Mineral Resources and Sustainability

1. Mineral Resources and Sustainability BAESI January 29, 2011

2. What is “sustainability”?

3. What is Sustainability? • Most popular definition of sustainability can be traced to a 1987 UN conference: Sustainable development "meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. Social and intergenerational equity

4. One Model http://www.macalester.edu/sustainability/images/circles.gif

5. A Better Model? http://www.macalester.edu/sustainability/images/circles.gif

6. Use of Natural Resources Human consumption is outpacing Earth’s capacity to replenish resources and to absorb waste Consumption and Well-being “The economies of mass consumption that produced a world of abundance for many in the twentieth century face a different challenge in the twenty-first: to focus not on the indefinite accumulation of goods but instead on a better quality of life for all with minimal environmental harm.” How to meet people’s needs while dampening the environmental and social costs associated with mass consumption? http://www.worldwatch.org/node/810

7. Mineral Resources: Challenges • Nonrenewable • Finite resources and growing demands • Population growth • Supply shortage due to growing global industrialization • More developed countries consume disproportionate share of resources • Uneven distribution of the resources and consumption • Wars fought over natural resources

8. World Mineral Supply • Technology often allows more access to difficult or low grade ore deposits • Less developed nations are striving to achieve comparable standards of living as the technologically advanced countries enjoy • Future mineral-resource shortages will occur and cause international tension • Recycle • Reduce consumption rate

9. Options for Sustainability Recycling Can it be collected? What is the cost to re-use? How much energy is required? Exploration - Constantly search for new deposits keep one step ahead (oil companies) Find a substitute - different or alternative sources Do without http://www.uky.edu/AS/Geology/clepper2/120/

10. Aluminum chemically inert - will not corrode or dissolve light, easy and cheap to transport Easy to recycle because it is usually used in pure form, meaning there are no other metals to separate 95% savings in energy compared to mining of ore Zinc too often combined with other metals in products too difficult and expensive to recover Examples of Recycling http://www.uky.edu/AS/Geology/clepper2/120/

11. Mineral Resources in YOUR Life • Do you have a cell phone? How long do you use a phone before you throw it away? • What resources are needed to • manufacture it? • package it? • transport it to the store? • What happens when you throw it away?

12. Life Cycle Analysis • Follow the “life story” of a product from it beginning to its end • Materials Exraction • Packaging and Transport • Disposal or reuse Source: The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

13. Life Cycle of a Cell Phone http://www.epa.gov/osw/partnerships/plugin/images/lc_600px.jpg

14. Order Life Cycle posters from the EPA: Celle Phone, CD/DVD, Soccer Ball

15. What DO CELL PHONES HAVE TO DO WITH WAR AND GORILLAS?

16. The following slides were modified from PowePoint slides available at: http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/curriculum-making/teaching-ideas/me-and-my-mobile/

17. “Blood Cell Phones”? • Coltan(industrial name for columbite–tantalite) is used for vital components in mobile phones. • Coltan mining areas can be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo- mining could have severe environmental repercussions on the forests and wildlife in the area, in particular the gorilla. • Coltansmuggling has also been implicated as a major source of income for the military occupation of Congo

18. Cell Phones and Sustainability Environmental Impact? Social Impact? Environmental Impact?

19. Close up of a huge pile of computer keyboards waiting to be scrapped. These are likely to have been thrown away in Europe, US or Japan and then dumped in China because it is cheaper to dump this hazardous waste in China than dispose of it properly. Source: Greenpeace Thrown Away- Where is ‘Away’?

20. Electronic waste (E-Waste) or "Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment" ("WEEE") • 20-50 million tonnes of electronic products are discarded globally every year. Put into containers on a train it would go once around the world! • Every year, hundreds of thousands of old computers and mobile phones are dumped in landfills or burned in smelters. Thousands more are exported, often illegally, from the Europe, US, Japan and other industrialised countries, to Asia. • The world is consuming more and more electronic products every year. This has caused a dangerous explosion in electronic scrap (e-waste). • Not only developed countries generate e-waste; Asia discards an estimated 12 million tonnes each year.

21. Effects of E-waste A Chinese child sits amongst a pile of wires and e-waste. Children can often be found dismantling e-waste containing many hazardous chemicals known to be potentially very damaging to children's health. 08 March 2005. Guiyu. China Source: Greenpeace

22. E-waste effects • If toxic chemicals and heavy metals cannot be disposed of or recycled safely they can end up polluting the environment if they are burnt or left in the ground to decay. • Workers at scrap yards, some of whom are children, are exposed to a cocktail of toxic chemicals and poisons.

23. Your Lifestyle • Recycle, Reduce, Re-use. • Dispose of objects correctly. • Look at the sorts of things you throw away and brainstorm the things you could make with the rubbish instead. • Look for companies that offer customers environmentally friendly products. Many now recognise the importance of being aware. • Visit the RSA WEEE man website. Examine your personal impact on the problem of e-waste.

24. Activities • Write a newspaper article about the problems of e-waste: use examples of objects and places. • Create a chart to record what you and your family has thrown away recently. Where was it thrown?