Temperate grasslands contain a wide diversity of different plant species that have lived here for millennia, creating healthy, rich soils, and making them one of the largest, most important carbon stores on the planet. While they make up less than 1% of BC‘s land base, they contained more than 30% of our at risk and endangered species, and of that, less than 1% of that is actually protected.
These ecosystems are key parts of a larger grassland network across North America, and as the climate changes, they make up critical north south migration corridors that allows species to adapt and shift.
Yet in this little grassland on Record Ridge, there is a proposed open pit mine will have devastating impacts on this ecosystem, the waterways below, and the communities nearby, and is a stark juxtaposition between different global priorities that we need to reckon with.
The justification for this mine is to obtain the magnesium contained in the serpentinite rock, even though the process for doing that is highly expensive, chemical-heavy, and still yet to be shown as commercially viable, all in the name of critical minerals for use in batteries and clean energy.
On the one hand, we need mining in order to get the critical minerals necessary to transition away from fossil fuels and create a green energy future, but on the other hand, we also need to keep ecosystems and their ecological function intact in order to maintain diversity resilience and adapt changing climate.
The broader situation we find ourselves in, from the ongoing health and ecological impacts of historical mining, to global anthropogenic climate change itself, are a result of myopic decision making that favours the short term profits of privatized business over the well-being of any other stakeholder involved, and the solutions to the problems we face will not be found through this same type of arrogant, short-sighted thinking.
This isn’t about being anti-mining, it’s about doing things right.
We need to find a way to do things better, and that begins by thinking differently about the way we do things today, so that we can take constructive action towards a better tomorrow.
https://www.saverecordridge.ca/
#climate #climatecrisis #mining #cleanenergy #mine #dobetter #ecosystem #ecology #science #grassland #balance
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.