Technologies advanced were directly linked to mining because they relied on each other. Advancements in electricity needed copper to work. The harvest of large amounts of copper caused negative impact on Montana like livestock poisoning. With the electric generator mining would change forever. Also with the advancement in electricity the Butte mining ended up happening. We think because of power we can control the underground environment a little more with each advancement pushing their limits just to make some dough. Hydraulic mining in a safer and faster way to mine but this has more benefits for the employers than the employees. “Hydraulic mining also exacted a heavy toll on the California environment “(Lecain, P.39) like water pollution.
The negative consequences of mining should always be addressed with the highest environmental investigation that can happen. We have seen over the decades that mining has caused more long run consequences than positive ones. Short term positives are the only ones that seem to matter in the past and now. We should really always weighing the risks and we should account for more negative consequences than what we see. Even when a mining site dose gets approved, observations and testing should be done during the whole process and many years after. Honestly I don’t believe that there could ever be a safe way to mine but in this day and age we still need it, “to not mine…was simply not an option” (Lecain, P. 25). We could get off of mining but it would take many generations.
I don’t think we can ever stop mining. When humans look at space exploration the very first thing that comes up is what kind of materials are located there. Even the Egyptians found ways to have quarries. To say we can stop mining is like saying we can stop farming. It has become a sad way of life for us, and almost every aspect of life depends on it. To me, mining sounds a lot like the trap that was set by the agricultural revolution. We know it’s bad for the environment, but we have trapped ourselves into a corner and completely depend on it. Now it’s time for technology to step up, and hopefully produces some band aids so we can continue mining in a manner that doesn’t ruin our planet.