.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Li explains, crops in nearby villages started to fail: "Plants grew badly. They would flower all right, but sometimes there was no fruit or they were small or smelt awful." Ten years later the villagers had to accept that vegetables simply would not grow any longer. In the village of Xinguang Sancun – much as in all those near the Baotou factories – farmers let some fields run wild and stopped planting anything but wheat and corn.

rare earth china
Health hazard ... pipes coming from a rare earth smelting plant spew into a tailings dam on the outskirts of Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

Tuesday 7 August 2012 22.59 AEST Last modified on Wednesday 4 June 2014 13.51 AEST

From the air it looks like a huge lake, fed by many tributaries, but on the ground it turns out to be a murky expanse of water, in which no fish or algae can survive. The shore is coated with a black crust, so thick you can walk on it. Into this huge, 10 sq km tailings pond nearby factories discharge water loaded with chemicals used to process the 17 most sought after minerals in the world, collectively known as rare earths.

The town of Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, is the largest Chinese source of these strategic elements, essential to advanced technology, from smartphones to GPS receivers, but also to wind farms and, above all, electric cars. The minerals are mined at Bayan Obo, 120km farther north, then brought to Baotou for processing.

The concentration of rare earths in the ore is very low, so they must be separated and purified, using hydro-metallurgical techniques and acid baths. China accounts for 97% of global output of these precious substances, with two-thirds produced in Baotou.

The foul waters of the tailings pond contain all sorts of toxic chemicals, but also radioactive elements such as thorium which, if ingested, cause cancers of the pancreas and lungs, and leukaemia. "Before the factories were built, there were just fields here as far as the eye can see. In the place of this radioactive sludge, there were watermelons, aubergines and tomatoes," says Li Guirong with a sigh.

It was in 1958 – when he was 10 – that a state-owned concern, the Baotou Iron and Steel company (Baogang), started producing rare-earth minerals. The lake appeared at that time. "To begin with we didn't notice the pollution it was causing. How could we have known?" As secretary general of the local branch of the Communist party, he is one of the few residents who dares to speak out.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Li explains, crops in nearby villages started to fail: "Plants grew badly. They would flower all right, but sometimes there was no fruit or they were small or smelt awful." Ten years later the villagers had to accept that vegetables simply would not grow any longer. In the village of Xinguang Sancun – much as in all those near the Baotou factories – farmers let some fields run wild and stopped planting anything but wheat and corn.

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red baron

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Re: Windfarms destroying Earth
Reply #14 - Apr 19^th, 2015 at 10:07am

Big Wind’s Dirty Little Secret: Toxic Lakes and Radioactive Waste

October 23, 2013

The wind industry promotes itself as better for the environment than traditional energy sources such as coal and natural gas. For example, the industry claims that wind energy reduces carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

But there are many ways to skin a cat. As IER pointed out last week, even if wind curbs CO2 emissions, wind installations injure, maim, and kill hundreds of thousands of birds each year in clear violation of federal law. Any marginal reduction in emissions comes at the expense of protected bird species, including bald and golden eagles. The truth is, all energy sources impact the natural environment in some way, and life is full of necessary trade-offs. The further truth is that affordable, abundant energy has made life for billions of people much better than it ever was.

Another environmental trade-off concerns the materials necessary to construct wind turbines. Modern wind turbines depend on rare earth minerals mined primarily from China. Unfortunately, given federal regulations in the U.S. that restrict rare earth mineral development and China’s poor record of environmental stewardship, the process of extracting these minerals imposes wretched environmental and public health impacts on local communities. It’s a story Big Wind doesn’t want you to hear.

Rare Earth Horrors

Manufacturing wind turbines is a resource-intensive process. A typical wind turbine contains more than 8,000 different components, many of which are made from steel, cast iron, and concrete. One such component are magnets made from neodymium and dysprosium, rare earth minerals mined almost exclusively in China, which controls 95 percent of the world’s supply of rare earth minerals.

Simon Parry from the Daily Mail traveled to Baotou, China, to see the mines, factories, and dumping grounds associated with China’s rare-earths industry. What he found was truly haunting:

As more factories sprang up, the banks grew higher, the lake grew larger and the stench and fumes grew more overwhelming.

‘It turned into a mountain that towered over us,’ says Mr Su. ‘Anything we planted just withered, then our animals started to sicken and die.’

People too began to suffer. Dalahai villagers say their teeth began to fall out, their hair turned white at unusually young ages, and they suffered from severe skin and respiratory diseases. Children were born with soft bones and cancer rates rocketed.

Official studies carried out five years ago in Dalahai village confirmed there were unusually high rates of cancer along with high rates of osteoporosis and skin and respiratory diseases. The lake’s radiation levels are ten times higher than in the surrounding countryside, the studies found.

As the wind industry grows, these horrors will likely only get worse. Growth in the wind industry could raise demand for neodymium by as much as 700 percent over the next 25 years, while demand for dysprosium could increase by 2,600 percent, according to a recent MIT study. The more wind turbines pop up in America, the more people in China are likely to suffer due to China’s policies. Or as the Daily Mail put it, every turbine we erect contributes to “a vast man-made lake of poison in northern China.”

Big Wind’s Dependence on China’s “Toxic Lakes”

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