Mongolian Resources: Extraction vs. Conservation

Sometimes it seems that the planet is being increasingly divided between forces that want to extract and exploit resources and those that want to conserve them. This conflict is only growing more pronounced as increased needs for energy, minerals and other resources, lead to extraction and development in places where it has never occurred before.

Mongolia, once a distant and exotic land, is now experiencing a land rush as multinational corporations descend on it, trying to get their shovels into its rich and virgin ground. This has created a local redistribution of wealth as some Mongolians get on the money train, while others are decidedly left standing. As this article in The New York Times suggests, Mongolia needs to manage this transition thoughtfully or else it will end up like Nigeria with severe societal schisms and dislocations.

The search for resources has reached the very depths of the ocean floor as this second New York Times article explains. As if the oceans weren't struggling enough with ocean acidification and other issues related to climate change, these essential habitats will now have to deal with the inevitable release of tailings and other toxins into the water.

The release of bitumen—a particularly thick and noxious type of oil—occurred in Michigan in 2010 and the very impressive website, Inside Climate News, has a tremendous report on what happened to the people who lived in the Kalamazoo community where the spill occurred.

Maybe the Mongolians in charge of mining and extraction should read the Inside Climate News piece.