UPDATE 1-El Salvador Congress approves law prohibiting metals mining

[Judi Lynn]

3. @$$-*o!& commentary: Congratulations To Oxfam - El Salvador Bans Industrial Civilisation

APR 2, 2017 @ 07:33 AM 499 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets
Congratulations To Oxfam - El Salvador Bans Industrial Civilisation


Tim Worstall , CONTRIBUTOR
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I'm not sure that Oxfam has been directly pushing this but they certainly seem very happy that it has happened. El Salvador has decided to ban the basics of industrial civilisation in that country. Quite why this is a good idea is obviously not something I really understand but lots of people are indeed telling us all that it's a jolly good thing. As to banning industrial civilisation that's not quite what they have said but that's what the decision does ultimately mean. For they've banned the mining of any metal in the country. And access to metals is, along with access to energy, an essential building block in the creation of an industrial civilisation. Without metals we all remain as peasants scraping in the dirt with pointy sticks--not a lifestyle known to produce any great wealth or income.

You know, the Bronze Age was considered something of an advance upon the Stone Age which preceded it.

The smallest country in Central America has just passed a pretty big law regarding metal mining.

El Salvador has just become the first country in the world to totally prohibit the exploration and mining of metals above or within the earth.

And as I say Oxfam seems to be really happy with this idea:

“Globally there is a growing questioning of mining as an economic development engine,” said Keith Slack, the global program director for extractive industries at Oxfam America in Washington. “I think it definitely strengthens the voice of communities that are raising the questions.”

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/04/02/congratulations-to-oxfam-el-salvador-bans-industrial-civilisation/#3b308bd98e27

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Tim Worstall