About this episode
As with oil and gas, the extraction of minerals and metals from the earth has been a "necessary evil" in the industrialization of humankind. The environmental destruction and human rights abuses of the mining industry are well-documented. This weeks guest on Sea Change Radio runs a company that partners with mining corporations to make the mining itself more resource-efficient. Liz Dennett is the CEO and founder of Endolith, a Colorado-based startup company that uses microbes to improve the efficacy of copper and lithium extraction. We learn about the science behind Endoliths technology, talk about the environmental impacts and challenges of metal and mineral mining, and discuss whether theres a moral quandary in doing business with these big, often nefarious, companies.