Minecraft: Wonders at the expense of gaia?

(image taken from http://wallpapergal.com/2015/08/13/minecraft-wallpaper-56a/minecraft-wallpaper-56a/)

Minecraft, a game touted as one of the best sandbox to create and share your creations to the world. At its most basic, this game involves mining for various resources from the world, using these resources to make tools to make things of increasing complexity, rinse and repeat.

Does the game remind you of something? 

In the real world, we humans extract various minerals from the earth, similar to the game albeit, i would argue, in a far more destructive manner.

For instance, we mine the earth for rare earth metals in order to make most of our modern structures. Rare earth metals are even an important component in some clean technologies such as in the creation of solar panels.

(Taken from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/a-visit-to-the-only-american-mine-for-rare-earth-metals/253372/ which provide us an insight in America's only rare earth metal mine)

Mining can be extremely toxic to the environment. Pollution comes from 3 processes in rare earth metal mining, extraction of ore (which cause destruction of the land), refining of ore (which often produces toxic air pollutants) and the disposal of waste (if done improperly can result in toxins seeping into soil and water )

In the chinese Xinguang No.1 Village, it has been noted that the water is extremely polluted due to leakages as a result of improper waste management of the ore. A byproduct of Rare Earth Metal mining is also thorium, which is radioactive. As a result, the incidences of cancer within the population working and living near the mines are much higher than the average population.

Unlike mining in the real world, there is always the option for a player to restart in the case that one dislike the state the world is in. Pollution also does not occur in the game byond the misplaced player creation.

We have only one earth, resources are not limitless like that of mine craft and the way we obtain and extract resources can pose severe long term risk on to our environment.

Perhaps for the sake of future generations, we should pay more heed to the pollution cause by our modern consumerist culture. We can still build magnificent structure for ourselves like those built within the world of minecraft, but we need to make sure that they way we do it does not come at the price of our future.



References

 Kaiman, J. (2014, March 20). Rare earth mining in China: Bleak social and environmental costs. Retrieved September 2, 2015.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/rare-earth-mining-china-social-environmental-costs