The Miners

The Miners

Rare earth metals are essential for our modern life, whether in EV motors, cell phones, or in electronics in general. Mining these metals is notoriously difficult and dirty. How might a Solarpunk future address this issue? How might we get there from where we are today? Through this prompt we explore the realities of rare earth mining today and a few ways it might evolve into a sustainable future.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Miners

Links mentioned:

• https://www.escatec.com/blog/rare-earth-elements-electronics-manufacturing
• https://getrepowered.org/rare-earth-metals-recycle-technology/
• https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2019/3/234917-electronics-need-rare-earths/abstract
• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rare-earth-mining-renewable-energy-future
• https://www.snexplores.org/article/recycling-rare-earth-elements-hard-reuse-greener-technology
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213297X1730054X
• https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Bookchin

Music in this episode is: “Golden” and “Kelp Grooves” by Little Glass Men (CC BY)