Introduction:
Salt of the Earth
The
salty, warm lagoons of Baja California Mexico are more than great
nurseries for gray whale babies. They offer ideal conditions
for producing solar-evaporated salt. The
lagoons are apart from the sea.
They get very little rainfall and almost no fresh water runoff.
The winds are brisk.
Laguna
Ojo de Liebre is home
to the world's largest solar saltworks. With headquarters in the
town of Guerrero Negro, the company that produces the salt is
jointly
owned by Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and the government of Mexico.
About
half the salt exported from the Guerrero Negro saltworks is used
in Japan's industries. The salt helps to produce PVC plastics,
bleach, chlorine gas, road salt, and glass. Do you think any ends
up in
your salt
shakers or on your icy streets in winter?
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