Are rocks a non-renewable resource?
April 3, 2017 7:37 AM Subscribe
Is there any case for defining rocks and minerals as a non-renewable resource?
I was reading through a gardening book over the weekend, and the author implicated that adding vermiculite to soil may be ethically questionable because it is "non-renewable". It struck me as a little odd, since in my limited understanding of the issue I thought that these sort of relatively "unrefined" rocks are finite (as all things must be) but so vast in quantity as to be essentially limitless for quite a long time.
I have heard of difficulties sourcing ore-based elements (lithium, for example), but I have never heard of anyone describing rocks and minerals as having any sort of real scarcity. Is this an issue that experts are actually concerned about? Is our kitchen remodeling craze causing peak granite? Are we going to run out of quartz for our digital watches?
(For what it's worth, the book was otherwise fairly low on BS claims so this really stuck out. I am aware generally of the other environmental issues surrounding mining.)
I was reading through a gardening book over the weekend, and the author implicated that adding vermiculite to soil may be ethically questionable because it is "non-renewable". It struck me as a little odd, since in my limited understanding of the issue I thought that these sort of relatively "unrefined" rocks are finite (as all things must be) but so vast in quantity as to be essentially limitless for quite a long time.
I have heard of difficulties sourcing ore-based elements (lithium, for example), but I have never heard of anyone describing rocks and minerals as having any sort of real scarcity. Is this an issue that experts are actually concerned about? Is our kitchen remodeling craze causing peak granite? Are we going to run out of quartz for our digital watches?
(For what it's worth, the book was otherwise fairly low on BS claims so this really stuck out. I am aware generally of the other environmental issues surrounding mining.)
If you look at how gravel resources are catalogued and protected (for later use for road building) in North America, then yes, rocks are non-renewable.
posted by scruss at 8:26 AM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 8:26 AM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Renewable natural resources are natural resources that, after exploitation, can return to their previous stock levels by natural processes of growth or replenishment.
So unless vermiculite is being naturally created or regenerated, it's not renewable.
posted by Lexica at 8:27 AM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
So unless vermiculite is being naturally created or regenerated, it's not renewable.
posted by Lexica at 8:27 AM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Here's an article by the United Nations Environment Programme about the depletion of sand and gravel sources worldwide. One of its citations in the NYT: "Indonesia’s Islands Are Buried Treasure for Gravel Pirates". (Vermiculite seems to be mined and thereby scarcer, but if even-more-plentiful sand and gravel are constrained resources, presumably anything mined would also be.)
posted by XMLicious at 8:38 AM on April 3, 2017
posted by XMLicious at 8:38 AM on April 3, 2017
Vermiculite is a highly processed mineral (mica that has been puffed in a process similar to making puffed rice).
posted by 445supermag at 9:04 AM on April 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by 445supermag at 9:04 AM on April 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
The rock cycle generally means that all rocks are renewable resources long term. In the rock cycle, rocks are continuously created, destroyed, and transformed. However, we can certainly mine them faster than they are being replenished (the rock cycle moves at geologic timescales, obviously), in which case mining of an individual rock can become non-renewable.
posted by hydropsyche at 9:19 AM on April 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 9:19 AM on April 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
the author implicated that adding vermiculite to soil may be ethically questionable because it is "non-renewable". It struck me as a little odd,
It strikes me as odd too, because there was a major ethical issue around vermiculite stemming from the fact that most of the vermiculite sold in the US for a long time was significantly contaminated with asbestos, and the company which was mining and selling it continued to long past a point of plausible deniability of knowing exactly what it was doing.
The Wikipedia article says that the world's big vermiculite mines are (now!) outside the US, and absent a declaration otherwise, I think you'd have to assume that any vermiculite you bought was sourced outside the US.
And since asbestos is a natural contaminant of vermiculite in the sense that the two minerals tend to occur together, in order to be sure in using it in your garden that you are not exposing yourself to asbestos, you are dependent on the strength and level of enforcement of environmental regulations of countries such as Chile and Brazil, and the degree to which US authorities monitor the asbestos levels of imported vermiculite.
I have my doubts about each of those, and maybe the author does too but doesn't feel they can get away with saying so in their book.
posted by jamjam at 11:20 AM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
It strikes me as odd too, because there was a major ethical issue around vermiculite stemming from the fact that most of the vermiculite sold in the US for a long time was significantly contaminated with asbestos, and the company which was mining and selling it continued to long past a point of plausible deniability of knowing exactly what it was doing.
The Wikipedia article says that the world's big vermiculite mines are (now!) outside the US, and absent a declaration otherwise, I think you'd have to assume that any vermiculite you bought was sourced outside the US.
And since asbestos is a natural contaminant of vermiculite in the sense that the two minerals tend to occur together, in order to be sure in using it in your garden that you are not exposing yourself to asbestos, you are dependent on the strength and level of enforcement of environmental regulations of countries such as Chile and Brazil, and the degree to which US authorities monitor the asbestos levels of imported vermiculite.
I have my doubts about each of those, and maybe the author does too but doesn't feel they can get away with saying so in their book.
posted by jamjam at 11:20 AM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:16 AM on April 3, 2017