Yes, the greenies always tell us they are merely trying to save the planet. The problem is they seem to be really good at polluting the water supplies (MTBE) sterilizing entire biomes (the Kaibab Plateau) and driving endangered raptors to extinction (the various windfarms).
Now, we find that flamingoes are now under threat from the lithium operations that are required to provide batteries for the various electric cars out there. Yeppers, saving the planet by exterminating one species at a time...
"The average number of flamingos in the Atacama salt-flat in the five years through 2014 was down 28 percent from 1995 to 1999, according to the Forestry Commission. Of the three types that frequent the area, the Andean is classified as “vulnerable,” while the Chilean and James are “near threatened.” Less rain and human and mining activity are reducing the amount of water in the salt flats, Forestry Commission spokesman Nelson Amado says. But the agency has no evidence that mining activity is affecting the flamingo population.
Different Landscape
Flamingos may be so scarce these days in the Tebenquiche lagoon because there’s so little salt in the water, Humire Coca says. Flamingos feed off small crustaceans, which require salty water to survive, and as the brine is removed, salination levels decline.
Lagoons and meadows in the area started changing at the end of the 80s, when mining companies set up operations and rains in the mountains declined, says Manuel Salvatierra, who lives in nearby Cucuter. His family’s flock of sheep used to drink water from Cejar and Tebenquiche, and fed from the grass around them.
“Back then, you could see 40 flamingos in one lagoon,” Salvatierra says. Now “we see a different landscape.”
Green Cars Cause Damage of Their Own as Flamingo Flocks Shrink
Now, we find that flamingoes are now under threat from the lithium operations that are required to provide batteries for the various electric cars out there. Yeppers, saving the planet by exterminating one species at a time...
"The average number of flamingos in the Atacama salt-flat in the five years through 2014 was down 28 percent from 1995 to 1999, according to the Forestry Commission. Of the three types that frequent the area, the Andean is classified as “vulnerable,” while the Chilean and James are “near threatened.” Less rain and human and mining activity are reducing the amount of water in the salt flats, Forestry Commission spokesman Nelson Amado says. But the agency has no evidence that mining activity is affecting the flamingo population.
Different Landscape
Flamingos may be so scarce these days in the Tebenquiche lagoon because there’s so little salt in the water, Humire Coca says. Flamingos feed off small crustaceans, which require salty water to survive, and as the brine is removed, salination levels decline.
Lagoons and meadows in the area started changing at the end of the 80s, when mining companies set up operations and rains in the mountains declined, says Manuel Salvatierra, who lives in nearby Cucuter. His family’s flock of sheep used to drink water from Cejar and Tebenquiche, and fed from the grass around them.
“Back then, you could see 40 flamingos in one lagoon,” Salvatierra says. Now “we see a different landscape.”
Green Cars Cause Damage of Their Own as Flamingo Flocks Shrink
