There is a troubling contradiction at the heart of the global transition to a cleaner, greener, tech-driven future: Modern technologies — everything from AI to wind turbines, as well as cellphones, electric vehicles and defense systems — depend on critical minerals . But many of the communities where those minerals are mined end up with polluted water and poorer health because of the mining. Lithium powers batteries. Cobalt stabilizes them. Copper carries electricity. Rare earth elements make wind turbines and digital devices efficient and durable. Each of these are essential to the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution , but they are also toxic and require enormous amounts of water to extract. Toxic Cost of Going Green | Unreported World - YouTube Watch On One of us is from the Middle East , a region still suffering from the long-term consequences of supplying the fuel consumed for the remarkable economic developments of the 20th century.…