Why do we mine the Earth & who uses the products of mining?
Everything we get comes from this earth. We can "Grow" it, "Kill" it, or "Mine" it. If you want to boil that down even further, we Mine it or Kill it because If you Grow corn you have to kill it for food. Sounds really cruel but that's the truth of the matter.
Mining comes in many different forms. I don't know them all but I can name several forms. Deep mines are holes down under the ground. A drift mine is a form of deep mine that starts in on the side of a hill and goes under the ground horizontally. A strip mine (or surface mine) is where each layer, trees & brush, grass & topsoil, subsoil, & rock; are removed in layers & piled up until you get down to the product. Most people don't think about it but Drilling, like gas and oil wells; is also a form of mining. You just change the size and shape of your mine to a long slender shaft.
So those are some common types of mines that are at work all around the world. So who benefits from mines? Everyone! How? Let's have a look.
If you are reading this on a computer, 48% of the electricity generated comes from Coal. That is just pretty close to Half of all the electricity. So a way to look at that is if ten people are reading this, five are using coal. How about the five who AREN'T? They most likely are getting their electric from Gas, Oil, or Nuclear power which the fuel is still mined. OK, so how about the guy who is running off of Solar, Wind, Hydro, or Geothermal? Can these people claim that they are being completely Eco-Friendly and NOT using mining? Even the most natural of these, Water & Wind, still use mining. Hydro usually uses huge dams to hold the water back to create the pressure needed to turn the turbines. A tremendous amount of mining is needed to obtain the rock, concrete, steel, and other materials used to build the dam. Coal, oil, and gas are used to Mine, Refine, and Transport all of these materials. The same goes for all of the wires, cables, switches, and other components used to transport the electricity to your wall socket. Wind power also requires massive amounts of mining to obtain the ore to build the huge wind mills. Coal, Oil, and Gas are used to refine the ore, assemble the products, transport them to the location, set them up, and maintain them. They also have all the wires, cables, switches, etc. that any other form of power has to get the power to your home.
So I hope this shows that no matter what form of power you use, you are also using mining. Even the guy that doesn't use a computer depends on mining. If he or she uses a pencil & paper to communicate, mining is involved. The pencil & paper were made from wood that was harvested using equipment that ran on gas, oil, or electric. The wood was transported, refined, hauled, and delivered to stores all using mined fuels. Once in the store the lights, cash registers, heating & cooling systems, even the materials used to build the store, all were mined and use fuel.
None of this makes mining any better or worse for the environment. How we mine can help. Please visit my other pages to see how much effort is put into reducing detrimental impact on the environment and even improving many areas after mining is complete.
Click on the links at the top of the page to look at other aspects of mining.
You can also look here, Mining Information; to see just how much we all depend on mining. If you click on the link it will open in a separate window that you can close and you’ll be right back here.
Everything we get comes from this earth. We can "Grow" it, "Kill" it, or "Mine" it. If you want to boil that down even further, we Mine it or Kill it because If you Grow corn you have to kill it for food. Sounds really cruel but that's the truth of the matter.
Mining comes in many different forms. I don't know them all but I can name several forms. Deep mines are holes down under the ground. A drift mine is a form of deep mine that starts in on the side of a hill and goes under the ground horizontally. A strip mine (or surface mine) is where each layer, trees & brush, grass & topsoil, subsoil, & rock; are removed in layers & piled up until you get down to the product. Most people don't think about it but Drilling, like gas and oil wells; is also a form of mining. You just change the size and shape of your mine to a long slender shaft.
So those are some common types of mines that are at work all around the world. So who benefits from mines? Everyone! How? Let's have a look.
If you are reading this on a computer, 48% of the electricity generated comes from Coal. That is just pretty close to Half of all the electricity. So a way to look at that is if ten people are reading this, five are using coal. How about the five who AREN'T? They most likely are getting their electric from Gas, Oil, or Nuclear power which the fuel is still mined. OK, so how about the guy who is running off of Solar, Wind, Hydro, or Geothermal? Can these people claim that they are being completely Eco-Friendly and NOT using mining? Even the most natural of these, Water & Wind, still use mining. Hydro usually uses huge dams to hold the water back to create the pressure needed to turn the turbines. A tremendous amount of mining is needed to obtain the rock, concrete, steel, and other materials used to build the dam. Coal, oil, and gas are used to Mine, Refine, and Transport all of these materials. The same goes for all of the wires, cables, switches, and other components used to transport the electricity to your wall socket. Wind power also requires massive amounts of mining to obtain the ore to build the huge wind mills. Coal, Oil, and Gas are used to refine the ore, assemble the products, transport them to the location, set them up, and maintain them. They also have all the wires, cables, switches, etc. that any other form of power has to get the power to your home.
So I hope this shows that no matter what form of power you use, you are also using mining. Even the guy that doesn't use a computer depends on mining. If he or she uses a pencil & paper to communicate, mining is involved. The pencil & paper were made from wood that was harvested using equipment that ran on gas, oil, or electric. The wood was transported, refined, hauled, and delivered to stores all using mined fuels. Once in the store the lights, cash registers, heating & cooling systems, even the materials used to build the store, all were mined and use fuel.
None of this makes mining any better or worse for the environment. How we mine can help. Please visit my other pages to see how much effort is put into reducing detrimental impact on the environment and even improving many areas after mining is complete.
Click on the links at the top of the page to look at other aspects of mining.
You can also look here, Mining Information; to see just how much we all depend on mining. If you click on the link it will open in a separate window that you can close and you’ll be right back here.