How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy

Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by giantg2 on Monday March 03, 2025 @07:41PM (#43248714)

Lol, they used to mine coal under that very mountain (until it was outsourced). It's not like we have some insular life. The region is economically depressed. People would rather have jobs while destroying the environment than not have jobs while destroying the environment and recreational value simultaneously.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by kibwen on Monday March 03, 2025 @07:44PM (#43248733)

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Please stop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by roenxi on Monday March 03, 2025 @07:58PM (#43248865)

Have they ever used that technique in the UK? I don't think the UK has mountains suitable for mountaintop removal - they are famous for their underground operations.

I've always filed mountaintop removal mining as one of those "weird things Americans do" approaches. Probably associated with unusual geology or something.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by giantg2 on Monday March 03, 2025 @08:04PM (#43248920)

I think the UK had the none-mountainous version of strip mining - open pit mines. I think there aren't any in operation currently, and I'm unsure if they were for coal or just other commodities.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by nkali on Monday March 03, 2025 @08:22PM (#43249031)

Even if not, the collieries in Wales, built on top of coal shafts, were quite industrial-looking/landscape-runining. https://museum.wales/articles/1260/Nantgarw-Colliery---once-...

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by 6LLvveMx2koXfwn on Monday March 03, 2025 @08:29PM (#43249072)

We used the technique until we ran out of mountains, hence current lack of mountains.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by giantg2 on Monday March 03, 2025 @07:59PM (#43248878)

Haha, I'm sorry but it's hilarious that you guys are arguing with the person who had firsthand knowledge. It's ironic, really. You're talking about strip mining. There are other types of mines (drift, slope, shaft, etc).

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by marliechiller on Monday March 03, 2025 @11:37PM (#43250348)

and all of them are horrendously bad for the environment, the end.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by giantg2 on Monday March 03, 2025 @11:47PM (#43250431)

As are the wind turbines with there non-recyclable blades and bird kills.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by triceratops on Monday March 03, 2025 @08:35PM (#43249105)

> People would rather have jobs

Who do you think puts up windmills and solar panels?

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by giantg2 on Monday March 03, 2025 @09:05PM (#43249368)

In the case I personally know of, they brought in offshore workers. It also only generates reasonable numbers of jobs during initial construction.

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Re:How the U.K. Broke Its Own Economy by triceratops on Tuesday March 04, 2025 @08:59AM (#43254669)

> offshore workers

Also people who need jobs. And that's just the case you personally know of. Maybe people should retrain instead of pining for jobs of the past. And we should support them in the transition as much as possible .

> only generates reasonable numbers of jobs during initial construction

We're gonna need a lot of initial construction though.

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