EditorialAn aerial view of evaporation ponds at a lithium plant in the Atacama Desert of Chile, an essential component of batteries that is mined from the country’s salt flats, Dec. 15, 2021. (Marcos ZegersThe New York Times)
EditorialA truck traverses a levee amid the ponds where brine is processed to extract lithium and other minerals, at the Chaerhan Salt Lake in China?s Qinghai province, Sept. 9, 2021. (Qilai Shen/The New York Times)
EditorialEvaporation ponds run by the state lithium company at a vast area of salt flats at Salar de Uuyuni in Bolivia on Sept. 2, 2021. (Meridith Kohut/The New York Times)