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Deep sea mining may threaten the environment

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Dumbo octopuses live in the deep sea. (NOAA)
Dumbo octopuses live in the deep sea. (NOAA)

Electric vehicles and other new technologies that may help alleviate climate change sometimes rely on rare metals and minerals. Mining companies say mining the bottom of the ocean will be needed to get these important minerals.

Host Scott Tong talks with Douglas McCauley, a professor of Marine Science at the University of California Santa Barbara who is against deep-sea mining.

Mining-generated sediment plumes and noise have a variety of possible effects on pelagic taxa. Organisms and plume impacts are not to scale. (Amanda Dillon)
Mining-generated sediment plumes and noise have a variety of possible effects on pelagic taxa. Organisms and plume impacts are not to scale. (Amanda Dillon)

This segment aired on May 12, 2022.

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