Livres

Today, we are close to the critical moment when conventional economic growth becomes impossible on a finite planet, constrained by two parallel factors: resource depletion and pollution. Tthe depletion of fossil fuels and other mineral commodities is placing heavy constraints on both industrial and agricultural production. We are not running out of anything yet, but the cost of extraction is increasing, just as the damage that extraction causes to the ecosystem. On the other side, pollution is appearing in more than one form. Chemical pollution is growing in terms of heavy metals, endocrine-disruptors, and other poisoning substances, while climate change can be seen as another form of pollution generated by the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Une nouvelle ruée minière d'une ampleur inédite a commencé. Au nom de la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique, il faudrait produire en vingt ans autant de métaux qu’on en a extrait au cours de toute l’histoire de l’humanité. Ruée sur le cuivre en Andalousie, extraction de cobalt au Maroc, guerre des ressources en Ukraine, cette enquête sur des sites miniers du monde entier révèle l’impasse et l'hypocrisie de cette « transition » extractiviste.