SEG PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: IN MY BACK YARD - THE ROLE OF MINERAL RESOURCES FOR A HEALTHY SOCIETY

Many of us maintain a very high standard of living that is strongly dependent on foreign supplies of mineral resources, but we should not accept that mineral development is OK as long as it is in someone else's backyard. This does not make for healthy societies. We defer responsibility for adhering to our own high standards of environmental and social practices to other countries, including many that have much lower standards than us. At the same time, we restrict mineral development on public and private lands in our own country with an attitude that we don't want to disturb our own environment, or unsettle our own communities.

Today, we are more globally interconnected and interdependent than at any time in human history, and our global supply chains for mineral resources are highly dependent on economic cooperation. The US relies on imports of 67 nonfuel minerals that are critical to our lifestyle, 43 of which we import to supply over 50% of our needs. Until recently, we imported 100% of the rare earth elements (REEs) that enable our technological world, most of which we take for granted.

There are huge risks to an unhealthy attitude towards mineral development, but there are great opportunities for change as well. A broadly interconnected world can be held hostage to its weakest link, as demonstrated by the reaction to China's recent restriction on REE exports. It would be prudent, therefore, for a society to be as self-sufficient as practical. There are many opportunities ahead in the 21st century for us to approach mining more like a surgeon than a butcher and minimize the environmental footprint of mineral resource development to make mining a more desirable industry.

Every geoscientist inherently deals in mineral resources; we either use, study, search for, or produce them. We all have an obligation to tell the public why they are important, where they can be found, and how they should be produced - in a sustainable manner that maximizes the benefit to society. Due to our training and understanding of earth resources, this obligation is moral as well as practical. We have an opportunity to share our knowledge with the world and provide leadership for a more healthy global society. Finally, we need to clearly communicate and provide explanations that everyone can understand. Let's start in our own backyard.