If deep-see mining could be this risky, what rules are in place to mitigate it? Alarmingly, in most of the ocean, NONE Barron's Metal Company is taking advantage of provisions set to protect small developing nations & making deals with tiny islands like Tonga and Nauru to “sponsor” the mining. 10/
The Metal Company commissioned research, which - lo and behold - concluded the damage would be minimal. Meanwhile, vastly more research it didn't commission says the opposite. One long study simulated nodule extraction, and even 26 years later the ecosystem failed to return to its previous state. 9/
The mineral nodules are home to an immense variety of species, so removing them could do grave harm. The extracting process itself is so intrusive, it could irreversibly disturb the whole ecosystem. Or you can listen to a mining company CEO who calls the ocean floor "a desert". 8/
We live in a world where billionaires with messiah complex dream up grandiose schemes that are self-serving and absurd & those who've been elected to represent the people not only fold and clear path for them, but funnel public money to them, even as the media celebrates them. 7/
What's up with Australian mining tycoons? Here's another one, playing hero in Gaza, dreaming of solving hunger with his technocratic fantasy - presenting starvation as a problem of logistics, as opposed to intent. There's no technological solution to ecocide, no technological solution to genocide 6/
Barron is zeroing in on one of the few remaining environments on Earth that is still close to pristine, and extracting these nodules can cause irreparable harm. So maybe we should not just stand back and watch some rich megalomaniac throw open the door to commercial scale plunder. 5/
“Gerard Barron - CEO of The Metals Company, which leads the deep-sea mining charge - allegedly hired a marketing firm to portray him as an Australian Elon Musk, whom he considers a once-in-a-generation genius. That gives you some hints of where this story is about to go.” 4/
The ocean floor is full of deposits of critical minerals that can be used to manufacture things like batteries for electric cars. And deep-sea mining companies are now scrambling to get their hands on what they love to describe as “a battery in a rock”. 3/
“It is beyond time that we stopped treating the deep ocean as something to exploit, and start treating it for what it really is – a mind-blowingly vast, virtually unknown world within our world, filled with beauty and wonder.” watch 🌊 DEEP-SEA MINING 2/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW7C...
John Oliver discusses deep-sea mining, whether or not it’s worth doing, and which undersea creature he most wants to eat. Connect with Last Week Tonight online... Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens: www.youtube.com/lastweektonight Find Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would: www.facebook.com/lastweektonight Follow us on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news: www.twitter.com/lastweektonight Visit our official site for all that other stuff at once: www.hbo.com/lastweektonight
🌊 Billionaire technocrats are circling around the next pristine space to exploit and ruin for profit. They claim lofty goals - saving climate, ending poverty - while arrogantly disregarding science +taking advantage of small, already plundered nations in the global south to secure mining rights 🧵 1/
