Extracted How the Quest for Mineral Wealth Is Plundering the Planet

"As we dig, drill, and excavate to unearth the planet's mineral bounty, the mineral resources we exploit - those least expensive to extract and process from ores, veins, seams, and wells - are becoming exhausted. Mineral treasures that took millions, even billions, of years to form are being squandered in decades. Efforts to reuse and recycle are hopeful, but are they enough? In Extracted, scientist and author Ugo Bardi delivers a sweeping history of how minerals formed; the empires, wars, and civilizations they inspired; and the gigantic global industry that grew up around them - one that is increasingly showing signs of strain as pollution increases and economic returns diminish. Extracted also explores mining's dark side: altered landscapes, poisoned ecosystems, and a key role in exacerbating climate change. Having thoroughly plundered planet Earth, we are entering a new world, one that Bardi, drawing upon the world's leading minerals experts, explores with compelling insight"--Page four of cover.