What are Seabed Mineral Nodules?

Episode 66 March 07, 2022 01:02:01
What are Seabed Mineral Nodules?
Sustainability Now! on KSQD.org
What are Seabed Mineral Nodules?

Mar 07 2022 | 01:02:01

/

Show Notes

What are Seabed Mineral Nodules and Who Wants Them?

with Emily Jeffers, Center for Biological Diversity

On Sustainability Now! Sunday, March 6th, 5-6 PM

 

California Assembly Member Luz Rivas recently introduced a bill to ban mining of seabed nodules on 2,500 square miles of sea floor off the coast of California.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, critics say such mining would “kill marine life, damage habitats and pollute surrounding areas, and ultimately could have a negative impact on fishing and tourism, which together contribute more than $20 billion annually to the state’s economy.” Proponents argue that seabed mining could provide access to many metals used in cell phones and electric cars and would contribute to the coming green economy.

What is seabed mining and what are those mineral nodules that seem to promise a future full of green devices?  Join host Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Emily Jeffers, a Berkeley-based staff lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity.  We’ll explore why mineral companies are so gung ho about getting out there and scooping up those nodules.

Here are a few articles about the topic:

Elizabeth Kolbert, "Mining the Bottom of the Sea," The New Yorker, December 26, 2021.

Jessica Aldred, "The Future of Deep Seabed Mining," China Dialogue Ocean, February 25, 2019.

Kathryn A. Miller, Kirsten F. Thompson, Paul Johnston and David Santillo, "An Overview of Seabed Mining Including the Current State of Development, Environmental Impacts, and Knowledge Gaps," Frontiers of Marine Science 4 (2018): article 418.

Sustainability Now! is underwritten by the Sustainable Systems Research Foundation and Environmental Innovations.

Other Episodes

Episode 119

April 11, 2024 00:51:16
Episode Cover

Being in the World with Bees (or, What is it to Be a Bee?) with Professor Eve Bratman

Bees are in danger; what can we do? Tune into a Sustainability Now! rebroadcast from 2021 to hear a conversation with Eve Bratman, an...

Listen

Episode 117

March 17, 2024 00:55:26
Episode Cover

The Climate Change Resilient Vegetable Garden With Kim Stoddart

All of us—well, many of us—are backyard gardeners. And it’s planting season. Backyard gardens are not immune from the impacts of violent and unpredictable...

Listen

Episode 128

August 04, 2024 00:53:02
Episode Cover

Let’s go Fishin’! with Melissa Mahoney of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust

The Monterey Bay is the crown jewel of the Central California Coast. For well over a century, the Bay has been exploited for a...

Listen