Videos
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These videos encourage activists to get involved in the Protect Thacker Pass Campaign.
Dispatches from Thacker Pass
Updates from Protect Thacker Pass by co-founders Max Wilbert and Will Falk.
Max Wilbert climbed the mountainside at Thacker Pass for a look at the land at risk for the lithium mine and an update on the activities of the Bureau of Land Management and Lithium Americas corporation.
Day 500 at Thacker Pass
Baby birds; a friend has died; life and death; death of entire ecosystems is what’s at stake at Thacker Pass; sacriledge is breaking the cycle of life and death and rebirth; destroying life on Earth for cars is stupid; Lithium Americas executive used to work for a pipeline company–he’s in this for the money; executives make millions on destroying life; more lithium projects slated for the region; the many materials needed to make and support cars is a system that is destructive; idiots with high IQs; “tech, no-logic” (John Trudell); the “lesser of two evils” is still evil; lithium is just feeding the addicts (to industrial civilization); the costs of this way of life are unacceptable.
Day 300 at Thacker Pass
Discovering the history of Thacker Pass; destroying the land to turn it into money; the stories that tell us “green” technologies will save the planet are lies; there is nothing different at a lithium mine than at a coal mine except the substance that’s pulled out of the ground; do we have the courage to face the facts?; the earth does not want this mine; consumeristic, rich humans want this mine to enrich themselves; the lie is very convincing, but it is a lie; people will delude themselves to keep their fantasy bubbles; we are in an ecological nightmare; face the truth like elders with wisdom and not shy away; that takes courage.
Winter Storm in May at Thacker Pass
Building resistance to NDEP; getting more press; “the more electric cars we build, the higher emissions will go” (CEO of Toyota); EV technologies take a lot of fossil fuels to build; support regional tribes resisting the mine; speak out!; write letters to your representatives.
Day 115 at Thacker Pass
Life on Earth, or consumeristic industrial culture. From all the evidence, we can only have one or the other. Which do you choose?
Day 78 at Thacker Pass
Thacker Pass, or Peehee mm huh, is threatened for an open pit lithium mine. In this video, Max Wilbert and Will Falk of Protect Thacker Pass, and Daranda Hinkey of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe, speak from the top of Sentinel Rock at the eastern side of Thacker Pass.
Day 46 at Thacker Pass
On January 15th we setup a protest encampment here at Thacker Pass which has now stood forty six days. We are questioning the narrative of progress that is leading places like this to be destroyed.
Day 19 at Thacker Pass
About the Protect Thacker Pass Campaign; the King’s River Pyrg snail; the impacts of the lithium mine; EVs are luxury items; lithium mining is no different from coal mining; do you want a mine if you have no clean water or food on your plate?; a war on the natural world; we need overwhelming amounts of support to defeat the mine.
Day 16 at Thacker Pass
Lithium is the new “white oil” and lust for profit is triggering a rush to stake mining claims around the world. Today we joined a panel with a group of people fighting lithium extraction in Argentina and Chile. Lithium extraction is not just a problem here at Thacker Pass.
Day 8 at Thacker Pass
Max reports from Thacker Pass, the site of a proposed lithium mine where Lithium Americas wants to build a $1.3 billion dollar open-pit lithium mine to extract lithium for EV batteries. Thacker pass is important habitat for sage-grouse, for cutthroat trout, for pronghorn, and many other species. This place needs our protection.
Thacker Pass
Reporting from #ThackerPass #Nevada – site of a massive proposed lithium mine. Nevada government and federal agencies have fast-tracked the sacrifice of this mountainside in favor of a $1.3 billion dollar mine that could produce tens of billions in profits.
Meanwhile, local streams will be polluted, Lahontan cutthroat trout spawning grounds will be smothered under radioactive sediment, Pronghorn antelope migration routes blocked, Greater sage-grouse habitat blasted to nothing, local people will have to deal with acid rain, ancient cultural sites will be desecrated, and this quiet wilderness will be turned into an industrialized zone — unless the project is stopped.
Protect Thacker Pass Occupation
The wind is powerful tonight in Thacker Pass! Nature is fierce — but the land cannot defend itself against brutal, lying, profit-driven corporations and greenwashers without our help, so we are braving the 40 mph winds and freezing temperatures to stand again this project!
Tiehm’s Buckwheat and the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium Mine
What killed 14,000 critically endangered buckwheat plants at the site of a proposed lithium mine to supply critical minerals for the so-called “green” electric vehicle industry?
This is the first video dispatch from Max Wilbert’s trip to the area of two proposed lithium mines in Nevada. We are working to build awareness of the threats these projects pose and resistance to them.
This is habitat for Tiehm’s buckwheat, cholla cactus, sagebrush, rabbitbrush, prairie falcon, desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, jackrabbit, ring-tailed cat, and literally hundreds of other species.
Is it worth destroying their home and their lives for electric cars?
Max Wilbert’s Reflections
Reflections about lithium mining, EVs, bright green lies, and how to protect what we love, by Max Wilbert.
Why is Lithium Americas Splitting Into Two Companies?
In short: to protect themselves from accountability for their crimes.
Lithium Americas Corporation is splitting into two companies: Lithium Americas (which will own Thacker Pass and other North American projects) and Lithium International (which will own Cauchari-Olaroz). Why are they doing this? In short: to protect themselves from accountability for their crimes.
They are doing this to limit their liability, protect themselves from activists and political inquiries, and access loans from the U.S. Department of Energy.
A Response to “The Case for Technorealism” — Philosophy of Technology
A response to Rachel Donald’s video: “The Case for Technorealism”, in which she argues that modern industrial technology such as nuclear power is “our friend” and is an essential part of mitigating the climate crisis.
This video is Max’s response. In it, he dives into philosophy of technology, discuss Lewis Mumford’s democratic vs authoritarian technics, and explain what he thinks technorealism looks like: a deep skepticism of technology’s ability to save us from ecological collapse. He also explains why he rejects the idea that we must constrain our political projects to what is socially pragmatic, because in any conflict between physical limits and societal desires, physics will ultimately prevail.
How Big is the Proposed Thacker Pass Lithium Mine?
A quiet evening at Thacker Pass
Will Electric Cars Save The Planet?
Ivan Bender of the Hualapai Tribe on Sacred Spring of Ha’kamwe’ Threatened by Lithium Mining in AZ
Geothermal Energy is a Problem
Recycling Won’t Save The Planet
Ants, aphids, and sagebrush teach me about reciprocity. Mining companies teach me about addiction.
Will Falk’s Reflections and Legal Updates
Will Falk is co-founder of the Protect Thacker Pass Campaign, and attorney representing the Reno Sparks Indian Colony in their legal battle against the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine Project.
Will Falk made this video to explain what will be happening at the Thacker Pass court hearing on Thursday, January 5 at 10 AM Pacific in Reno. It’s really important that everyone understands how limited legal victories are in these kinds of cases. Even if we win, we’ll almost certainly be fighting to protect Thacker Pass for years to come. This is not a reason to give up. If we’re going to win, though, we must understand the limited nature of law as a tool in public land mining cases.
Update on Protect Thacker Pass
Will describes continued efforts by regional tribes to fight the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine, and recent press about a “Community Benefits Agreement” between Lithium Nevada Corporation and Fort McDermitt Tribe.
NIMBYism at Thacker Pass
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?
Personal Purity, and asking “What needs to be done?”
Will Falk discusses the idea of Personal Purity in activism, how activists can be most effective, and asking “What needs to be done?”
Secretary Haaland call-in event, June 15, 2021
At the June 15, 2021 phone banking event to call and leave messages for Secretary Deb Haaland at the Department of Interior, Will Falk spoke about Thacker Pass and why it is so important to resist this project.
Update from Thacker Pass, May 28, 2021
Should we trust the NDEP? Answer: No!
In this video Will describes why we should NOT trust the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection.
Update from Thacker Pass, Feb 9, 2021
Update from Thacker Pass, Feb 22, 2021
Messages of War from Thacker Pass
Update from Thacker Pass, Jan 28, 2021
Update from Thacker Pass, Jan 24, 2021
Nature
Videos showing the vibrant nature threatened by mining at Thacker Pass.
A Day at Thacker Pass
Thacker Pass is rich with life. This place should not be destroyed with a lithium mine just so we can drive cars a little while longer.
The Watersheds of Thacker Pass
The Fight for Thacker Pass
The music that accompanies this video of the stars at Thacker Pass is by Wodwo / Andrew Land. The track, “The fight for Thacker Pass“, is from his album “The post-post”.
The Ancestral Gardens of Thacker Pass
Several weeks ago, a woman visited Thacker Pass or Peehee Mu’huh and told us about the traditional horticultural ways of the indigenous people of the Great Basin region. This video explains my very basic understanding of what she told us. These gardens are threatened by the proposed Thacker Pass Lithium mine and countless other destructive projects.
Read the article that resulted from this work, Botany as Archaeology, to Stop a Lithium Mine, and the full report First Foods Survey Summary for Peehee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass).
Great Basin Ecology
Those who are destroying the planet, including those who threaten Thacker Pass, are like children playing with fire. This video is about basic ecological education, perennial and annual grasses, soil carbon, fire intervals, non-native species, industrial destruction, and the ignorance of those like Lithium Americas Corp. employees who mess with things they don’t understand.
Bighorn Sheep Near Thacker Pass
Which is more important: your electric car, or the lives of wild beings? Our luxury, or their existence?
Dawn Chorus at Thacker Pass
Birds welcoming the sun: the dawn chorus at Thacker Pass.
Sage Grouse at Thacker Pass
Sage-grouse are not listed as an endangered species, but they are severely threatened by cattle grazing, oil and gas drilling and fracking, as well as mining. Their preferred habitat, sagebrush steppe, is in steep decline. Sage-grouse used to number in the millions, and this number has fallen to around 400,000 as their habitat has dwindled.
The BLM issued a permit allowing Lithium Americas to mine Thacker Pass, despite the fact that Nevada Department of Wildlife reported 63 tracking locations generated by at least 30 radio-marked threatened sage-grouse at Thacker Pass, and that the chance for occurrence of sage-grouse in the area is “high” because the area is preferred habitat for sage-grouse.
Meadowlarks at Dawn
This video of meadowlarks at Thacker Pass, singing at dawn, accompanies a poem Of Meadowlarks, Dawn to Dawn, by Caroline Williford.
Poems
Poems inspired by the land, the air, the water, the wildlife, the plants, and the activists at Thacker Pass.
Interviews
Interviews with Protect Thacker Pass campaigners in the media.
Rallies and Actions
Video from actions in support of protecting Thacker Pass.
Training
Videos to help prepare activists for effective tactics in the fight to Protect Thacker Pass and other places from industry.