Visual Earth Dilemma
The artwork Dilemma by Ches Mills and Tim Werner uses false-color satellite imagery of global metal mines to reveal the trade-offs of renewable energy transitions. While critical metals like lithium and cobalt enable clean technologies, their extraction often causes environmental harm and community conflict in tropical regions.
Subject Tags
- Renewable energy
- Climate mitigation
- Social Sciences
Abstract
Renewable energy transitions underpinned by batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines rely on the use of critical metals such as lithium, cobalt, and rare-earth metals, yet the mining of such metals—which often takes place in tropical countries (e.g., the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia)—can cause significant environmental damage (e.g., groundwater pollution) and community conflict (e.g., violation of Indigenous peoples’ land rights). These tensions between the need for renewable energy transitions and local socio-environmental consequences are highlighted in the artwork Dilemma, which was produced as a collaboration between fine artist Ches Mills and geographer Dr. Tim Werner. Combining false-color satellite imagery of metal mine areas across the globe, this landscape depicts open-cut pits, mine wastes, surrounding rivers and vegetation, and roads and human settlements. Dilemma highlights the trade-offs between renewable energy development and the mining-associated impacts on the local environment and communities.