Raréfaction des métaux : demain, le « peak all » Merci à la rédaction du magazine Science & Vie, qui propose ce mois-ci une enquête sur un sujet essentiel que je me désespérais de trouver le temps de traiter : le déclin des réserves mondiales de métaux (précieux ou pas). Hé oui, le pétrole n’est pas la seule matière première que menace le prurit de la société de consommation. Le cuivre, le zinc, l’or et l’uranium figurent parmi les principaux métaux dont les ressources mondiales semblent en voie d’épuisement. Une mine de cuivre moderne, aux Etats-Unis. Parmi les grands gisements épuisés, Science & Vie donne l'exemple de la "fabuleuse" mine suédoise de Stora Kopparberg, "qui alimenta toute l'Europe des XVIe et XVIIe siècle", fermée en 1992.
DR. Le problème est similaire à celui du pic pétrolier. Pire, les deux questions ont toutes les chances de finir par s’enchevêtrer en un cercle vicieux, vertigineux et inextricable. En quoi pic pétrolier et pics des métaux sont-ils liés ? Il y a plus qu’un effarement dans cette analyse. Www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/sustainability/research-insights/assets/impact-of-minerals-metals-scarcity-on-business.pdf.
EU warns wasting environmental resources could spark new recession | Environment. The overuse and waste of valuable natural resources is threatening to produce a fresh economic crisis, the European Union's environment chief has warned. Janez Potočnik, the EU commissioner for the environment, linked the current economic crisis gripping the eurozone with potential future crises driven by price spikes in key resources, including energy and raw materials.
"It's very difficult to imagine [lifting Europe out of recession] without growth, and very difficult to imagine growth without competitiveness, and very difficult to be competitive without resource efficiency. " Unless consumers and businesses take action to use resources more efficiently – from energy and water to food and waste, and raw materials such as precious metals – then their increasing scarcity, rising prices and today's wasteful methods of using them will drive up costs yet further and reduce Europe's standard of living, Potočnik warned. He said: "We have simply no choice. World Resource Consumption May Triple by 2050, UN Report Warns. Data Alchemist | Value of nature - Footprint. Infographic Of The Day: The Metals That Enable Our Gadgets Are Vanishing | Co. Design. It’s been widely reported that we’re running out of the rare-earth elements and various other metals that make our smartphones and computers run.
But rarely do you get very precise information about how dire that problem is. It’s not that we don’t know--it’s simply that we haven’t had any decent information designers addressing the data. So having this nice little chart by Camden Asay is particularly useful: Given its clarity and concision, its no wonder that the chart actually won the $2,000 first-place prize in a contest run by David McCandless’s Information Is Beautiful. Of course, its very clarity makes you wonder about the data. Granted, it all does come from very respectable sources such as the U.S. Geological Survey. But the second part is hard: As technology progresses, we use what resources we have with increasing efficiency.
Increasing efficiency tends to increase the rate we consume a natural resource--a counterintuitive finding called Jevons Paradox. [Top image by EllenM1. L’EMPREINTE ÉCOLOGIQUE.