How do we balance the environmental and social benefits of the new technologies versus the costs and benefits of mining and extraction?
Mineral Wealth: How do we balance the environment and societal benefits of the new technologies versus the costs and benefits of mining and extraction?
The products that we use for new clean and digital technologies (such as wind turbines, low energy lighting, battery-powered cars, mobile phones, computer tablets) contain a wider range of elements than many traditional technologies. All require additional resources to be mined. The dilemma will seek to answer how we balance the environmental and social benefits of the new technologies versus the costs and benefits of mining and extraction? Themes that will be investigated include the supply and demand of long-term resources, the environmental impact and remediation of mining, water use and conservation in mining, the energy and carbon footprint of mining and extraction, the social impact of mining – in good and bad ways, the role of mining in economic development and many others.
Lead academic: Professor Frances Wall
Anchor academic: Dr Elena Simakova
Taster session
Date: 2 November
Time: 12:00 - 13:00
Location: Forum Auditorium
Description: In this session, students will have an opportunity to engage in debate based on TED TALK-inspired presentation and Q&A. We will ask students to use their mobile phones to interact live via Twitter and will bring the twitter feeds on the screen to look at opinions. Students will be encouraged to tweet questions even before the session. The session’s overall objective is to make students think about the pros and cons of mobile technologies and connect the debate to the diverse issues associated with their production and uses. The 21st century will have to tackle these issues effectively, and so the students will have an opportunity to tap into the dilemmas of Mineral Wealth and possible solutions like Fair Trade. The invited speaker is Bandi Mbubi, who will give a talk based on his position statement:
“We demand fairtrade food and fairtrade clothes.
It is time to demand fairtrade phones."
What has this to do with the Congo? Well, almost every mobile phone contains the element tantalum, which may have come from coltan mines in the Congo. This natural wealth could bring many benefits to the ordinary people of the Congo, but instead it is funding armed conflict and horrific abuses.
Twitter: @congocalling and the hashtag #coltandilemma
The session will be introduced by Dr. Elena Simakova, University of Exeter Business School, and attended by Professor Frances Wall and Dr Kathryn Moore who will set the debate in the wider context of mineral wealth. The cross campus ‘Mineral Wealth’ Grand Challenge will culminate at the Eden Project, where the inquiry groups from Exeter and Cornwall will unite for a thought-provoking workshop in order to place their findings in the wider context.
Sign up: If you miss this session you can view it on ELE.
If you wish to pick this dilemma sign up through My Career Zone from 5th November.
Bandi Mbubi
Bandi Mbubi is the Director of the Manna Society, the largest day centre for homeless people in South London and is also a Trustee of Church Action on Poverty. He was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire. He spent the first 21 years of his life there, experiencing first hand the political unrest and oppression which have since worsened throughout the region. As a student activist, Bandi suffered persecution and fled, seeking political asylum in the UK. But Bandi has kept his home country on his radar, noting how the mining of tantalum has fuelled the ongoing war there in which 5 million have died. In a powerful, thought provoking speech at TEDxExeter in April 2012, Bandi laid bare how conflict minerals mined in the Congo are fuelling the ongoing war there. It was greeted by huge enthusiasm and interest. While Bandi sees the cell phone as an instrument of oppression, he knows that phones can also bring great freedom. And so he has formed CongoCalling.org, a campaign to inspire both the public and companies that make electronics to pay attention to how tantalum used in consumer electronics is mined and traded. He advocates the enforcement of pre-existing UN regulations on illicit mineral trade and that mineral supply chains be vigorously regulated.
Inquiry Groups
If you sign up for this dilemma you will have the opportunity to work in an inquiry group focusing on one of these areas(please note these are still under discussion so may change).
1. The story of the mobile phone - visualising and narrating the life cycle of a mobile phone in displays /exhibition/storytelling
A mobile phone is so much more than a piece of technology and parts it is made off, it affects the lives of miners, assembly line workers, corporate bosses, the end users and the environment in many ways.
2. The social life of a mobile phone - Marketing proposal for ethical mobile phones
Investigating the lives, values and motivations of makers and users of mobile phones and consider solutions for marketing, label design, CSR etc.
3. Fairtrade – Fair enough? - briefing to Congo Calling
Is Fairtrade accreditation the ultimate method to manufacture mobile phones that are free of ‘conflict’ minerals? Advise Congo Calling on the best way forward in a presentation and briefing paper.
