Under the consideration of law of conservation of energy, which has never been violated so far, the total energy of the universe is constant and can neither be created nor be destroyed.
As the world attempts to transition from fossil fuels, one of the goals is to reduce emissions from greenhouses.
Could the law of conservation of energy be applied, albeit slightly differently? What if the the transition from fossil fuels created more pollution elsewhere?
"The rapid growth in global metal mining is crucial if the world is to make the transition to green energy", noted Chris Thomas, a professor at the University of Lincoln whose specialty is in spatial ecology and threats to the global water supply
The need for more metals
According to the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, green energy technologies like wind turbines and electric cars often require more mined minerals than the present fossil fuels infrastructure.
One electric car, for example, requires six times more metallic and mineral materials than an internal combustion engine car.
And a wind power plant requires nine times more of these mined compounds than a traditional gas-fired plant.
Historical mining already left a lasting environmental damage. Unless properly managed, the increased demand for green energy metals will leave an even great environment damage .
The reality: difficult but worth highlighting
According to a new study published in Science magazine, the team of researchers at the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom developed a new database, supported by on-the-ground testing, which now maps the hundreds of square miles' worth of rivers and floodplains contaminated by the industrial processes across the globe.
The devastation wrought by this contamination (caused by all mining activities to date), they found, was widespread, affecting approximately 297,800 miles (479,200 km) of river systems total and over 63,000 square-miles (164,000 sq-km) of floodplains worldwide.
North America: 123,280 miles of tainted river systems, and approximately 10.7 million acres of polluted floodplains.
The picture is equally eye-opening in South America.
South America: 50,766 miles of rivers and over 9.5 million acres of floodplain impacted.
How toxic waste looks from a drone
March 27, 2021 aerial view of an area contaminated with toxic waste generated by mining companies that have polluted the Tagarete river in Bolivia.
Presented without comments.
Pollution is a by product of industrial progress
It's naive to think that reducing pollution in one aspect will not cause pollution in another
TerraManta applauds the team at team of researchers at the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health at the University of Lincoln for their work to include the issue of industrial pollution in the dialog about the cost of transition to the green energy.
The demand for metal mining will only increase
It's therefore important to examine all sources of pollution and understand what TerraManta calls The Full Story.
Commodities ran, run, and will run the world
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