lithium mining could spell the end of a centuries old culture and a unique ecosystem scientists like harold lish are alarmed. hold on to we used to get oil from somewhere and accepted in inverted commas the environmental damage there so we didn't care lithiums if you ask industry where do the raw materials actually come from and answers oh they're just delivered it's just business as usual this is basically we don't want to hear anything at all about the environmental damage we're causing with our transport modes in europe or north america and many other countries are being bussed a visual version that unleashed. germany's economy is the world's 5th largest consumer of medical resources it's automotive industry acquires them through a network of supply as it's virtually impossible to control the side as it would have it's a very good question whether the sources are sustainable and above all whether the mining methods are in line with roughly german standards the industry will have to make sure that it imposes appropriate requirements and ensures transparency in the countries where its source is