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.

While this is true, my point is really that we prioritise our own convenience to the detriment of the planet.

I'm sure some it not most people do, but it's is possible to a modern lifestyle that is also more sustainable.

It is so sad isn’t it? All we can do is try as consumers to shift suppliers into a mindset where being environmentally conscious is a cost of doing business.

I was thinking robots could mine the landfills because they are so toxic. Can harvest methane from landfills too. Methane is natural gas but without deep sea mining.

I’m on a green tariff. I give a rebate off the rent for my tenants if they go on a green tariff.

That's actually really super cool - I mean that sincerely. Our of interest do you know what the price difference is?

We as a species do. The 0.1% celebrities are the worst. Taylor Swift is on the top of the 2023 celebrity list in terms of carbon emissions from traveling in private planes. On July 29, Yard, which tracks celebrities’ private plane use, noted: “Taylor Swift might be today's pop princess, but Yard's research found that Miss Swift is the biggest celebrity CO2e polluter of this year so far… Her total flight emissions for the year come in at 8,293.54 tonnes.” For reference, as per the World Bank, in 2020, the average global per capita carbon emission was 4.3 tons. This means Swift's private jet footprint alone was 1,928 times the global average.

I don’t know the price difference. They could even be getting ahead a bit, I don’t care. It depends on the usage they have if I am chipping in or they are paying a bit more for energy.

I give £100/mo rebate off the rent for using a green tariff. They just send the estate agent the top of their bill or screen shots showing what tariff they are on after move in or once a year (when lease is renewed).

I have put solar panels on it too and am saving the rental income to put in a heat pump system and solar panel batteries. Tenants will have even lower energy bills after I do these upgrades and I’m helping the planet. It’s my responsibility because tenants can’t afford to do it and it’s not their property so they shouldn’t have to pay for it either.

I work in STEM research and this is something that is actively being looked at.

The robot thing we could do tomorrow.

But, containment of toxins is really really hard.

Methane CH4 is actually a great lean burning fuel and bio methanol is going be one of the major fuels of the future. Methane is also 25x as powerful a greenhouse gas as CO2 so we absolutely have to minimise leaksge.

Approximately 5% of global emissions are from fugitive emissions from methane leaks and flaring of volatile gases.

Apologies, back to toxins. I read a paper recently that looked at recycling micro plastics from the shore line. lots of very well intentioned partners but: when the academics (ourselves included) got involved we identified incredibly high concentrations of mercury in many of the nodules. Most plastics absorb water, often 20% or more. Sea water contains trace amounts of mercury.

What was proposed was that micro plastics and plastic nodules absorbed sea water but when dried out and re-whetted between tides mercury and other toxins were retained leading to increased concentrations.

The levels are still way below anything toxic unless you scavenge the shoreline munching all the plastic you can find (in which case I suspect you may have more pressing issues).

I guess my point is that the big sustainability challenges are relatively simple - stop burning fossil fuels! But the details are incredibly, mind blowingly complex.

@Daftasabroom
now your career field is seriously cool stuff! Yes, I agree capturing the fugitive emissions of methane such as from landfills and elsewhere would help a lot. I wholehearted agree the main issue is transitioning away from fossil fuels and we (U.K.) are well underway on that front even though other countries are lagging or not even cutting their use yet.

I was thinking like you about the toxins and the micro-plastics because we also need to clean up our mess of the planet too. As in stop making a mess while cleaning up the mess already done.

I had read about the discovery of naturally occurring plastic eating bacteria? And how it might be possible to breed them to eat the microplastics in the ocean and fresh water sources? what is your opinion on this idea?

I’m not sure how mercury and other heavy metals get cleaned up, but didn’t the Great Lakes have this issue from acid rain caused by coal fired power plants back in the day? Do you know how that got remediated?

@SummerFeverVenice look up Paul Stamets TED talk.