The UN “…should resist the declare that mining is at all times useful…” – Watts Up With That?
Essay by Eric Worrall
The only thing that separates us from a Venezuelan-style economy, where ordinary people scavenge for food in garbage, is that politicians listen to the wrong advice.
The UN can set a new course on “critical” transition minerals
Published on 20.08.2024, 16:51
Comment: A high-level panel is working to define principles for responsible mining to be presented to the UN General Assembly in September.
From Claudia Velarde, Stephanie Weiss and Jessica Solórzano
Claudia Velarde is co-director of the Ecosystems Program of the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), Stephanie Weiss is project coordinator at AIDA and Jessica Solórzano is economic specialist at AIDA.
The global push toward renewable energy to reduce climate-damaging emissions has revealed that the environmental and social costs of extracting the minerals needed to power it disproportionately affect local communities and ecosystems.
Many argue that electric mobility and renewable energy technologies will help mitigate climate change, but rolling them out on a large scale would require a massive increase in mining of minerals such as lithium, which are central to their development.
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Our reflections on what the Panel cannot ignore point to three elements: a status quo approach to ‘development’, a high degree of technological optimism about mining, and a lack of urgency about ecosystem limits and community rights.
First, we recognise that the Panel is under pressure from powerful actors, but it must resist the claim that mining always benefits the economic growth and prosperity of nations. This status quo perspective reinforces the notion of unlimited natural resources for human consumption and echoes the early 20th century economic development promises that contributed to the current climate crisis.
The Panel must not ignore the possibility of a degrowth strategy or a reduction in mining activities that could lead to reduced material and energy consumption, nor neglect other forms of traditional and local knowledge that could offer opportunities for alternative development.
Regarding the impacts, pollution and other disruptions to the ecosystem caused by mining, it is repeatedly emphasized that assessments and evaluations are necessary – and that this is the only way to preserve the integrity of the ecosystem.
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Read more: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2024/08/20/the-un-can-set-a-new-course-on-critical-transition-minerals/
I don't think we should ignore these insights into what I believe is the true agenda of the green movement: ending the Industrial Revolution and returning to a medieval peasant economy.
Did you know that in the 1950s Venezuela was the fourth richest country in the world per capita? There is no way to reduce consumption without causing enormous suffering and economic dislocation. Whether the reduced consumption is due to economic imbalances, price controls, or government-imposed sanctions on critical economic activities such as mining, the result is always an economic recession or a new Great Depression, or in extreme cases, a complete collapse.
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