Fertilizers

Chalk talk:

What do you know about fertilizers/mining? / What do you wonder? (what ?’s do you
have)
A brief, but important History on the implications of mining
- Historically reside (especially coal) in low-income communities and communities of
color - having a profound impact on the health of these communities

- Displacement and loss of plants and wildlife

- Incredibly large amounts of water usage
- Contantimation of air, water (including aquifers), and soil

- pathways for biologic embedding of structural racism:

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - important Woman to acknowledge
- Was one of the first individuals concerned about DDT when
released for civilian use in 1945

- Wrote an article to Readers Digest proposing to test this

chemical - REJECTED

- Tried again in 1958 - no bueno - (She was a best selling

author… shows how controversial views and subject were)

- Already had a lot of research, spent the next 4 years

writing Silent Spring (1962) a meticulous book describing
how DDT entered our food chain, ourselves, & caused
cancer and genetic damage

- President John F. Kennedy ordered science committee to

investigate … eventually banned
Phosphate mines
- Phosphate is a key ingredient in fertilizer

- Florida provides 65% of USA’s produced

phosphate (14% of the worlds)
- 800% increase in mining since 1960’s to
provide these ingredients of fertilizer used in
agriculture
- Phosphate is ‘insanely’ toxic and is linked to
drinking water pollution and cancer - radon &
uranium
● Uranium 238 - half life = 4.5 billion years (decays to
radium)
● Radium 226 -half life of 1,600 years
● Radium 222 - half life of 3.5 days - radioactive gas -
can be released into air at various stages of mining
Radon Girls
- Onset of world war one (1920’s) -
hundreds of woman hired for detailed
work of radium clock dials

- Thought to be ‘miracle chemical’ - used

to cure cancer
- Became known as “ghost girls” - would
wear on clothes, applied to teeth
The problem… what is done to produce Phosphate
So what happening in florida?
- At least 215 million gallons of radioactive
wastewater leak into this massive 45 foot
wide sinkhole (2016)

- Piney Point leak (2021) - not a lake! - 67

acre holding pool of radioactive phosphate
● ‘Environmental scientists’ authorized release of
215 million gallons of water into Tampa Bay
● Commissioner of Manatee county allowed water
to be Injected into deep wells - despite property
owner banning - huge implications for soil
irrigation and drinking water

- Release of water contributed to red tide

blooms, florida is facing a big time crisis
with coral reefs
How big is NorKam?
Red tide blooms - algae blooms - group research activity
Research, review & summarize 3-4 key points from article

(1) https://savethemanatee.org/manatees/algae-blooms/#:~:text=Unfortunately%2C%20as
%20the%20direct%20result,of%20the%20estimated%20manatee%20population
(2) https://obwb.ca/bga/#:~:text=The%20conditions%20that%20trigger%20such,%2C%20t
emperature%2C%20nutrients%20and%20pH
(3) https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151918/emerald-swirls-of-algae-in-lake-winni
peg

(4) https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ocean-warming/ +
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-lobster-shell-disease-1.5214
807
(5) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/radioactive-roads-phosphogypsum-mining-could-be-he
aded-to-florida/
(6) https://www.npr.org/2023/10/11/1198908241/noaa-florida-coral-reefs#:~:text=Shireen%
20Rahimi-,Coral%20reefs%20in%20Florida%20have%20lost%20an%20estimated%20
Pictures of boards - article summary points
Red tides / Algae blooms - to summarize
- Red tide blooms are primarily caused by the rapid growth of algae called dinoflagellates
● Similar to a bubbly snot - compete with corals for space - extremely toxic & harmful -
smoother other organisms, similar to cancer cells

- Green algae blooms caused by rapid growth of green algae species (i.e microcystis and
anabaena - categories of cyanobacteria) - create these “Dead Zones”
- Phosphorous is one of the essential nutrients that contributes to rapid overgrowth
● Algae consumes oxygen and blocks sunlight - impossible for aquatic life to survive
Morocco - North Africa
- Less than half the size of B.C but
generates roughly 70% of world's
phosphate
- Huge implications
- Minor’s aren't informed on risks - cant
breath out of noses, get cancer early, die
shortly after retirement
- Droughts are abundant in the area - water
is set aside for these expanding industries
- Fertilizers were Morocco's highest export
in 2022 and appear to be rising
Distribution of exports from Morocco as of 2020
Chalk Talk - expand this chalk talk i think
Something I learned today? / and or something that surprised me?
Brief look at some current remedies: Research, review & summarize 3-4 key points from article

(1) https://wateriqtech.com/products/
(2) https://neowatertreatment.com/algal-bloom-in-wastewater-treatment/
(3) https://algae.com/
(4) https://www.solitudelakemanagement.com/technological-break-through-sustainable-lake-ma
nagement/

(5) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13201-020-01215-1
(6) https://complete-water.com/blog/how-to-remove-radium-from-water
(7) https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-sheep-farmers-spin-wasted-wool-as-clean-alternativ
e-to-nitrogen-fertilizer/

(8) https://esemag.com/archives/bear-rivers-unique-greenhouse-wastewater-treatment-process
/
Pictures of boards - main summary points
Fertilizer Alternatives:
(1) Organic Fertilizers
(2) Bio Fertilizer
(3) Cover Crops and Green Manure
(4) Crop Rotation
(5) Biochar
(6) Rock dust
(7) Algal Fertilizers
Chalk Talk
What do you know about lithium / lithium mining? What are you curious to know -
what do you wonder?
Thacker Pass / Peehee Mu’huh
Vice Video
Lithium mining: very controversial!
General mining act of 1872
- Opens public lands to mineral
prospect and mining

- Anyone can take a claim if they:

● Pay appropriate fees
● File the right paperwork
● Respect current regulation in
that state
- Mining claims are given priority over
other land uses
Thomas Berry - Geologian
- One of 20th centuries most prescient and profound
thinkers (>> with age)
- Humans are here for the perfection of earth rather than
earth for the perfection of humans
- Children who do not have experiences in nature (live in a
society that’s all manufactured) - begin to be
progressively isolated from what human life is all about
- “The most absurd thing in modern time is the idea that
only humans have rights.”
● Right to be
● Right to habitat
● Right to fulfill its role in the greater earth community
Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries (LFP)
- In 2022 represented 30% of the total market
- Teslas use LFP AND NMC batteries
Chalk it, Talk it
(1) Is the damage to thacker pass worth is? Like Katie, do you think we should just keep it
the way it is?
(2) Why is it important who decides what happens to thacker pass?
(3) Katie says, once thacker pass falls the montana pass will fall. What does she mean by
this statement?
(4) Do you think lithium holds the key to saving the planet? Explain why?
(5) 60,000 tonnes of lithium means 120 billion litres of water per year - what do you think
about that? (2 million liters/ton)
(6) What do you think about Tim’s reasoning that “this is a site that will be completely
reclaimed”? How do you like the vice interviewers response?
Investing … (have to think about your morals)
What about mining in Canada?
- Nearly 75% of mining companies GLOBALLY are headquartered in Canada - almost 60%
listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE)
- Off the radar of “young torontonians” - those who tend to be aware work in the financial district
- Toronto has obtained this unique position through government supports!
● Structural biases in courts, tax incentives, diplomatic assistance in foreign countries -
“Canada was shaped in order to support the mining industry”
- Toronto stock exchange incorporated in 1861 - population was about 45,000 - by early 1870’s,
population swelled to 208,000 - had become “progress without planning” - with a focus on
speculative trading in mining stocks to carry us into an age or progress and prosperity -
unencumbered by taxation or regulation
- From 1860’s onward government faces heavy resistance from wealthy miners when
attempting to tax industries
- Toronto's wealth has historically been built by labour outside the city itself
Some of these implications (2011)

- Many complaints settled out of court - $$

Mining in Canada - past
- Often causes serious disputes and controversies - causes lots of human rights and
environmental harm - Indigenous Peoples have borne the brunt of this
- Cobalt Lake:
● 1903 railroad construction crew hit silver in town of Cobalt - led to huge
developments in mining in this town (250 miles north of toronto)
● Eventually had to dig underground, Cobalt Lake Mining Company decided to
drain the lake so they could access ore’s lying underneath
● Doctors in the area said the lakes were already to contaminated that it really
didn't even matter (tailings from mines contained arsenic - extremely toxic)
Mining in Canada Present:
Hudson Bay Lowlands - “ring of fire”
- Stretches from manitoba, across northern ontario and into quebec! - largest peat land in
North America (2nd largest in world) - undisturbed by human development - has been
accumulating carbon for thousands of years - stores more than 35 billion tonnes of
carbon - “essentially equivalent to the rainforest”
- Existence being threatened by human development
● Doug Ford support for mineral extraction has led to a boom in exploration activity
in area deemed ring of fire
● As of 2022 more than 26,000 mining claims cover 5,000 square kilometers of the
area
First Nation Communities Stance:
Chalk talk - to wrap up - should you combine last 2?
(1) How do you feel about the implications of mining to communities and especially
Indigenous Peoples?

(2) How did your views of mining change or grow throughout the lessons and discussions?
(3) How do we best find balance in our mining practices?
(4) How do you feel for those people in less developed countries such as Morocco who
ultimately suffer from mining?
(5) How can we help advocate for people for people most affected by mining industries
such as the monopoly of toronto miners? In our own communities? In communities
around the globe?