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Endangered Elements: Conserving the Building Blocks of Life

In: Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future Insights from 45 global thought leaders

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  • Penny D. Sackett

Abstract

The earth is finite and so are the chemical elements of which it is composed. Those elements, represented by the symbols that fill the boxes of the periodic table, fuel all human consumption. Yet we are mining and redistributing these fundamental elements at such a rapid rate that many are already in short supply or likely to become so in the next few decades. To maintain supply lines to the dinner table and to industry, we must completely reframe our understanding of mining, consumption, human environments, and waste, recognizing that the accessible elemental resources of our future are largely stored aboveground in the familiar objects of our daily lives…

Suggested Citation

  • Penny D. Sackett, 2014. "Endangered Elements: Conserving the Building Blocks of Life," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Robert Costanza & Ida Kubiszewski (ed.), Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future Insights from 45 global thought leaders, chapter 32, pages 239-247, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:wschap:9789814546898_0032
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