Deep Sea Mining May Uplift Clean Energy — and Curse Our Oceans

Miles beneath our ocean’s surface, a seemingly alien environment has lain undisturbed for hundreds of millions of years, in perpetual darkness except for scattered flickers from bioluminescent creatures. Thousands of species of animals including fish, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, corals, anemones, and sponges evolved to live their lives in the crushing deep sea pressures among smaller creatures like worms and bacteria. The backdrop evolved alongside its inhabitants, slowly locking away carbon dioxide and building up clumps of minerals and metals.It is those metals that have made the seabed a target for industrial mining activities that many marine scientists fear will permanently destroy this pristine environment.The looming threat is a bit ironic, since one of the incentives to dive deep for these metals is to aid our shift toward clean energy to help heal our planet from climate…

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