open landscape with scattered hills or mountains with stream and sparse grass in foregroundVince Beiser (@VinceBeiser) writes for the Sierra Club about the impact of lithium mining on environments worldwide, through the lens of the Atacama Desert of Chile, which is home to one of the world’s biggest lithium operations. The world must vastly increase its production of lithium if it wants to avoid the worst of climate change, but these mining operations enact their own environmental tolls. As he explores this difficult issue, Beiser takes us on a tour of the Atacama, its people, native flora and fauna, the damage mining may be enacting, and what people are doing about it. Image by René Bongard via Wikimedia Commons