EDUCATING FOR OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: A MINERAL RESOURCES PERSPECTIVE

Climate changes are one of the biggest problems facing our present and future generations. Addressing this requires a change to zero or low carbon energy production techniques, known as the energy transition. This is typically considered to be a positive move towards addressing our impacts on the Earth, but the mineral intensity of the energy transition and the impact of the extraction of these resources are often not addressed. For example, to limit global warming to below 2ºC, the production of lithium, required for energy storage, will need to increase by nearly 500% by 2050 (Hund et al. 2020). While geoscientists are aware of this intersection of sustainability and geosciences, many workers outside of our field are unaware. To address this lack of knowledge I developed a course on Mineral Resources for Sustainable Development to educate future geoscientists, Earth scientists, environmental scientists and sustainability scientists on the social, environmental and economic issues associated with extraction of mineral resources, with a focus on materials required for the energy transition.

This contribution will discuss topics covered in the course as well as the challenges and rewards of educating on the intersection of mineral resources, economic geology, mining and sustainability science in a liberal arts environment for students with a diverse range of prior knowledge and experiences. The goals of the course were achieved by education through group and individual research, culminating in the writing of a report on a real-world ore deposit. The successes of the course were marked by highlights such as sustainability science students educating their peers on the mineral intensity of the energy transition in other classes and the ability of all students to describe how mineral extraction can contribute both negatively and positively towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and determine the overall net effects in the context of opening a mine at a real-world potential economic deposit.

Reference:

Hund, K., La Porta, D., Fabregas, T.P., Laing, T., Drexhage, J, 2020, Minerals for Climate Action: The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition, World Bank Publications, 112 p.