Should Americans Make Laws Against Deep Sea Mining

50% of the Earth’s oxygen is produced by the oceans (Goldenburg). This means that if humans waste our precious ocean waters to deep sea mining the world will lose something that is very valuable to everyone. The Earth’s surface is made up of 45% oceans (Goldenburg). That is a big piece of the earth that could be at risk because of this dangerous mining. Should Americans make laws against deep sea mining? Yes, Americans should make laws against deep sea mining. The history and the supporting information do not relate to the Catholic Social Teaching theme of Care for God’s Creation because it will affect many in the future and it is destroying America’s oceans and animal habitats.
Deep sea mining has been on the minds of many since 1923 to present

Many people like to mine in deep sea ocean ridges, where they have active volcanic eruptions. This can be very dangerous(Richard). In these ridges, people can find many rocks and minerals including copper, gold, silver, zinc, and many more(Goldenberg). Ocean floors can be worth trillions of dollars, with all the minerals found there(Steiner). To save this from happening the ISA was established, which stands for International Seabed Authority(Steiner). One mineral trying to be found is polymetallic nodules. These are found 13,000 to 20,000ft. along the seafloor(Steiner). "It's really not different from clear-cutting a forest of redwoods, except instead of majestic trees there are many small organisms that, together and en masse, gain their importance to the planet," (Thurber). If mining keeps occuring, every country will want to find minerals until there are no more minerals and eventually no more oceans(Steiner). This mining could definitely lead to many terrible

In the recent years, scientists have found over 500 unknown species in some of the most popular mining spots in the world’s oceans(Financial Times). This means that if people keep deep sea mining, using the chemicals they do, they could be ending a new species before anyone even knows they have existed(Scidev Net). It would be okay to take a few meters of the sea floor, but some of these mining jobs are planning on taking an amount the size of 90% of Australia (Alexander). There are many missions already in place, like one called Solwara 1, which took place in 2011(Sci Dev Net). “This experiment, in which the PNG government will have a substantial stake, will take place 1.6 kilometres below the surface of the Bismarck Sea, off the coast of the New Ireland Province of PNG.” (Sci Dev Net). This is a lot of space to use and many do not feel comfortable letting people in the places that take up most of the earth. Water will not be here forever, so Americans need to save as much as they can (Alexander). There are things in the ocean called hydrothermal vents. Since 1977, Marine Biologists have found over 1,300 new species in them(Ecies). This means that the world's people are constructing on the place where over a thousand new species have been found. Catholics believe that deep sea mining is not right because this construction is killing living creatures.