Techno-Fix. More Like TechNO-Fix

  1. From my understanding, LeCain does not like techno-fixes of any kind. As stated in the text, “But in retrospect the techno-fixes can be seen to have often disguised the full magnitude of the environmental problems and thus served to justify the continued operations of the smelter industry.” He obviously thinks techno-fixes are a coupout to not have to actually fix the problem that mining and smelting does to the environment and even people. He sees that the problem is not getting fixed but in a way getting worse because the smelting and mining, that caused the problems in the first place, are keeping the problems there. He knows that the smelting companies get away with it because it does get better until it gets worse all over again.
  2. I personally think yes we do still need copper and other metals that are mined because we use them in many different appliances and piping. With these materials we have further advanced the technological capability for human kind. Unfortunately we do have to deal with the aftermath and destruction of the mining and smelting companies, but I do think it is worth it. I do agree with LeCain though, because the techno-fixes are not good and we, as a smart race for the most part, can come up with a better way of getting rid of the waste caused by the mining and smelting.

1 thought on “Techno-Fix. More Like TechNO-Fix”

  1. Hi Ayla,

    Do you think we would be able to come up with synthetic materials if we banned the mining of copper and other minerals? If we were able to we would still have to deal with cleaning up the disasters from our previous actions. However, ultimately we would stop causing immediate damage to the planet and transition to focus on reversing the damage we have done. The Berkeley pit in Butte is an excellent example. Although the city has a toxic pit of waste a current company (that is still active in Butte) refuses to dump their waste into it. Instead, they are creating another pit nearby. Their reasoning is that they would fill the Berkley pit by 2025. Obviously this is a major issue, and one we should focus on. Do you think we could transition to that if we banned mining the materials we currently do?

    I thought your paragraph on was extremely well worded.

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