The Consumption Conundrum: Driving the Destruction Abroad Our
high-tech products increasingly make use of rare metals, and
mining those resources can have devastating environmental
consequences. But if we block projects like the proposed Pebble
Mine in Alaska, are we simply forcing mining activity to other
parts of the world where protections may be far weaker? Every
time someone pushes the on-button on an electronic device, there
is an expectation that the unit will power up quickly and
display images in vibrant color. There is the further
expectation, especially when using electronic devices for
communications such as email access, web downloading, and
texting that the response time will be immediate. We live in an
age of technological arms races in which manufacturers gain
market edge by creating products that are faster, have more
applications, have a broader network reach, and generally do
more. The processing capacity of digital electronic devices
doubles about every two years (Moore’s Law), and this ca