Minerals, Wealth and Progress - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 30

Word of environmental incidents, such as an acid spill or a tailings collapse, can spread
worldwide within minutes (often with colour photos attached), with possible negative
consequences for a company's reputation, as well as its financial stability. At the same time,
today's information technology allows mining companies to inform a wide range of stake-
holders about environmental performance without delay, making environmental manage-
ment transparent and environmental performance public.
Evolution of Global Environmental Awareness
Global environmental awareness grew out of widespread dissatisfaction in the late 1960s
in North America and Europe with a seemingly insensitive and pointless consumerism.
A sustained period of rapid technological change and economic growth led to significant
improvements in living standards. But at the same time, with mass communication and
mass education, awareness of the drawbacks and social costs of economic development
became manifest. Such awareness was a particular source of unrest among the postwar pop-
ulation bulge of young people, generally referred to as the 'baby boom'. Well-educated in
unprecedented numbers, and only ever knowing a prosperous life, they had little patience
with what they saw as the yawning gap between society's promise and its egregious flaws.
Just as far reaching was the message when the crew of Apollo 8 photographed Earth-rise
over a lunar horizon on a Christmas Day, 1968: Earth is a fragile pocket of life in a very
large and lonely universe ( Figure 1.8 ).
FIGURE 1.8
Earth-rise Over a Lunar Horizon
Rather as a foreign country helps a
traveller understand his home, so it
has taken space fl ight to understanding
Earth. Looking back at a small blue-
green planet against black empty space
was a strong driving force behind the
environmental movement that started
in the late 1960s.
Photo: NASA