Extractive mining disrupts the balance of the planet’s ecosystems and is set to rise. Could urban mining or degrowth help curb unsustainable practices?
Hard rock minerals like gold, silver, copper and lithium on public lands belong to the American public, but under a 150-year-old law, the US gives them away for free.
The common timber treatment CCA is made up of heavy metals copper, chromium and arsenic. They don’t decompose and leach into soil and water. Why does New Zealand still allow its use?
The current energy transition could herald a new copper world. But will it be a long-anticipated resource blessing or yet another global scramble for the precious metal?
Sally Innis, University of British Columbia; Benjamin Cox, University of British Columbia; John Steen, University of British Columbia, and Nadja Kunz, University of British Columbia
Simple economic modelling shows the mining industry would benefit from a carbon tax.
Afghanistan has vast mineral resources that have long attracted interest from outside countries, but a lack of infrastructure and political instability means they’re unlikely to aid its economy now.
In reacting to the pandemic, architecture can reclaim its impact by conceding its loss of connection with public health, looking beyond Western thinking for its references.
Huon pines in Tasmania have locked up significant amounts of mercury pollution from the state’s mining industrial history. And that can be released back to the atmosphere in bushfires.
The fossil fuel era won’t last forever. And a new set of countries will find their reserves of lithium, copper and rare earth metals are in high demand.
In the decades ahead, our mineral supply will still need to double or triple to meet the demand for electric vehicles and other renewable energy technology.