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Deep Sea Mining not essential for renewables revolution

25 February, 2021

Source: Matangi Tonga
Author: Pelenatita Kara

Deep Sea Mining (DSM) is not essential for a renewables revolution. Research indicates that better managed land based mines, circular economies based on smart product and urban design, recycling and reducing demand are more than enough to meet the mineral needs into the future. Research from the University of Technology in Sydney demonstrates that a transition to 100% renewable energy worldwide by 2050 would still not require deep sea mining.

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Why a net-zero future depends on the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon

23 February, 2021

Source: The Conversation
Author: Anya M. Waite, Brad deYoung, Chris Milley and Ian G. Stewart

Most of us growing up along Canada’s East Coast never worried about hurricane season. Except for those working at sea, we viewed hurricanes as extreme events in remote tropical regions, seen only through blurred footage of flailing palm trees on the six o’clock news.

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Deep-ocean plastic is a haven for life

6 February, 2021

Source: The Economist

The ocean deep, where pressure is high, light absent and nutrients scarce, is often seen as a desert. But, as with other deserts, it has oases. Hydrothermal vents, methane-gas seeps and whale corpses are hot spots for marine wildlife. And observations reported in Environmental Science and Technology Letters by Song Xikun of Xiamen University, in Fujian, and Peng Xiaotong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ campus at Sanya, in Hainan, suggest these natural loci of biodiversity are now being joined by unnatural ones made of plastic.

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Amnesty urges bold action to clean up the battery industry

4 February, 2021

Source: Amnesty International

Ensuring clean and green battery supply chains must be a priority for businesses and governments during the post-pandemic recovery, Amnesty International said today. The organization has published a set of principles for ensuring that lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles and many electronic devices, and which are essential for tackling climate change, are not linked to human rights abuses or environmental harm. 

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Corporate deep-sea mining dreams threaten Mexico’s marine life

2 February, 2021

Source: Mexico News Daily
Author: Shannon Collins

Until recently, very little was known about the deep sea. Beyond the Midnight Zone — 1,000 and 4,000 meters below the water’s surface, where no sunlight penetrates — it was largely assumed that the seabed was essentially barren, barring a few creatures that generate their own light.

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