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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
Levels with four states in the United States—Hawaii, New Mexico, California, and Washington—having already enacted legislation requiring all electricity to come from clean sources by 2050.But the environmental impact in communities in which REE mining occurs may not be worth tackling, as viewed by some in China. It is rather counterintuitive that to solve environmental problems, companies are using methods that only further damage the environment, even if not emitting carbon dioxide.This complicated ethical problem requires deep consideration of who benefits from REE mining, who experiences its negative effects, and to what extent it is necessary. For example, if the communities experiencing the effects of REE mining are not receiving any of its benefits, then there is a substantial issue of justice at hand. If REE mining produces such substantial environmental impacts that it contributes to the climate problem more than it mitigates, then there is an issue of purpose. Finally, if the communities with REE mining are also the ones experiencing the benefits of green technology in abating climate change, then they may view the tradeoff as worth the costs. All in all, the costs and benefits of REEs are difficult to quantify.As businesses and communities grapple with these ethical questions, new innovations present easy opportunities to move away from REE mining. Harvard researchers have developed a new method for extracting REEs using bacteria rather than toxic chemicals to separate metals from each other. Likewise, researchers at Purdue University found a way to extract REEs from coal ash instead of mining for ores.Of course, these new methods have yet to be perfected. As society awaits further technological developments and ways to make these methods cost effective, more companies are committing themselves to using exclusively recycled REEs or are attempting to get rid of the need for REEs at all. Renault’s Zoe car used copper windings instead of magnets to avoid REE usage. Similarly, BMW’s fifth generation electric vehicle eliminated REEs. There is also a substantial opportunity for companies to start recycling REEs, as the United Nations reported a recycling rate of less than 1 percent for REEs. For example, Apple’s newest iPhone 12 is made from 98 percent reused REEs. It is up to us, as consumers, to choose more ethically produced products so we don’t replicate the same environmental issues of the past. Though green energy has its benefits, we cannot let it lull us into complacency with toxic mining practices. There are no simple solutions to this debate, but there are ways to hold companies accountable and mitigate the needs, and effects, of toxic mining.
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