"Battery technology is growing leaps and bounds.  It's really myopic to think about opening up a completely new frontier of extraction on this planet for a technology that may change completely in a very short space of time." - Dr. Diva Amon

Mendelssohn seamount

BCI’s White Paper, "Next Generation EV Batteries Eliminate the Need for Deep Sea Mining,” discusses the remarkable market success of EV batteries that don’t use deep sea metals. The success of these EV batteries makes it easy to avoid the environmental disaster of DSM – and spells more problems for the troubled DSM industry.

 

 

We invite you to read it at the link below.

 

For a fun video on a serious topic…

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Join Indigenous Voices for a Ban on Deep Sea Mining

 

Join Indigenous leaders from across the Pacific in rising up to say "NO DEEP SEA MINING" to the International Seabed Authority when it meets in July 2023.

From Micronesia to French Polynesia, from Aotearoa to Hawaii, the peoples of the Pacific are taking bold action against the destruction of the oceans. We urge you to follow the lead of peoples who have lived harmoniously as stewards of the oceans for millenia, and send a powerful message to the ISA and to countries around the world that we refuse to allow any more harm to our sacred ocean.

 

 Join us: Sign the petition of Indigenous Voices For a Ban on Deep Sea Mining.

 

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  • Nainoa Thompson

    Hawai'i

  • Mishuana Goeman

    Tonawanda Band of Seneca

  • Mereana Berger

    He Māori ahau - Aotearoa

  • Violet Sage Walker

    Northern Chumash

  • Alanna Matamaru Smith

    Rarotonga, Cook Islands

  • Queen Quet

    Gullah/Geechee Nation

  • Frances Namoumou

    Kauwai Network, Fiji

  • Mike Smith

    Ngapuhi Iwi, Aotearoa

  • Frank Brown 

    Heiltsuk Nation, Canada

  • Dan Hikuroa

    Waipapa Taumata Rau, Aotearoa

  • Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu

    French Polynesia

  • Jack Thatcher

    Aotearoa

  • Ann Singeo

    Palau

  • Anthony Akpan

    Ibibio in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria

  • Robert Caldwell, PhD

    Choctaw-Apache

  • Jacqueline Evans

    Cook Islands

  • Joe Slim Enlet

    Wiito and Soor Clans of Chuuk State

  • Theresa Ardler

    Eora Nation, Australia

  • Miles Richardson

    Haida Nation, Canada

  • Darienne Dey

    Kanaka maoli, Hawai’i

  • Tommy Remengesau

    Palau

  • Diwigdi Valiente

    Guna Yala Comarca, Panama

  • Liam Koka'ua

    Ngāti Makea Ārera

  • Bev Sellars

    Secwepemc Nation, Canada

  • Ratu Epinesa Cakoba

    Kubuna Confederacy, Fiji

  • Hinano Murphy

    Mo'orea

  • Gerry Lopez

    Ocean Elder, USA

  • Jonathan Mesulam

    Papua New Guinea

  • Sebastián Yancovic Pakarati

    Rapa Nui

  • President Moetai Brotherson

    French Polynesia

  • Sol Kaho'ohalahala

    Hawai'i

The deep ocean is a vast region of remarkable creatures and unknown species. It plays a major role in global carbon sequestration, climate regulation and general ocean health, and is a treasure trove of potential new medical discoveries. Despite its importance, we have scarcely begun to discover or understand the unique life forms that inhabit this part of our planet or how deep ocean ecosystems interact more broadly with critical planetary systems. But we do know that tampering with deep ocean systems before we fully understand them can have major consequences for ocean health, fisheries, human health and climate.

 

Deep Sea Mining would be highly damaging to ocean ecosystems and adversely affect the ability of our ocean to regulate climate. Sediment plumes created on the ocean floor will smother marine life over large areas while highly acidic and sometimes toxic sludge vacuumed from the ocean bottom will be dumped from surface vessels, creating a second set of sediment plumes that will drift through the water column, killing and contaminating more fish and releasing stored carbon.

 

Mining rights in the deep ocean are now being auctioned off to a select group of mining companies by a secretive organization in Jamaica - the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The ISA has rightfully been widely criticized for its cozy relationship with select mining companies and its closed-door operations.

 

Mining companies, along with the ISA, are greenwashing the proposed mining operations as a “green solution.” They falsely claim we need deep sea mining to obtain minerals for new electric car batteries. We don’t. Alternatives exist, and many more are under development. New technologies for car batteries have already been developed that don’t use deep sea metals. Minerals such as lithium can be extracted directly from ocean water without damaging the environment. Recycling can provide required metals at a lower cost, and recycling of electric vehicle batteries is already a rapidly growing industry.

 

Forward-thinking automobile manufacturers have joined the call for a moratorium, including BMW, Volkswagen, Renault, Volvo and Rivian, as well as electric battery manufacturer Sanyo.

Support a moratorium

to study the full risks of deep sea mining and provide opportunity for research, development and scale of alternatives that can render such mining unnecessary.

  1. Urge your government or institution to join many others in signing on to Deep Sea Conservation Coalition’s global call for a moratorium. Not sure who to contact? Find your rep at defendthedeep.org. Your representatives will be joining a growing coalition of governments, major corporations, financial institutions, powerful civic institutions and thought leaders.

  2. Sign the petition by Sustainable Ocean Alliance, The Oxygen Project and Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.

  3. Buy from companies that support a moratorium and boycott those who don’t.

  4. Invest in alternative technologies to reduce demand for metals mined from the sea.

  1. Share the word on social media.

  1. Donate to Blue Climate Initiative’s advocacy and research efforts via its fiscal sponsor Tetiaroa Society & support BCI’s moratorium efforts.

"Battery technology is growing leaps and bounds.  It's really myopic to think about opening up a completely new frontier of extraction on this planet for a technology that may change completely in a very short space of time." - Dr. Diva Amon

Mendelssohn seamount

 

In the News

Don't buy the greenwashing - we don't need deep sea mining (2.4.2024)

Op-ed published by Dan Kammen in The Economist..


The Case Against Deep-Sea Mining (10.25.2022)

Article published by BCI collaborators Dan Kammen and Sylvia Earle in TIME Magazine.

Find out more

Blue Peril   
October 2022

Basic Overview video   
December 2021

Conversation with Diva Amon   
September 6, 2022

Further Exploration

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Jeanne Everett speaks about the impacts of DSM on oceans and climate.
December 14, 2023

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The Blue Climate Initiative is a program of the US 501(c)3 non profit Tetiaroa Society.

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Tetiaroa Society, with a note "Mining Moratorium" and mail to:

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c/o Peterson Russell Kelly Livengood PLLC    
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