In the article, LeClain brings up the need for copper in the United Sates and points out the benefit it has in clean energy. It is an undeniable fact the the need for precious materials such as iron copper and gold are essential and completely needed to run our country. But the places that we need to sacrifice in order to extract these materials come from extreme environments i.e. Alaska. Before modern times, it was impossible to extract copper and other materials from the frozen ground. Then the development mining was taking off and we were able to extract copper but left a destroyed and trashed environment because of this i,e, Butte. So the more we develop mining tech to get to hard to reach places it puts the environment at risk.
Not matter how we approach extracting material, it’s going to leave a scar. The best way we approach mining is looking it will have on the environment. If the mine is going to completely devastate the animals are a large amount of vegetation, then it’s not a good idea. The amount of impact a mine could have on an environment could put the world in serious jeopardy. I worked in Alaska and up there, there is serious controversy about a mine that could kill off the world largest salmon run. Thousands of people would lose there jobs, and an entire natural resource would never return.
First off I like to start off saying that I enjoy reading your blog. I like that you pointed out that we are able to mine in places where no one has before. Not only can we now mine is frozen land but we can go deeper than we ever have before. I have not seen the negative effects of mining first hand. Most i have seen are the tourist attractions in Montana so I think it’s really amazing that you worked in Alaska and has seen the argument first had.