Resource Rebels

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Case Studies but more was expected
Review: Following his earlier book "The New Resource Wars", Al Gedicks eloquently presents numerous negative case studies regarding exploitative mining. In this book, I was hoping there would be more direct social science analysis as well. However, there is simply more descriptive and investigative material about pernicious cases of exploitation. Instead, it would have been useful to also consider some cases of corporate resposibility, or cases where Native communities have in fact chosen to go forward with mining and have had positive experiences -- indeed cases of mines such as the Raglan project in Quebec, The Red Dog Mine in Alaska, Argyle in Australia, mining in Botswana and Ghana or oil in Brunei might also have provided an interesting comparison. Nevertheless, the book certainly has some good expository material on some of the "bad boy" companies. It is important to consider that there might also be some better players in the mix -- which the activist perspective in this book does not want to even acknowledge.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Case Studies but more was expected
Review: Following his earlier book "The New Resource Wars", Al Gedicks eloquently presents numerous negative case studies regarding exploitative mining. In this book, I was hoping there would be more direct social science analysis as well. However, there is simply more descriptive and investigative material about pernicious cases of exploitation. Instead, it would have been useful to also consider some cases of corporate resposibility, or cases where Native communities have in fact chosen to go forward with mining and have had positive experiences -- indeed cases of mines such as the Raglan project in Quebec, The Red Dog Mine in Alaska, Argyle in Australia, mining in Botswana and Ghana or oil in Brunei might also have provided an interesting comparison. Nevertheless, the book certainly has some good expository material on some of the "bad boy" companies. It is important to consider that there might also be some better players in the mix -- which the activist perspective in this book does not want to even acknowledge.