Is the Green Transition Doomed? Understanding the ‘Purple Transition’ - Simon Michaux | #32

My guest today is Simon Michaux.

EPISODE PAGE + TRANSCRIPT:
https://www.realitystudies.co/p/simon...

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MORE ABOUT SIMON:
Simon Michaux is Associate Professor of Geometallurgy at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) in KTR, the Circular Economy Solutions Unit. He holds a Bachelors in Applied Sciences in Physics and Geology and a Phd in Mining Engineering from JKMRC at the University of Queensland.

He has 18 years of experience in the Australian mining industry in research and development, 12 months at Ausenco in the private sector, 3 years in Belgium at the University of Liege researching Circular Economy and industrial recycling. Michaux worked in Minerals Intelligence in the MTR unit at GTK before joining the KTR.

Simon’s long-term objectives include the development and transformation of the Circular Economy into a more practical system for the industrial ecosystem to navigate the twin challenges of the scarcity of technology minerals and the transitioning away from fossil fuels.

CONTEXT:
If you believe in climate change, you probably believe in renewable energy and the so-called green transition, right? My guest today has big claim that may come as a bit of a rude awakening: the Earth literally does not have enough raw materials to service our current projections for the amount of renewable energy infrastructure (solar panels, batteries, etc.) we would need to transition from fossil fuels.

Look, I know it’s not exactly a great time for bad climate news. In addition to the Trump election, which will likely set the world back considerably in any energy transition efforts, new data from the Global Carbon Project found that global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are set to reach a record 37.4B metric tons this year—a 0.8% increase over 2023.

Which is why it helps that Simon has a proposal for what a sustainable society might look like, which he calls the ‘Purple Transition.’ It involves not only the obvious changes in energy infrastructure and transportation, but also to the economy and community governance. It’s wildly ambitious, and I won’t pretend to grasp everything he lays out, as I’m not a geometallurgist.

Still, the big picture is compelling; it’s a renegade vision of how we might restructure society to live in greater harmony with the Earth, without chucking all forms of technology, knowledge, and innovation in the process. That exercise alone is worthy of our time; these are exactly the types of proposals we need to be making and evaluating from others.

CREDITS:
This video was produced by Adam Labrie & Jesse Damiani. It was also edited by Adam LaBrie. For more information, viist realitystudies.co.

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