Protect Thacker Pass is sometimes criticized as a Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) campaign. This video discusses this criticism. First, Thacker Pass isn’t just greater sage grouses’, golden eagles’, pronghorn antelopes’, and lahontan cutthroat trout’s back yard. It’s their home. They require the habitat offered there to survive. Second, the Thacker Pass mine would open up supply chains for numerous other destructive, toxic, extractive processes like cobalt and nickel mining and plastic and steel manufacturing. Stopping the Thacker Pass mine will keep children from dying in cobalt mines in Africa, for example. And, third, what about those who come after us? Do they want a toxic open pit in their “back yard”? Or will they want clean water and healthy soil?
Not In My Back Yard
I recently watched this film about colbalt mining in Africa online with hundreds of others as part of a teaching with Bayo Akomolafe et al. It’s surreal and powerful. You can access it online through Vimeo. https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/2/23059928/neptune-frost-movie-interview-saul-williams-anisia-uzeyman
Nice video Will, thank you! I’ve been down this road before starting with questioning industrial solar under Obama starting in 2008. Are you in touch with Laura Cunningham and her partner Kevin at Basin and Range watch? We originally formed the group Solar Done Right and they’ve kept it going. If you’re not, I’m happy to help you connect 🙏🏼🌏
We are indeed connected with them, thank you.
Great educative video, it’s something that is rarely talked about in the media, the relatedness between the different extractive industries that are needed to build cars and that destroy many backyards.