• SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    6 months ago

    You cannot cleanly mine nuclear fuel. You cannot cleanly store nuclear waste.

    solar panels and wind turbines famously do not require any colossal amounts of mining of hazardous materials in developing countries

    all those rare earth elements that China is processing magically rose up out of the ground in their purified form instead of scarring the landscape and poisoning the water

    human existence on this planet necessities environmental destruction until asteroid mining and orbital habitats become viable. you can pretend that X solution has little environmental impact while Y is extremely dangerous and bad but your opinion does not impact a 12 year old Congolese worker digging cobalt out of the earth with his bare hands in the slightest. the green revolution will be paid for in blood and contaminated soil and giant quarries, just as the fossil fuel revolution was paid for in blood and oil spills and carbon dioxide. of course, I think it’s worth it, but it’s generally not my blood being spilled nor my land being contaminated or quarried