User blog comment:Gundam Legilis/Environmental Issues in RWBY/@comment-9090085-20150403210308

Two things:

1. The Mysterious Narrator only stats that "[Humanity's] involvement with Dust will ultimately change the world of Remnant." And, unlike in most cases, she doesn't attach a negative tone to it, meaning it could be taken a number of ways:
 * It could change humanity, bringing out the best or worst in them.
 * It could effect the Grimm, "unsealing" them as more dust is mined up; or, with the greatest weapon against the Grimm being brought forth, the Grimm become "desperate" to wipe out humanity.
 * It could, yes, change the environment; but probably more like how siphoning metal form the earths core would mess it up.
 * Or something grounded less in physics and more in magic, I don't know.

2. I suspect that Remnant's technology, while outwardly similar to our own, runs entirely on Aura and Dust. After all, why develop a machine that generates electricity when you have naturally occurring crystals that do the same thing with just a touch?(Similar to how, in Avatar and Legend of Korra, Firebenders are not only external combustion engines to power vehicles, but are living dynamos who can power the city)

And, since metal weapons(on anything, really) can be used as conduits for Aura, this means that you can "touch" a crystal at a distance with a "connector"(a little like quartz in Broken Blade). Speaking of Broken Blade, I wouldn't be too surprised if things like the Paladin are controlled almost entirely through Aura.

Still, Dust is a big unknown. It's referred to as "naturally occurring", but there's only one Dust Quarry owned by the SDC - is it like Atium from Mistborn that "grows" in specific locations? We don't know how long it takes to form(Oil takes millions of years) - or what conditions allow it to form.

Maybe I'll get back to this latter, but it's definitely food for thought.