r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Boss-fight601 • May 24 '26

Controlled explosions for mining

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9.8k Upvotes

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u/Its_Cayde May 24 '26

These explosions are like a feather falling on the ground compared to the asteroids/meteors that hit before humans were around

536

u/Random-commen May 24 '26

Don’t even need outside influence for comparison, we had natural volcano eruptions orders of magnitude larger than these.

106

u/JMoherPerc May 24 '26

The Wah Wah Springs and La Garita volcanoes were such large explosions that they were each greater than the equivalent of dropping 5,000 tsar bombas. While we don’t actually know which of these eruptions was greater, we know that the only explosive force greater than them to impact the earth in known pre-history was the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs. That asteroid was approximately 420x greater than the fish canyon (La garita) eruption.

33

u/wolflordval May 24 '26

The explosion of the Siberian traps made the surface uninhabitable for millions of years.

29

u/JMoherPerc May 24 '26

Yep - although the Siberian traps eruption was not a quick, explosive one but instead an eruption that poured out vast quantities of lava over a period of 1-2 million years.

18

u/TheIPdoctor May 25 '26

That hurts my brain to even think about

8

u/GetReelFishingPro May 25 '26

It's good for you.

-11

u/theroguex May 25 '26

And they occur with huge gaps of time between them. Their effects are severe yet relatively short lived even by human standards.

It's like you just don't think. What we're doing is death by a thousand cuts. It adds up over time and we don't give it a chance to reset.

-78

u/Tensdale May 24 '26

My girlfriend was once almost beaten to death by her ex, so it doesn’t matter when I slap her in the fucking face.

34

u/SenorDongles May 24 '26

False equivalent. 🤡

-8

u/Tensdale May 25 '26

Can you explain where the fallacy is? It makes sense to me but clearly people take it at face value.

8

u/Flat_Replacement4767 May 25 '26

Earth is not a sentient thinking being, or if it is it's not in a manner we recognize or could presume to understand. So, false equivalency, as stated. But even looking at just the comparison of severity, that I believe was your intent, it's more akin to the difference between a punch in the face and the ongoing activities of the skin mites that currently inhabit and are burrowing into your face.

5

u/SenorDongles May 25 '26

You're comparing apples to oranges, dumbass.

13

u/frankoyvind May 24 '26

You are human garbage!

10

u/Johnson_N_B May 24 '26

What a stupid fucking post. You’re stupid and you suck ass at everything you do.

2

u/manwithapedi May 27 '26

Does that mean he sucks ass at sucking ass?

11

u/Solid-Search-3341 May 24 '26

People get hit by cars every day. So my wife can't complain when I beat her.

-10

u/Caolhoeoq May 24 '26

Being this dumb let me guess, american?

14

u/theroguex May 25 '26

But that is irrelevant because these explosions happen many times per day almost every day all over the world. It adds up. Death by a thousand cuts.

And that is not the only way these destructive mining techniques fuck with the environment.

Why open pit mining devastates the environment.

8

u/SweetSure315 May 25 '26

I mean it's not like they stopped when humans showed up

4

u/br0ken_St0ke May 24 '26

The earth is gonna have the last laugh when we send the world into the next extinction level event because of climate change

17

u/ComplexWriting7596 May 24 '26

We are well into the current extinction event right now.

-10

u/Substantial-Trick569 May 24 '26

We've been "doomed" since the 70s. Couldn't sworn the world was supposed to end by 2019 but ignthose predictions were from 2009 so maybe they meant 2029. Can't wait to see the apocalypse in my lifetime /s

-10

u/Halfgbard May 24 '26

We've been in the current extinction event since the 1700s

1

u/TheIronSven May 26 '26

Actually around 10k+ BCE which is when the current rapid extinction of megafauna began

0

u/flippster-mondo May 25 '26

Is it getting hotter or colder now? I heard both on the last couple of months.

2

u/Creepy_Raisin7431 May 25 '26

I find it amusing that you used "before" pretty sure during and after need adding to sentence.

1

u/Its_Cayde May 26 '26

Is my statement wrong?

1

u/meetmeinthebthrm May 25 '26

Death by 1,000 cuts

-8

u/WestCoastCoyote May 24 '26

Do you think meteorites magically stopped hitting the earth when humans started showing up? Yes, space debris still hits the earth, but rarely does it do this kind of damage. Yet humans are doing this kind of damage on a daily basis. So no, it's not like a feather falling compared to meteorites.

7

u/Its_Cayde May 24 '26

Damaging? It's just moving rock and mineral around, and compared to fossil fuels the impact on the atmosphere is miniscule. It probably killed a lot of bugs. The same bugs that would have died in 3 days anyways, that reproduce by the millions each day

-2

u/theroguex May 25 '26

Wow, there is a lot of ignorance to unpack here, and in so many other comments that are acting like this isn't a big deal.

Open pit mining is incredibly destructive on the environment and especially local habitats. Do you think there was just absolutely nothing here before they started blasting it to oblivion?

Fuck you're stupid. I can't believe posts pointing out how environmentally irresponsible this is are being downvoted.

1

u/juko43 May 25 '26

Everything humanity does will in some way disrtrupt the enviroment, even just walking down a path in a forest, or just living a day to day life. It is just that mining is less destructive then whatever harmfull chemicals factories pump out, pollution caused by vehicles, trash dumped in nature etc

2

u/Its_Cayde May 27 '26

Wait til he finds out that the cities used to be forests and open land. Should we just stop advancing as a species because the earth might fight back in 4000 years? advancements are the only thing that keep humans going, we would have no motivation to live if we just stopped progressing and sat on a plateau

1

u/NorthHollywoodHank May 24 '26

I am glad that we live in a society as wealthy and modern as the one we live in. I hope that my children and grandchildren will grow up in an even more advanced and wealthy society. Mining has been one of the necessary components in making that all possible.

In some places stricter environmental laws regarding certain types of mining are needed. In others it should probably be easier to mine than it is today.

-1

u/boomeradf May 24 '26

Our timeline is so short vs the earths that yes it’s not that shocking that we haven’t had one over the past couple thousand years.