Ernest Scheyder | The Real Costs Mining The Cobalt, Lithium, Copper & Rare Earths That Will Dictate The 21st Century

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#170 - Ernest Scheyder runs directly towards the impossible trade-offs of mining in the ‘War Below’...

The electrification of the economy is on the one hand very good. It means we can move away from consuming the carbon rich oil into our atmosphere… but it also means that we are going to need way more other stuff from the under the ground than we currently even know about. It will require mining 100’s of more sacred sites and 100’s of more beautiful vistas. 

Copper, lithium, cobalt and literally 100’s of other rare earths are all necessary components of batteries, electric cars, trucks, boats, even leaf-blowers… and this for a scale for 8 billion, soon to be 9 billion people…

If a sacred religious sight is built atop enough copper to secure your domestic supply… should you mine it?

If thousands of tonnes of lithium is built under a unique flower, almost certain to go extinct if you extract… should you do it?

And if you decide to play by environmental rules while everyone doesn’t… are you doing what’s right in the short term at the cost of whats best in the long?

These questions consume the book, and as well, this conversation.

So here is a veteran energy journalist for Rueters, and author of the War Below… Ernest Scheyder.

War Below – Ernest Scheyder

• 00:00 – Understanding Ernest Scheyder’s ‘War Below’
• 02:54 – Daniel Yergin & Geothermal Energy
• 05:21 – It’s Trade-Off’s All The Way Down (Mining, Policy Hypocrisy)
• 28:08 – Ernest’s Hesitation To Offer His Opinion
• 36:10 – Waste, Death & Bi-Products Of Mining
• 54:19 – Greenwashing & Child Labour
• 1:06:16 – Appreciation For The Miners
• 1:08:58 – Economic Protectionism
• 1:11:18 – Robert Friedland
• 1:12:36 – Final 3 Questions… Serendipity, Fictional Character, Country Bullish On

Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode

• Geothermal Starter Pack
• Erik Townsend – Energy Transition
• Investigative Journalist Starter Pack

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