L3. Resource Impacts
Introduction
From what we learned in lesson 2 there seems to be no reason to panic about running out of resources any time soon. However, there may be other questions. Another question might be "Who owns or controls the resources?" or, "Will this relatively constant Reserves to Production Ratio continue if developing nations start consuming at the rate of developed countries?", or maybe "What is the environmental impact of all this resource consumption?" So many questions yet to answer.
Start by watching this Lesson 3 Introduction. (Note, there are no quiz questions specific to the lecture. The goal of the lecture is to explain some of the concepts in the lesson text below. Again, it is OK to watch it on a faster speed setting.)
Ownership and Control
Have you ever played the Catan? The game is based on the ownership of resources (bricks, sheep, minerals, and forests). The goal (through dice shakes and trading) is to gather resources so that you can build stuff (roads and settlements). The person that builds the most stuff wins the game.
Just like Catan, governments and businesses around the world see the value of owning and controlling resources. If you don't own or have access to natural resources, you can't develop your economy. This maybe as important of question as "Are we running out of the resource?" because 'running out' could mean that someone has it - just not us. Remember from Lesson 1 and 2 that the US imports several resources. Sometimes we import because it is the cheapest source of the material. This may be cheap labor in other countries, relaxed environmental regulations or maybe the resource is easy to access. Other times we import because we simply don't have the resource. China currently supplies 85% of the world's rare earth metals (90% of US supply) (Source Links to an external site., Source Links to an external site.). These rare earth metals are used in many of our electronic devices and have no good substitutes, and we don't have them. Going back to Lesson 1, Table 1, there are also resources that the US is 100% reliant on importing. Could this be a problem as serious as the global supply running out? Possibly. It is more political in nature, but still a real concern and often framed as a national security issue. Currently, there are import tarriffs on steel because the government felt we were getting to reliant on China and others for steel production. Import tariffs on steel (a tax on steel coming into the country) would help build our domestic production. Lots more could be said on this.
The energy crisis of the 1970s highlighted the importance of not relying too heavily on foreign countries for energy resources. During this time there was some political issues in the Middle east that slowed oil production. In addition US oil production slowed causing a shortage of petroleum and spike in prices. These high oil prices resulted in a significant slowing of the US Economy. This same situation could occur with other resources.
Figure 1. Historic Petroleum Prices. Grey bars are US economic slowdown (recessions). Most important is the spike in the mid 70's due to US production issues and dependence on others for oil. (Source Macrotrends Links to an external site.) (Source Wikipedia Links to an external site.)
Using More Resources Requires More Resources
As we saw last lesson, the Reserves to Production (R/P) ratio is a measure of "How many years before we run out?". This number has remained constant for most materials over the last several years. Will this trend continue with the increasing population and consumption rate in developing countries? This scenario of a constant R/P relies heavily on new technology but, at what cost? Remember, we extract the easy stuff first as this is most economical. Those places with a high recovery ratio are those that have a high proportion of the desirable material. For instance, a recent study on land disturbed for surface mining of coal showed that before 1998 in Central Appalachia "it took about 10 square meters to produce a metric ton of coal. By 2015, it was up to about 30 square meters." (Pericak et al. July 2018). The economics (price per ton) may not have changed, but the recovery ratio did, meaning 3 times more land disturbed for the same amount of coal extracted. In this case, it was mountaintop removal
Links to an external site. to access the coal (image above is mountaintop removal for coal mining). This lower recovery rate impacts the energy required to obtain the material. Currently, the energy for resource extraction and processing (lots of big equipment to do this work) comes from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas or petroleum) which means additional extraction of those finite natural resources. Do you see a potential problem here? More and more land, or water, or energy resources are required to extract the same amount of natural resources. Is this sustainable?
Environmental Impacts
We have discussed mining and extraction of minerals. This next video shows the magnitude of the process and gives some glimpses of the potential environmental impacts and the environmental regulatory process. This happens to be a video about iron ore mining but it could be mining for coal, diamonds, copper or any other mineral. A couple of definitions before you watch: 'Overburden' is the surface material removed to get to the ore. 'Tailings' are the what is left after the ore is crushed and the iron removed. Often the environmental concern is with these tailings. When it rains, the tailings can release chemicals that may impact water quality, so the runoff from these tailings must be stored for long periods of time (maybe 100s of years) and possibly require treatment.
Not required, but if you want to know about the next step of the process - from ore pellets to finished steel we suggest watching this video: STEEL: From Start to Finish Links to an external site.. It highlights the energy requirements (need for coal), the use of other materials (limestone), and use of water for making the steel.
Beyond extraction of the resources there are many other environmental impacts from our consumption. Typically, these impacts are evaluated or quantified for each stage of a products life - often referred to as a products' Life Cycle.
- Extracting or harvesting the raw material for the product
- Manufacturing or production of the product
- Use of the product (for instance, the use of a toaster requires ele3 Ectricity)
- End of Life or the recycling or disposal of the product
For example, a computer is made up of many different metals that had to be mined and processed, in addition to plastic that came from the extraction and processing of petroleum. These extraction and manufacturing steps required water and fossil fuel energy. Using the computer to view this lesson (use of the product) requires electricity from renewable sources or fossil fuels. Finally, the computer gets old and needs to be recycled or sent to the landfill. This also has an environmental impact.
Our focus thus far has been on the use of mineral resources used in products but similar impacts can be seen with production of food or harvesting of wood for building homes.
The environmental impacts for these various life cycle stages include:
- the physical disruption of land surfaces (e.g. mining, drilling, or tilling fields for agricultural production)
- the impacts on water quantity and water quality,
- the impacts on air quality including emissions of greenhouse gasses
These "environmental impacts" are not just about fish, owls, and polar bears. More importantly, the concern is not how consumption impacts land air and water, but how these impacts affect human health. Polluted water can affect aquatic life and that is important. But if the pollution ends up in our drinking water - that is a bigger impact.
Not in My Backyard
There is no way around it, everything we consume has some impact on the environment. There is not one without the other. Some products will have more or less environmental impact but there are always impacts. Some of these impacts are more local (land disruption, water quality or water quantity) while others, like air quality, cover much larger regions. Emissions of greenhouse gasses have a global impact. For instance, mining iron ore in China will impact the local water use and water quality in that area of the mine. However, the fossil fuel used to mine the iron ore will release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, a global impact. There are also differences in technologies, how the mineral or fossil fuel is extracted, which will result in different environmental impacts. Surface mining of coal will have one environmental consequence while underground mining of coal will result in different impacts.
There some regions or ecosystems that are more sensitive to local impacts. For example, a copper mine near a lake may pose a more significant environmental hazard than a copper mine in a dessert. The protest image shown is in regard to the NorthMet copper mine in Northern Minnesota. (Good summary Links to an external site. of the water quality risks if you want to learn more. No quiz questions.) The copper ore in this proposed mine contains large concentrations of sulfide (hence the term "sulfide mining"). Mining the ore results in large quantities of rock that are high in sulfur that are held in tailing ponds. This tailing water is very acidic and there is a risk it could contaminate surface water and groundwater in the area. Might it be better to mine the copper somewhere else that is less risky? Is that an option? Copper mines in Arizona and Chili are located in areas with no surface water (desert). Mining there might be considered a lower risk to the environment. Could these mines be expanded rather than opening new mines in Northern Minnesota that put water at risk? Maybe.
The map below notes that many mining areas of the world are also areas where fresh water is at risk. Mining 1000 kg of copper requires 70 cubic meters of fresh water. Chili, is one of those areas of water scarcity. Does this change your perspective on the mines in Minnesota?
Figure 2. Global Water Scarcity Map. (Unearthing Water Risks of the Global Mining Industry, Links to an external site.Circle of Blue.)
As consumers concerned about the environment, we are faced with tough decisions. We like our electronics, but not the copper mine. We love cheap energy, but don't want the environmental impacts of coal mining. Often the environmental protests to mining, drilling, or logging of a forest is local. "Save our Water!", "Save our Mountain!", "Save our Owl!" All are good causes, but we really need to look at the problem more globally. Not easy to do.
What Shall We do?
The picture is looking grim. Consumption is growing as are the related environmental impacts. Below are a few options listed in the required reading (Chapter 7), primarily with the goal of reducing consumption. It is primarily the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" mantra plus a bit more. Both consumers and companies making the product have some responsibilities.
Consumers:
- Reduce purchases of goods that are not needed. This includes not wasting of stuff that is purchased. Food waste (a topic for another day) is a big one.
- Reuse is a good option for a few products so will have limited benefit.
- Recycling is not as widely used as it could be and can have some real benefits for resource extraction. Steel recycling is a big one that has significant benefits. We do a pretty good job with that as cars and construction are big users of steel and most of that is recycled.
Producers:
- Material Use Efficiency: Example: Reducing the thickness of aluminum cans and plastic bottles. This change is primarily driven by the cost of the resource.
- Extended Life: Extending the life of an appliance, a computer, a vehicle, etc. can be beneficial. Unfortunately, there are no economic drivers for this. Companies want to sell stuff. However, if the purchase of raw materials were more expensive this may be a driver to extend the life of things.
Finally - and something that leads into the rest of the course is Materials Substitution. This is the "paper bag vs plastic bag" discussion. But it goes way beyond this. Plastic bags have some advantages over paper bags but what if we replace petroleum based plastics for plant based plastics? What if we replaced steel with wood or plant based carbon fibers? Are these more sustainable options? More to come on this!!
Lesson Reading: Please read Chapter 7 in Irresponsible Pursuit of Paradise. There will be some quiz questions from this reading.