How the race for critical minerals is creating ‘sacrifice zones,’ impacting the world’s poorest people

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 .