If you are an environmentalist, how do you reconcile...

[Strugglingtodomybest]

... the need for a huge increase in mining of critical minerals in order to fuel the green revolution against the damage mining does to the environment?

I've been pondering this a lot recently and thought this might be the board to get other's views on it.

Cut flowers tend to be grown in greenhouses in Holland and come by ferry and road, so not quite as bad as flying mange tout in from Guatemala!

Hi @Strugglingtodomybest you might want to read up on the "nine planetary boundaries".

Wikipedia is probably the best place to start.

The sustainability mantra of "stop burning fossil fuels" is simple but the reality of a sustainable future is incredibly complex to implement.

@Nellllie the great CO2 swindle???

Please explain.

@Nellllie the medieval warm period is a well recognized, it was also localized , and it in no way disproves greenhouse gas forced global warming.

it's wrong to put this type of env. damage on a pedestal above others. There's so much waste & callous disregard for environment. What OP describes is tiny compared to so many routine activities.

There was an article recently showing that the super rich are the biggest creators of carbon emissions.
Extract below from the guardian.

The richest 1% of people are responsible for as much carbon output as the poorest 66%, research from Oxfam shows. Luxury lifestyles including frequent flying, driving large cars, owning many houses, and a rich diet, are among the reasons for the huge imbalance.

@Nellllie if you're going to post links that you suggest disproves global warming you ought to read them first just in case they contain sentences such as:

The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else in the world

Equally @Rummikub there are 685,000 people in the UK that fall into the 1% bracket, the vast majority of those are not "super rich".

The Guardian is not a reliable source of environmental reporting.

Agree the 1pc in uk covers a broad range.

@Strugglingtodomybest I haven't had time to read this yet, but it might be of interest.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6585b37aed3c34000d3bfe0d/the-task-_-finish-group-report-on-industry-resilience-for-critical-minerals.pdf

It's mercifully brief at just over 100 pages 😃- the IPCC reports run to >6000 pages

Thanks @Daftasabroom, I'll have a look!

George Orwell.

It’s the 4Rs isn’t it?
Reduce - Reduce demand through efficiency and/or alternate green substitutes

Reuse - Make computing devices (phones, pads, laptops etc) upgradable so the critical mineral imbued hardware can be used for much longer.

Repair- Require companies to implement repair depots and design devices to be repaired instead of discarded for a new one when a fault or damage happens

Recycle- Require companies to take all their devices in for recycling, have automated dismantling and re-capturing of critical minerals. Mine landfills for all the old electronics that have these minerals, so we can do retroactive recycling.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MC81peMLEfo

These are super sensible and lovely. Unfortunately those who are in power aren’t using this little motto, they are very into other stuff which is the opposite.

Most of these already happen, it's just the average consumer doesn't know about or take advantage of the schemes in place.

I mean this seriously but have you ever compared product EPDs or taken advantage of WEEE legislation? Do you know about extended producer responsibility?

Please do not go digging into old landfill sites unless you know exactly which toxins and biocides might be released.

Sort of exactly. We are getting on with life in a tiny way. I’m scared bc you’renot familiar in MN!

Think of all the electricity we use just so we don't have to walk across the room to change the TV channel, and stuff like that. Miniscule amounts, but how many presses on a remote control are there in a day? We assume that our own convenience trumps all - and we are happy to pay for that convenience.

Or till receipts? Spark printers, using electricity, on specially treated paper, just for them to be screwed up in the bottom of people's handbags.

Small potatoes, comparatively, but a sign of our own entitlement, at the expense of the environment, which we transfer to our decisions about bigger issues.

As I understand the future tech industry (cloud servers needed for data storage and AI, mining Bitcoin etc) is huge so while we try to reduce petrol cars and plastic straws in parallel a huge energy guzzling industry is being developed

It really needs global planning and regulation by governments to make the changes needed- not only based on individual actions

It doesn't mean we stop using electricity. We can use it more efficiently. We can consume less. We can gauge success veery very differently. At the moment measure of success is too focused on increased consumption even though increased consumption does not even equal to increased wellbeing. We can waste less of everything: food, clothes, fuel, toys, travel etc

Anyone concerned with the emissions related to their domestic energy consumption can very easily switch to a green or renewable tariff. Use rechargeable batteries charged with renewables, one less thing to worry about and a step in the right direction.