Mining the planet to death
Jens Glüsing, Simon Hage, Alexander Jung, Nils Klawitter und Stefan Schultz
Germany World
2021
spiegel.de
Open pit and underground mining for minerals and extraction of oil and gas are essential industries. They have several dark sides. 1) A few people become extremely wealthy while many who live in the region barely survive in dire poverty. 2) Mine safety is minimal in many parts of the world. 3) Mining and extracting vital minerals from the Earth and then using them for the least helpful purposes, like wind turbines and solar panels.
The poor South is being exploited so that the rich North can transition to environmental sustainability. Entire swaths of land are being destroyed to secure the resources needed to produce wind turbines and solar cells. Are there alternatives?