
David Attenborough calls for ban on deep sea mining - maxwell
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/12/david-attenborough-calls-for-ban-on-devastating-deep-sea-mining
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dmix
I was curious how this would work, according to wikipedia:

> There are two predominant forms of mineral extraction being considered for
> full-scale operations: continuous-line bucket system (CLB) and the hydraulic
> suction system. The CLB system is the preferred method of nodule collection.
> It operates much like a conveyor-belt, running from the sea floor to the
> surface of the ocean where a ship or mining platform extracts the desired
> minerals, and returns the tailings to the ocean. Hydraulic suction mining
> lowers a pipe to the seafloor which transfers nodules up to the mining ship.
> Another pipe from the ship to the seafloor returns the tailings to the area
> of the mining site.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_mining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_mining)

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carapace
I feel that if we proceed with this it will signal Nature to kill us off. We
_just_ discovered these areas and we are already working to destroy them out
of blind greed. Look at the pictures of these things and how they operate.
Great big machines, juggernauts, ravaging the ocean floor. They're the
embodiment of techno-industrial greed w/o regard for the consequences.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Deep+sea+mining&atb=v110-1&ia=imag...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Deep+sea+mining&atb=v110-1&ia=images&iax=images)

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Symmetry
My understanding of how undersea vents work is that they're constantly
shifting with any given vent only lasting a few years before drying up while
new vents are constantly forming. There are a lot of important ecological
concerns around this, for instance if processing at sea surface dumps silt
back into the water that could cover animals deep in the sea or interfere with
krill eaters. But I'm not sure the destruction of the vents themselves is a
huge issue provided we aren't too rapacious.

~~~
catalogia
How long does any particular region of vents last? If these active geological
phenomena are anything like volcanos, some of them might well last for
millions of years, which is plenty long for biological evolution.

I'm not sure if this is the case, but it seems to me it _could_ be the case
that some vent regions are isolated from others, such that life adapted to one
cannot find it's way to another. This is certainly the case with many species
of troglofauna (cave dwelling creatures.) Destroying one group of ocean vents
may wipe out numerous species of life that exist nowhere else.

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amelius
Video interview here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EclnszfMdyQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EclnszfMdyQ)

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esarbe
I'm pretty sure that there will be a considered approach with regards to the
mining of resources in these almost pristine undersea areas that take into
consideration the uniqueness of these ecosystems and that potential profit
will be carefully weighted against the damage done by further loss of
biodiversity.

Haha, just kidding. The mining companies will probably preemptively poison
everything in range just to circumvent such a ban. Our predatory exploitation
of the ecosystem knows no boundaries. As long as there's a dollar to be made,
we'd cut our own air supply.

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monadic2
Does Attenborough have any credibility when it comes to triaging climate
change?

~~~
sitkack
As Director of the organization that released the report, I believe he does.

[https://cms.fauna-flora.org/wp-
content/uploads/2020/03/FFI_2...](https://cms.fauna-flora.org/wp-
content/uploads/2020/03/FFI_2020_The-risks-impacts-deep-seabed-
mining_Report.pdf)

Are you saying we should wait until we know the adverse effects of basically
strip mining the ocean floor and how releasing millions of tons of tailings
back into the sea might impact the ecosystem, thermal or carbon cycles that
operate there?

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yayana
Attenborough recently accepted criticism that he went too far in avoiding the
topic of environmental damage (i.e. finding angles to imply pristine
environments where they no longer exist.)

I would say that makes him a perfect person to raise these topics as his
previous bias is to avoid problems until they are beyond grim.

