Mining and Green Economy: Impacts on Society and Environment

Mining and Green Economy: Impacts on society and environment

        Nowadays, the increasing populations are caused many problems in environment and society so the people around the world should cooperate together to protect for their future. Green Economy is one of the concepts that environmental organization announce for guideline the people how to save the earth. This is the most important thing that people should do and concern about. One operation that should be worry is about the mining operations that make a lot of pollution and causes of deforestation and also impact on society. The environmental organization concerned about it so they think the new idea to adapt mining and green economy together. This report will show you what is the mining, what is the green economy and how to use green economy in mining operation.

Mining is the extraction of minerals and metals from earth such as gold, silver, diamonds manganese, copper, and tin. Minerals and metals are very valuable goods. Gold, silver, and diamonds are used to make jewelry. Tantalum is used in cell phones and laptops. Mining occurs in many countries around the world: Asia, America, Europe and Africa. South Africa is well known for mining diamonds. Mining is business that people receive a lot of income but mining is very destructive to the environment and it is one of the main causes of deforestation. Mining activity makes trees and vegetation are cleared and burned If the forest is destroyed, it not only affects the habitat of the animals but also cause the flow of water in many cities because when huge raining, doesn’t have the trees to absorb the water so it is easy to occur flood. Mining also cause the pollution in the air and water because the mining operations use huge bulldozers to extract the metals and minerals from the soil. When cluster the extractions, they use chemicals such as cyanide or mercury and these chemicals go through pipes and are often discharged into rivers, bays, and oceans. This pollution causes the contamination in aquatic animals and cause human and animals have some disease because eating the contaminate food. Mining also cause the erosion and sedimentation because the mining operation destroy the surface of soil so soil particle are detached from their source of origin. The erosion and sedimentation affect soil organism, vegetation. The mining operation not only impact environment but also impact society. The history showed that the various gold and diamond rushes have brought death and
danger to the local populations who living in the place that have the gold and diamond because gold and diamond are very valuable so the people want to possess them. Human can killed and do the worse things or became the evil because of gold and diamond. Mining comes along with its promise of wealth and jobs but the person who have mine will get the huge risk such as impact on health, displacement of other present and/or future local economic activities, alteration of social relationships and worker. The people who do the mining operation or living near become sick.  They develop skin rashes, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.  In fact, the symptoms of mercury poisoning are very similar to the symptoms of malaria.  Many people who cannot afford to go to a doctor, or who live in a village where a doctor is not accessible, are often not treated for their illnesses and some people died. If the husband is the mining’s worker, he often leaves his wife and children in search of work because he has to living in place near mine. This means that husband can stay with wife and children. This may be cause the social problem for example the husband or wife is unfaithful, the children are aggressive, etc.