One of the activities that are essential in terms of fueling modern society is mining. Modern economies depend on what we are capable of drawing out of the earth. However, the damage that we do when we mine is often uncontrollable and irreversible. The damage can be so great that sometimes mines leave nothing but a barren wasteland that is just uninhabitable.

In fact, there have been cases of entire towns being evacuated just because the mine became too dangerous to operate anymore. While it is true that the miners in these situations try to cordon off dangerous areas and even set up danger flags in areas that could be potentially dangerous before they leave, they just can't prevent toxic substances from leaking into water supplies and other sources of sustenance.

Miners have one of the most dangerous professions in the world. They traverse underground tunnels to mine the mineral ores. Sometimes, they follow mineral veins all the way up to the tree roots. And other times, they dig all the way down to water reservoirs. These make cave-ins a very likely event.

Furthermore, the miners are prone to losing air and suffocating in those tunnels. When they mine too close to the surface, they set up a perimeter of utility markers around areas around the area where the ground is thin as these are possible spots for sinkholes and cave-ins to occur should there be pressure on the topsoil.

The only thing that we can do to prevent damage of such a scale is to control our activities. We have to regulate everything we do to sustain ourselves not just the way we are now but should be toward what we want to be tomorrow.