Kern wrote:
Coca-Cola works too but is more expensive and more morally dubious.
To somewhat back up my "every industry is suspect" claim from a month or two ago:
Quote:
[...] while we can produce baking soda synthetically, we shouldn’t. A procedure known as the Solvay process turns limestone, salt, and ammonia into baking soda, but that comes with a set of environmental hazards: toxic wastewater, higher energy use, and a bigger carbon footprint. Better to go straight to the source.
But what about the mining itself? Doesn’t that have an impact, you might wonder? Well, it’s an extractive industry so … yes, it does. Mining companies use two approaches: In one, room-and-pillar mining (or dry mining), they build vast underground caverns supported by trona [stuff that can be ground to soda ash to make bicarb - Grim...] pillars, then scrape the mineral out of the earth and carry it to the surface with conveyor belts. In the other, solution mining (wet mining), the miners inject hot water deep into the deposits. The trona or nahcolite dissolves, gets pumped to the surface, and evaporates, leaving behind the mineral crystals.
Either way, the whole process uses energy, of course. And it also emits such nasties as volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and methane. These kinds of mining operations also threaten wildlife habitats worldwide, from flamingos’ stomping grounds in Tanzania to important lands for the sage grouse much closer to home.
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Grim... wrote:
I wish Craster had left some girls for the rest of us.