Batteries are a critical part of the transition away from fossil fuels. From electric vehicles to grid scale storage for wind and solar, demand for batteries is expected to grow 500% by 2030. In order to meet that demand, we’re going to need a lot more batteries. JB Starubel, Founder and CEO of Redwood Materials (and former Chief Technology Officer at Tesla), says, “I don't see how we make the world sustainable without storage. And right now, batteries, lithium ion batteries largely are the scalable economic solution.” 

Creating a circular battery production process where the materials from decommissioned batteries are recycled to create new batteries would be the most sustainable way to meet our energy storage needs. That’s what Straubel and Redwood Materials are trying to achieve. Straubel says, “we can imagine this future where you don't need to continually extract and supply some chemical into a whole fleet of cars. The batteries today might be economically 95% but technically they’re 99% or more reusable.” 

While a high percentage of batteries are reusable, recycling them is not an easy process. That’s part of the reason why 95% of lithium-ion batteries end up in landfill. In order to recycle a battery, it has to be neutralized in order to prevent fires, and then each of the critical metals has to be purified and separated from each other. Straubel says, “It is a lot harder than notionally taking an old beer can and melting it and then stamping it into a new beer can. Batteries are a kind of a complex mixture of chemistry and chemicals all together. “ 

Some companies are working on new battery chemistries whose materials wouldn’t be as scarce or difficult to obtain. But at the moment, an alternative to lithium-ion batteries doesn’t exist at scale. Straubel says, “The process to mature a battery and to really make sure it's robust and get it to scale is very, very long. So, I learn to take new battery announcements with a little bit of a grain of salt.” 

Until there are enough old batteries being recycled, the critical minerals will still need to be mined. To meet growing demand, lithium mines around the world are opening or expanding, and in the Congo, children as young as six carry sacks of cobalt-laced rocks on their backs. And whether it happens in the U.S. or abroad, there are major environmental impacts from removing those minerals from the earth. 

Aimee Boulanger, Executive Director at the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, says, “There is not a country in the world with laws sufficient to prevent significant harm where mining happens.” 

But that doesn’t mean mining can’t be done more responsibly. The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, or IRMA, is working to create high standards that hold mining operations accountable. Despite IRMA being started 16 years ago, only 3 mining companies have released audits scoring their adherence to the IRMA standard so far. But as industry giants like BMW, Mercedes, Ford, GM, Tesla, Rivian and Volkswagen have become members, there is more leverage to get transparency from the mining industry. 

The good news is that there doesn’t need to be new innovation to reduce harm in the mining industry, as Boulanger says, “We don't need 20 years of research and technology to get at best practice mining. This is not nuclear fusion. We absolutely know already how to do mining with less harm.”

Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas.  In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region.

This week, a special road trip episode.  OHR visits Rogers, Arkansas’ Railyard Live Concert Series featuring singer-songwriters Will Gunselman & Ashtyn Barbaree recorded live at Butterfield Stage in Railyard Park in historic downtown Rogers.  Also, an interview with Ozark original Will Gunselman.

Rogers, Arkansas’ Railyard Live Concert Series began in 2021.  Held on the city’s Butterfield Stage next to Railyard Park in historic downtown Rogers, it features live concerts every weekend throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall.  All of the Railyard Live events are either free to the public or at very low cost of admission.  The concert series features a wide array of musical styles and interests designed to appeal to the diverse population of Rogers and invite them to experience the newly revitalized Railyard Entertainment District.  The Ozark Folk Center State Park and the City of Rogers, Arkansas partnered to bring Ozark Highlands Radio to capture a little slice of this modern Ozark culture.

Will Gunselman is a singer-songwriter from Bella Vista, Arkansas.  Will’s vivid writer’s voice along with his unique style invents an honest and authentic Ozark story.  Honing his art through decades of live performance, Will has crafted a simple sound that is modern and relatable but reveals a rich patina of life lived.  Although plaintive, his music, rooted in folk, country and blues, dwells on the positive nature of experience and seeking joy in the everyday.  Like traversing the river Will ardently describes in his song Buffalo River Run, sitting with a set of his music is a journey bent with scenic vistas of the soul.

Ashtyn Barbaree is an internationally touring gritty Americana singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Sweet, soulful, charming and relatable, her lyrics have found their way into the hearts of folks from all walks of life.  She has a smokey, yet silky voice accompanied with harmonies, guitar, tenor 8-string ukulele, upright bass, pedal steel, drums and piano.
https://www.ashtynbarbaree.com/about

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, OHR producer Jeff Glover offers a 1981 archival recording of bluegrasser Lenny Wallace performing the tune “Take Your Shoes Off Moses,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

In this week’s guest host segment, renowned traditional folk musician, writer, and step dancer Aubrey Atwater explores the theme of riddles and trick questions in traditional folk music.

Bruce Praet is a well-known name in law enforcement, especially across California. He co-founded a company called Lexipol that contracts with more than 95% of police departments in the state and offers its clients trainings and ready-made policies.

In one of Praet’s training webinars, posted online, he offers a piece of advice that policing experts have called inhumane. It’s aimed at protecting officers and their departments from lawsuits.

After police kill someone, they are supposed to notify the family. Praet advises officers to use that interaction as an opportunity. Instead of delivering the news of the death immediately, he suggests first asking about the person who was killed to get as much information as possible. 

Reporter Brian Howey started looking into this advice when he was with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. He found that officers have been using this tactic across California, and the information families disclosed before they knew their relative was killed affected their lawsuits later. In this hour, Howey interviews families that have been on the receiving end of this controversial policing tactic, explaining their experience and the lasting impact. Howey travels to Santa Ana, where he meets a City Council member leading an effort to end Lexipol’s contract in his city. And in a parking lot near Fresno, Howey tracks down Praet and tries to interview him about the consequences of his advice. 

A decades-old lunar mystery gets an update in this week's Planetary Radio. Matt Siegler from the Planetary Science Institute shares his team's surprising findings about the granite formation that might lie beneath Compton-Belkovich, a thorium-rich hot spot on the far side of the Moon. Then Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, shares What's Up in the night sky.

ClassicalWorks (Episode 182)

The key battle taking place in this American crisis year of 2024 is happening in our heads, according to the master historian Richard Slotkin. He’s here to tell us all that we’re in a 40-year culture war and an identity crisis by now. It’s all about drawing on legendary figures like Daniel Boone and Frederick Douglass, Betsy Ross and Rosa Parks, Robert E. Lee and G.I. Joe for a composite self-portrait of the country.

Richard Slotkin says we’re in a contest of origin stories, in search of a common national myth. His book is A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America. It is the Trump-Biden fight, of course, but with centuries of history bubbling under it. 

This week, Katie Marie and Joe explore beyond the boundaries of Pure Drop trad music and wade through the waters of backup and accompaniment. Frequently belittled by the proponents of straight-ahead, dance music that feature the familiar melody instruments, backup players can make or break a session, even if they don't get the spotlight. We'll look at guitar, electric guitar(!), bouzouki, piano, and bodhran.

The players this week: John Doyle, Daoiri Farrell, Deaf Shepherd, Beth Patterson, Frankie Gavin & Alec Finn with Briain Bourke, Artisan Row, Guichen, James Morrison, Zonk, Becky Tracy, Neill Lyons, Liam Kelly, and The Maguires.

Our FairPlé score this week: 36