Green Cars Cause Damage of Their Own as Flamingo Flocks Shrink
- Electric car revolution has sent demand for lithium soaring
- Flamingos depend on shallow lagoons above lithium deposits
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Tesla Motors Inc. and General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet are preparing to bring out mass-market electric cars next year. If you plan to buy one and help save the planet, people who live near the Atacama salt-flat ask that you spare a thought for the flamingos.
The vehicles will be powered by rechargeable batteries containing lithium, a silver-white metal found in brine deposits under the world’s driest desert in northern Chile. The 1,200-square-foot Salar de Atacama is also known for wild flamingos, who feed and breed in its lagoons. Some locals say that miners sucking water out of the earth to get to the lithium are starving the long-legged birds in the process.