Thermodynamics, Conservation, and Transformation: A Conceptual Model of Sustainability in the Mining Industry
摘要
A meaning of sustainability in the mining industry might be approached from the transformations that happen in territories where mining developments occur. This paper proposes a conceptual model that illustrates an alternative approach to interpret sustainability in a territory intervened by mining projects integrating the relationships and transformations of a territory capitals based on the tools provided by thermodynamics. The model integrates the first and second laws of thermodynamics, the dimensions of sustainability, and a set of functional relationships through a rate process model. As a result, this chapter proposes that sustainability is a dynamic state based on a combination of capacities that guarantee the maintenance of the conditions that provide life to society.