内容摘要：“When you lose the trees, you lose everything — the soil, the water, the entire ecosystem,” said Kay Van Damme, a Belgian conservation biologist who has worked on Socotra since 1999.

“When you lose the trees, you lose everything — the soil, the water, the entire ecosystem,” said Kay Van Damme, a Belgian conservation biologist who has worked on Socotra since 1999.

People mine for gold in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)“The easiest way to earn money today is gold mining,” Camara said. “Subsistence agriculture will not provide you enough for food or other needs.”

In Senegal, gold processors like Camara typically process between 5 and 10 grams of gold per month, earning the equivalent of $370 to $745 — more than double the national average salary of about $200.Senegal ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2016, pledging to reduce mercury use and pollution. But the substance remains widely accessible. Most of the country’s supply comes from Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana, with smaller amounts smuggled from dental clinics in Dakar, according to a 2022 report by the Institute for Security Studies.A mercury-free gold processing unit sits unused at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

A mercury-free gold processing unit sits unused at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)In 2020, the government promised to build 400 mercury-free gold processing units. So far, only one has been constructed — in Bantaco, about 15 miles from Camara’s home. The facility uses gravity to separate gold from ore, eliminating the need for mercury by relying on sluices and shaking tables.

During a recent visit, the rusting slab of metal sat unused beneath a corrugated roof.

“People used it for a while, but then they stopped, because one single unit can’t cover an entire community,” Goumbala said. “Naturally, those who were nearby could use it. But for those who are very far away, they can’t afford to transport the ore all the way, process it and then go back. It’s extra work. That’s a problem.”CEO Seonghoon Woo said he launched Amogy with three friends to help the world solve a huge, pressing concern: This backbone of the global economy has not started to transition to clean energy yet.

“Without solving the problem, it’s not going to be possible to make the planet sustainable,” he said. “I don’t think this is the problem of the next generation. This is a really big problem for our generation.”The friends met while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In their free time during the COVID-19 pandemic, they brainstormed how to power heavy industries cleanly. They launched their startup in November 2020 in a small space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The name Amogy comes from combining the words ammonia and energy.

They looked for a boat and found the tug in the Feeney Shipyard in Kingston, New York, languishing without a mission. It could break ice, but little to no ice has formed on that part of the Hudson River in recent years, so it was available for sale.“It represents how serious the problem is when it comes to climate change,” Woo said. The project, he said, is “not just demonstrating our technology, it’s really going to be telling the story to the world that we have to fix this problem sooner than later.”