More recently, hybrid car-makers have had programs to take back and safely dispose of used or damaged high-voltage battery packs for 15 years. Those nickel-metal-hydride cells contain precious metals with a known recycling value.
The term secular stagnation was originally coined by Alvin Hansen in 1938 to describe what he feared was the fate of the American economy following the Great Depression of the early 1930s: a check to economic progress as investment opportunities were stunted by the closing of the frontier and the collapse of immigration.
Words to Know. Calving: Process of iceberg formation in which a glacier flows into the sea and large chunks of glacial ice break free due to stress, pressure, or the forces of waves and tides. Ice island: Thick slab of floating ice occupying an area as large as 180 square miles (460 square kilometers).