At the outset, the United States was blessed with enormous tracts of land (that it stole from the natives) and a considerable labor force (that it enslaved from Africa) to achieve economic success based largely on growing things. The next leap forward—into the industrial era—was facilitated by large deposits of coal and oil. A century later, inspired by a gifted group of engineers and funded early on by the Pentagon, Silicon Valley led the country into the computer age.
The United States, in other words, has been lucky. When the luck ran thin, it also relied on brute force.
Today, the world stands at the brink of another new economic revolution. Thanks to the same fossil fuels that made the industrial age possible—for the United States and other countries of the Global North—humanity has to shift over to renewable energy or else risk frying the planet.
This time, however, the United States is not so lucky.
When it comes to the 50 minerals necessary for the “clean” energy transformation, the United States is currently 100 percent reliant on exports for 12 of them (including graphite). For another 31 of those minerals—including cobalt, zinc, and tin—it imports at least 50 percent of what it needs. …read more
Source:: Institute for Policy Studies
