Mining, Society, and a Sustainable World

“I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means – except by getting off his back.” Leo Tolstoy - Writings on Civil Disobe- ence and Non-Violence (1886). In today’s world where sustainable development has become a critical security concept for the well-being of the environment and society, the man Tolstoy depicts might well be interchangeable for either the planet in terms of its carrying-capacity or its bene?ciary, society. While it is arguable that mining is neither inherently sustainable nor unsusta- able (O’Faircheallaigh, this volume), exploration, production, and consumption of non-renewable resources over time makes the industry ultimately unsustainable if it results in negative socio-economic impact (Waye et al., this volume). This inva- ably leads to de?nitions of sustainability in terms of the ?nancial bene?ts that can accrue from transforming natural capital into human capital, theoretically creating intergenerational bene?ts (ibid.). Such a de?nition of sustainability is inherently utilitarian, assuming the English political philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s sugg- tion that human nature avoids pain for the pursuit of pleasure, and that legislators should therefore base decisions on the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people (Bentham 1996).