#environmentaism

The new leadership of Brazilian mining association Ibram looks to focus on ESG commitments. 

Among the priorities are operational safety, sustainability, respect for people and the preservation of the environment, including combating illegal mining.

“The role of mining is not just strategic, it is not just a public utility, it plays an important role in the country's development, in generating employment, income, contributing to promoting justice, sustainability, respect for the environment. This sector is committed, it is on the side of the law, on the side sustainability," said Raul Jungmann when taking over as executive president of Ibram.

At the same time, the CEO of Anglo American in Brazil, Wilfred Bruijn, took over as Ibram’s chairman, while the CEO of Lundin Mining, Ediney Maia Drummond, became Ibram's vice president.

StingRAY wave power system

Columbia Power’s StingRAY wave power system is meant to be deployed in water depths over 60m and arrayed in “farms” much like wind turbines. The wave farms are usually located at least 1-2 miles from shore; away from the coastline and the sensitive habitats contained there.

At a high level, the StingRAY captures energy from each passing wave and produces electricity on-board the device. The electricity generation process includes a series of steps starting with the transfer of captured energy from the forward and aft floats to two rotary, low-speed, high-torque electric generators on board the StingRAY. The generated power is then conditioned to stable, electric-grid-compatible output. In a wave farm, this electricity is centrally collected in an offshore “sub-station” for transmission ashore and connection to the grid.

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Sustainable agriculture takes many forms, but at its core is a rejection of the industrial approach to food production developed during the 20th century.

This system, with its reliance on monoculture, mechanization, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, biotechnology, and government subsidies, has made food abundant and affordable. However, the ecological and social price has been steep: erosion; depleted and contaminated soil and water resources; loss of biodiversity; deforestation; labor abuses; and the decline of the family farm. (National Geographic, http://is.gd/N1JGrs)

It is interesting that the subtle association made in media communication between "the 20th century" and the decline in the family farm. It is as if the typical discussion of "back in My Day" consistently rears its head when identifying and critiquing present social and economic problems. Prior to our collective concern over the erosion and decay of our natural resources, notions of living off the land and being a part of a rural community were often presented as though a quaint, far-away ideal. Though farms have always existed, those who live in urban centers and write for newspapers and online news sources have often "remembered" it as though farms belonged to a distant place or time. Perhaps this was merely a reflection of society's collective understanding of what a farm was.

Now we must all switch gears. Now, as both writers and readers, we are forced to rethink our previous dismissal of "farming" and allow room for understanding today's "agricultural industry" instead. We must grasp the concept that our cities have been fed efficiently and affordably by employing the same regimes of corporate industry we are accustomed to in our urban lives. The association with Big City Bustle is kept separate from our notion of Quaint and Quiet Farm Life. Increasingly we are shown, by way of media communications, that this mental separation cannot exist if we are to fully comprehend the ways in which agriculture has changed, and must change again. The use of pesticides is one prime example of the ways in which the agricultural industry has managed to maintain the demands of its consumers, and the difficulties of its production process. Now that this silent system has been fine-tuned to near perfection, we as consumers are being increasingly aware of its existence. With our enhanced appreciation for the capitalist structure of agriculture, we the consumer are conflicted: Yes, we want to eat. No, we don't want cancer. Yes, I want to keep paying what I'm paying for an apple. No, I don't want to pollute our land.