Comment Re:So.... (Score 1) 47
I don't know how old you are, but growing up as a kid in the early '70s, it was hammered home that we were shitting on our planet. And we were. Burning rivers, and polluted waters, anyone? Toxic waste dumps? Smog? Lead exhaust everywhere? The problem with mining is that environmental issues and safety are usually given little to no consideration: they're not in the forefront of mine owners' interests. Whatever the hidden costs of those factors are, we're all paying them.
The low 6 digit Slashdot ID gives me away. Old enough that I walked home from school in kindergarten. Mostly alone, but as a group with the other kids in my neighborhood. Unheard of in decades, I know... Many days when I turned the corner on to the street I lived on, I could not see the other end, and it was only a 200 meters or so away. The smog was that bad.
That "if" is carrying a lot of weight, there. We can, sure, but will we? Fk no.
So... Here's the thing... If you're OK with the smog & pollution getting generated somewhere else, you're making a large moral compromise. That's the situation we're in now. We buy the products and ignore the mess because it's somewhere else. How convenient! China certainly doesn't mine in an environmentally friendly manner, and the market distortion caused by unbalanced trade with them is allowing them to become a primary adversary to the US. Other sources, the DRC, Indonesia, Russia, etc... have similar environmental & geopolitical concerns.
Not mining them will compromise our military as well as lead to crippling economic losses. We need the minerals. We have to hold the mining operations to high standards. Chain yourself to a bulldozer, or glue yourself to a road if you must. But don't expect much sympathy if you start getting enhanced sentencing. That tends to happen when you aid foreign adversaries interests. Invent a way of capturing the pollutants, or processing the mine tailings in an environmentally friendly way, you'll be hailed as a hero. But there will be mining.
T
