by Joel Hirschhorn

Created on: December 03, 2008   Last Updated: December 05, 2010

No matter how rich or poor you are and no matter what your lifestyle is, you depend on all kinds of mining operations to produce the materials that end up in products you use. If someone does not dig materials out of the planet's ground modern life is simply impossible. Try to imagine living for even one day without, for example, using manufactured products that contain metals. No automobile, no electricity, no motors, no cell phone, no television, no radio, no canned food, no electrical appliances, no use of a doctor, dentist or hospital. Forget buying anything in any kind of store. And that's just for starters.

Civilization and human existence depend on mining operations all over the world. Mining is as essential for life as oxygen or water. To think of getting rid of mining for environmental reasons is just absurd, irrational and plain stupid. What we must do is seek "green mining."

Mining may have a bad reputation, but the metal ores, minerals and coal that it produces make it the basis for human existence. And drilling for petroleum is really just another form of mining. The issue is not whether mining is essential. It is whether mining is done using the best environmental practices. That means using technologies and practices that produce the least possible harmful air and water pollution as well as toxic wastes. And when any of these are inevitably generated, then it is a question of using the most modern and effective pollution control and waste management technologies.

In fact, enormous environmental progress has been made in recent decades. Today it is reasonable to speak of and expect mining companies to use "green" or environmentally preferred or sustainable technologies. And mining operations should also be designed and operated so that workers are not placed in unsafe conditions. Sure, to some extent, mining is inherently a dangerous type of activity. But good companies can use very safe practices that meet or exceed government regulatory requirements.

In looking at mining operations worldwide it is necessary for environmental organizations to identify and recognize mining best practices that can and should be used by all companies. In other words, there are precise ways to measure the least amount of pollutants and wastes per ton or pound of final produced resource. Best available technologies must be used to achieve these best practices.

Mining to extract a huge diversity of Earth's natural resources though out of sight for nearly all people is the price we must pay for using technology to make life both possible and enjoyable. Though very few people work in mining and live near it surely considerably less than one percent of the globe's population the rest of us have a moral obligation to pressure both government and industry to ensure that mining operations are both safe and environmentally clean. It is not acceptable to sacrifice a few people so that the vast majority benefit from mining. Mining is a must. And mining must be done right.

That means mining companies using best available technologies and practices already proven to be commercially viable. As we strive to live in a greener world causing less and less environmental harm, we must also expect mining operations to achieve better and better environmental performance.

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