The Green Economy Is Hungry for Copper-and People Are Stealing, Fighting, and Dying to Feed It

This is not a normal topic for me on this site, but since I blather on about technology nonstop and make my living thanks to it, it’s important to highlight the very real downsides it brings. For example, the current push towards electrification of everything is ramping the planet’s need for copper, and copper means exploitation, death, and environmental disaster to people in many parts of the world.

If this doesn’t sound very interesting, the human element of the story is intriguing. Just the part about Robert “Toxic Bob” Friedland illustrates how wild this story really is:

By the early 1980s Friedland had teamed up with some Vancouver-based financiers and moved into the world of mining, hustling for small gold outfits. He made headlines in 1992 when a Colorado gold mine he had previously overseen (as its parent company’s CEO) leaked toxic heavy metals into a nearby watershed, earning him the nickname “Toxic Bob.” In the meantime he had also discovered a major gold deposit in Alaska and an even bigger nickel deposit in Canada, which he later sold for more than $3 billion. Friedland has been a major player in the industry ever since. (He also has a sideline in movies, helping to produce Crazy Rich Asians and other films. Another fun Friedland fact: This summer, he bought a scenic California estate from Ellen DeGeneres for a trifling $96 million.)

Interestingly, at one point this guy ran the commune Steve Jobs lived on in Oregon in the ’70’s. Steve eventually left, disillusioned with what he saw as Toxic Bob’s materialism. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Toxic Bob was far from the only hippy idealist who transformed into an uber capitalist, convincing themselves in the process that it was for the good of humanity and not just their own ballooning bank accounts.

Linked post: The Green Economy Is Hungry for Copper—and People Are Stealing, Fighting, and Dying to Feed It | WIRED