Diving Deep: Renewable Energy’s Marine Future

By: Wyatt Dayhoff

A centerpiece of President Biden’s policy has been to incentivize the push for implementing and improving access to renewable energy, both domestically and internationally. His effort has been admirable, especially in the face of a divided legislature. However, these  efforts may be in vain if more of the materials necessary for clean energy cannot be found, placing the United States and potentially the world behind the renewable energy race. 

In 2022, the White House estimated that demand for rare earth minerals, or REMs, is set to increase from 400 to 600 percent over the next several decades. While mineral recycling could be the future of REM production, the necessary technology will not be ready for at least a decade. Until then, we can expect continued Chinese dominance in the market and repeated human rights violations in the resource-rich nations where mining takes place. Aside from investing in domestic sources of production, what else can the United States do? 

The answer could very well come from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Deep-sea mining, a practice in which machines move along the seafloor and extract football-sized nodules of crucial minerals like cobalt and lithium, has recently garnered significant attention for its potential to act as a sustainable alternative supply. Commercial mining has not yet been approved, as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is still deciding on the terms for its regulatory code, which will be finalized come 2025. 

     However, there is one catch: the United States is not part of the ISA. The ISA falls under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which the United States  infamously has not signed onto. Instead, the United States has been relegated to an observer role, unable to vote on the code or propose any commercial projects of its own. Put simply, America has no skin in the game yet, but the United States can take on the initiative to be a leader and bring new regulations to the international table.

Deep-sea mining, aside from being a potential boon to the United States’ competitive advantage and commitment to renewable energy, is an industry that needs American leadership. The practice is not without its flaws: many ISA member states, nonprofits and scientists have come out against the practice due to its worrisome connotations for marine wildlife. Deep-sea ecosystems, whose value is still not fully known, are frequently devastated by the extraction machines. Aside from directly trampling organisms, mining machines suspend sediment in the water, smothering deep-sea species like anemones and sponges. Additionally, after the minerals are transported to the surface vessel, the vehicles must pump the excess sediment back into the ocean. This sediment is often released near 1,000 meters above the ocean floor and spreads over vast distances, suffocating midwater species that serve as the backbone of commercial fisheries. The region is so understudied that other damage may be present that we are not even aware of: an entire ecosystem hangs in the balance. 

In the face of these pressing concerns, the ISA has been unable to come to a decision. When the small island nation of Nauru declared its intent to mine in 2021, the ISA vowed (under the rules in its UNCLOS charter) to produce a mining code by 2023. When the General Assembly convened this year, however, they delayed a verdict until 2025. Having only provided exploratory permits to this point, the ISA has control over the direction of this nascent industry but, without guidance, could easily fail to set the right terms, or any at all. 

The Biden Administration can cement its status as a global sustainability leader and bolster its credibility by filling in the leadership vacuum. While ratification of UNCLOS would take ⅔, or a super majority  of the Senate to pass, the economic and geopolitical opportunities of diversifying our REM supply ought to be highly supported by both sides of the aisle. Once a signatory, America can take charge and propose common-sense regulations to the industry, including waste-disposal requirements and imposition of additional environmental havens, or APEIs. These sorts of regulations, while cumbersome for miners, fall in line with Biden’s policy priorities and strike a firm balance between economy and ecology. 

Even if the ISA fails to come to an agreement in 2025, this industry will not still nascent forever. Mining will start, whether the United States is involved or not. With enormous environmental and geopolitical ramifications, it is incumbent upon America to be a player in the decision-making process behind the future of deep-sea mining. President Biden, the ball is in your court.

South Korean Teachers Deserve Support

By: Apal Upadhyaya

Teachers in South Korea have been protesting for months following the death of a 23-year-old teacher who was driven to suicide in her own classroom by parent harassment and bullying. Teachers and supporters are calling for a revision in the country’s ambiguous Child Welfare Act aimed at preventing child abuse. Parents nationwide have used the legislation to file lawsuits against teachers who punish misbehavior in the classroom or refuse to favor students. Even if the teacher is falsely accused, they can still be punished and even barred from teaching. Teachers nationwide have reported devastating mental health impacts as a result of abuse and harassment by parents. 

In South Korea, teachers have suffered far too long and the government must act to protect teachers from future bullying and harassment. While the government has passed the Teacher Rights Restoration Bill, they need to take further steps to protect teachers from the increasingly predatory actions of parents. The only solution is to redefine the ambiguous clause in the Child Welfare Act. Furthermore, the suffering of teachers in South Korea is the result of the country’s competitive education system which places immense pressure on not only students, but also teachers. As such, comprehensive reform is required to address the underlying impacts of South Korea’s current education system. 

The Child Welfare Act, passed in 2014, aims to protect children from child abuse. The act was created in response to the death of a 7-year-old girl after facing severe physical and mental abuse from both her stepmother and father and thus allows people to report suspicions of child abuse in good faith for the health and safety of the child. However, it is this feature of the act that is being weaponized by parents to harass teachers. Parents have used the ambiguity of reporting suspicions of child abuse in ‘good faith’ to threaten teachers with lawsuits, investigations, and even arrests. South Korean educators and the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Union acknowledge that while the new Teacher Rights Restoration Bill, which prevents unfounded suspension of teachers and prevents principals from downplaying violations of their rights, is a good first step, more has to be done to protect teachers. Korean educators are concerned that the new bill does not penalize parents who falsely accuse teachers of abuse. Thus, schoolteachers should be protected by law from parents who seek to harm them. The only solution that has the ability to appropriately protect teachers is to amend the Child Welfare Act itself. 

As a result of the protests, many have called for South Korea to evaluate its education system. South Korea’s education system is notoriously competitive and it is built into the culture. In South Korea, children in secondary school are pushed to attend hagwons, or academies, after school, and in preparation for college entrance exams, these students study for upwards of 16 hours a day. However, more often than not, the pursuit of achievement and good grades is spearheaded not by students, but by their families. There is a belief that parents alone direct the futures of their children, pressuring students to achieve their idea of success from a young age. This pressure to succeed has caused conflict between parents and teachers, as parents have the ability to threaten teachers with lawsuits or arrests in order to give their children an edge in the classroom. However, it is this type of threat that is worsening the mental health of teachers in the country. 

The time for education reform in South Korea is now. Teachers cannot be expected to deal with the mental pressures of dealing with the families of students for the foreseeable future. With the passage of the Teacher Rights Restoration Bill, the country is moving towards the right path to protect teachers. However, more must be done to dismantle the means that have allowed teachers to be harassed and bullied for almost a decade. The country needs to be reminded that teachers are people too and that the pressures to succeed impact everyone in the classroom, not just students.  Students can still succeed without resorting to means of coercion and threats that parents have employed against teachers. The South Korean government must act promptly to thoroughly protect their teachers. 

The Power of Femininity: Why More Countries Need Female Leaders

By: Pratha Purushottam

Just over 20 of the world’s 193 countries currently have women as their heads of state. According to UN Women, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years at the current rate. Yet, in recent years, women like Jacinda Acern and Angela Merkel have been universally applauded for their leadership, embodying what it means to be a politician for the people. The consensus shows that women tend to perform better than men in positions of power, especially during times of crisis. Such bleak underrepresentation of women in positions of power thus signals troubling consequences. 

Gender-equal governments are more inclusive and give a voice to all their citizens. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, South Africa’s first female deputy president and the former executive director for UN Women, stated that, in gender-balanced governments “you reduce the likelihood of missing out on the needs of some people because you just have never walked in their shoes.” Women bring fresh perspectives, and as a result, gender-balanced governments make better decisions because they are more representative of the people they serve. Looking at the status of women’s rights in countries with male-dominated governments, this holds true. For example, Daniel Ortega has occupied the presidential seat in Nicaragua since 2007, pushing his conservative Catholic ideals and diminishing the position of women in society for years. His government has revoked the legal status of multiple NGOs opposing Nicaragua’s abuse of women’s rights. In addition, Ortega’s refusal to adequately fund comisarías, special police stations run by women for women and designed specifically to address gender-based violence, led to nationwide shutdowns in their operations. A female leader would likely recognize the importance of such issues and therefore prevent the oppression of half the country’s population. 

The COVID-19 pandemic evened the playing field of politics as the entire world faced the same crisis. From the beginning, it was clear that regardless of size or location, countries with female leadership—examples being Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, and Slovakia—tackled the pandemic relatively well. The women heading these nations “were proactive in responding to the threat of the virus, implementing social distancing restrictions early, seeking expert advice to inform health strategies and unifying the country around a comprehensive response with transparent and compassionate communication.” A study even found that female leaders acted faster and more decisively to reduce mortality rates in response to the spread of the virus because they prioritized saving lives over maintaining economic stability—something their male counterparts failed to do. Such empathy and decisiveness ensured significantly lower mortality rates from COVID.

Women are deterred from entering politics for several reasons. Political parties generally do not support female candidates because of their perceived electoral risk, inducing a self-reinforcing cycle of exclusion. Introducing quota systems for female representation in government is one way to solve this problem. Women also face significant violence in politics, scaring many away from government positions. Four in five women parliamentarians have experienced psychological violence linked to their job, one in four physical violence, and one in five sexual violence. Governments around the globe should criminalize such acts, and social media companies should take greater initiative to tackle cyber-abuse, especially body-shaming and sexual innuendo, both of which are often targeted towards women in politics. 

Currently, women win elections, but at an incredibly slow rate. Making a concerted effort to elect more female politicians not only ensures better representation, but introduces new perspectives into a heavily male-dominated sector. Women’s proven leadership skills compared to men in the midst of crisis make them invaluable. In addition, introducing more women into positions of power would likely decrease the gender pay gap. Both voters and governments across the world need to work together to mitigate the dominant hold men possess over positions of leadership. If not, it will be over a century before we see equality. As the world continues to grow and shift towards a more globalized and modern future, women must not be left behind, but rather placed at the forefront of change.