MINING - Pros and Cons

Is the pros of mining overcomes its devastating cons ? or is it better to prioritize culture,nature over some mineral resources?

First, there are several things we should know about the pros and cons of mining before we could conclude or say whether mining is good or bad to us and to mother nature. So let us first discuss what are the Pros of Mining:

Pros of Mining:

1.  Without Mining, we would not have Mineral Resource like Gold, Copper, Nickel and a lot more.
2.  Without Mining, most probably, we would not have resources in building our houses, our bridges 
3.  Without Mining, there would be no silver spoons, jewelries and the like.

  - As you can see, the pros of mining is very critical in our daily life because without mining, there would be no metals which is very critical in terms of building infrastructures like houses, buildings and bridges. Without mining, jewelries like diamond necklaces and gold rings would not exist which are products that has a high economic value.

   - And in economic scale, mining is good in terms of big companies willing to invest in mining here in the Philippines. More investors, more money..

Since we are done discussing the Pros of mining, we would know discuss the cons of mining

Is it enough if we prioritize it's pros and just forget about its cons?

Cons of Mining:

1. Environmental damage:  destroyed rice fields, mangroves and corals. Hole, mudslides and overflowing damn.
1. land - Holes and infertile lands are what's left from a mining place. Destroying natural wonders like mountains and  landscapes which we cannot bring back. Land slides and Deforestation as well which endangers not only the wild life but as well as people surrounding the mining site.  
2. water - contamination due to mining wastes that goes directly to bodies of water. affecting the lives of those people who drinks from those bodies of water. Also, kill animals that lives in the bodies of waters.
2. Indigenous communities and their surrounding peace - According to Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, our Tribes and people who still lives in our forests have the benefit  to live and own their lands. Our tribes does not want their ancestral lands to be destroyed and disrespected like that. They want peace in their lands without the intrusion of those miners. To them, their ancestral lands are sacred. They just want to continue their way of life.

Indigenous Peoples Rights Act / Republic Act No. 8371

-an act to recognize, protect and to promote the rights of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous people, creating a national commission of indigenous people, establishing implementing mechanisms, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes.

Mining Act/ Republic Act No. 7942

-an act instituting a new system of mineral resources exploration, development, utilization and conservation.

     We are not generalizing that all mining activities results to this devastating cons. these are just facts that are visible among those mining activities that do not care to their surroundings and their only goal is to profit.

       We may say that large investors are very good to our economy, but at the long run, when contracts are over, all whats left are the wasted environment which is irretrievable which was once a sanctuary to our wild life. Republic Act 7942 or the mining law states that these miners are punishable by law when they violates the environmental rights of our nature. the question is , does or government watches these miners properly and do they act according to our law without biases and corruption? 

Conclusion:

       We may conclude that Mining has it's good and bad effects to. Without it, we would not have buildings and houses but with it, we may have lesser and lesser natural wonders that our future generations would not be able to see. Do we have a choice to not mine? so far, none but we still can act. we can reduce mineral consumption and mineral demands and choose a more sustainable way like choosing alternatives in material in terms of constructions and the like. If we still cannot avoid using our mineral resources which is the more probably to happen, we can still help by recycling these minerals. Decomposing the material and then bringing it down to its basic element which is still 100% usable.

      We can still Act TODAY. NOT TOMMOROW. We would not want to have a wastelands provinces and mountains, Deforested nature and contaminated rivers. We can still CONSERVE. try to use what we have and do not demand for more mineral resources because in time, no one can tell whether it would still be available to us, conserve our environment and conserve our mineral resources. COMMIT. Commit in protecting our environment. Commit in protecting our indigenous communities. Commit in implementing our laws. Commit in trying to stop those illegal miners, and to filter those huge and destructive mining companies and lastly, CREATE. Create alternative materials. Create alternative mining ways which is more sustainable which means lesser mineral demands which also equates to more resources in the future. 

ACT NOW OR IT MAY BE TOO LATE

think about it

by: Ryan Christopher S. Reyes
** the video presented was original and was not copied from any other site

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