Tens of millions of people — more than live in the entire state of Florida — are now exposed to toxic water runoff from metal mining, a new study has found.

The report lays bare the devastating impacts that can follow a reckless transition to ‘green’ energy, compounding the ecological damage wrought by over 150 years of drilling and mining for fossil fuels.

The researchers found that 23 million people worldwide, as well as 5.72 million in livestock, over 16 million acres of irrigated farmland and over 297,800 miles worth of rivers have been contaminated by mining’s toxic byproducts seeping into the water.

This metal mining includes many so-called ‘rare earth elements’ essential to the manufacture of high-tech electronics, solar cells, wind turbines and all the batteries needed to store sustainable ‘green’ energy (and power electric cars and iPhones).

While the new study focuses on environmental impacts, global metals mining has recently faced shocking lawsuits against major tech firms, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Tesla, over child slavery in the Congo, where 70 percent of the industry’s cobalt is sourced.

‘Rapid growth in global metal mining is crucial if the world is to make the transition to green energy,’ noted Chris Thomas, a zoologist at the University of Lincoln whose specialty is in spatial ecology and threats to the global water supply.

Thomas led the analysis and modelling work for the new study, which was published  today in Science.

Thomas and his colleagues have developed a new database, supported by on-the-ground testing, which now maps the hundreds of square miles’ worth of rivers and floodplains contaminated by these industrial processes across the globe. 

The devastation wrought by this contamination, they found, was widespread, affecting approximately 297,800 miles (479,200 km) of river systems total and over 63,000 square-miles (164,000 sq-km) of floodplains worldwide. 

But, North America stood out as the most affected, at 123,280 miles of tainted river systems, and approximately 10.7 million acres of polluted floodplains. 

But the damage was not much better in South America with 50,766 miles of rivers and over 9.5 million acres of floodplain impacted; nor in Asia with about 37,842 river-miles and about 8.3 million acres of floodplain polluted by metal mining waste.

In terms of potency of local damage, however, the the scientists saved their harshest criticisms for ‘the environmental legacy of historical mining,’ which they said was ‘most problematic in western Europe,’ where long-abandoned old mines have left lasting environmental damage.

‘Much of the estimated global contamination we have mapped is a legacy from the industrial era,’ Thomas said in a press statement. ‘Rightly, modern mining is being encouraged to prioritize environmental sustainability.’ 

The researchers developed a model to predict the spread of contaminants from all known active and inactive metal mines — plus facilities used to seal off hazardous mining waste — with a focus on pollution from lead, zinc, copper, and arsenic.

These potentially harmful contaminants and industrial byproducts can seep into the local water supply, whether transported downstream where the metals are deposited along river beds and floodplains, or otherwise sinks deep into underground aquifers.

Mark Macklin, director of the university’s Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, who led the international team behind the new research, said he anticipates the new study’s maps and modelling tools will help prevent future reckless mining.

‘We expect that this will make it easier to mitigate the environmental effects of historical and present mining,’ Macklin said.

‘Our new method for predicting the dispersal of mine waste in river systems provides governments, environmental regulators, the mining industry and local communities with a tool that, for the first time, will enable them to assess the offsite and downstream impacts of mining on ecosystem and human health.’

All told, the researchers identified 159,735 abandoned mines and 22,609 active mines — as well as 11,587 mining waste storage facilities and 257 known cases of failed and leaking storage sites. 

The team described the new database in their report as ‘the most comprehensive compilation of metal mine locations to date.’ 

Concerns over just how bad the ecological impact of metal mining for sustainable technology might be is complicated by the diverse variety of resources involved, which can lead to ‘apples to oranges’ comparisons.  

According to the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, green energy technologies like wind turbines and electric cars often do require many more mined minerals than the present fossil fuels infrastructure. 

One electric car, for example, requires six times more metallic and mineral materials than a combustion engine car, MIT’s university team reports. 

And a wind power plant requires nine times more of these mined compounds than a traditional gas-fired plant.

But these heavy investments in initial overhead are dwarfed by the repeated volume of fossil fuels currently mined today to meet present and growing energy demands. 

As of 2021, over 7.5 billion tons of coal were extracted from the ground, wreaking havoc on local people and environments from Sydney Australia’s Royal National Park, to coal-rich Inner Mongolia in China and more.

This is a whopping 25 times the current estimates of the metal mining needed for a clean energy revolution by 2040, according to projections from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (founded during the 1970s oil crisis by the OECD).

The transition, according to the IEA, will require new mining under 30 million tons.

Scott Odell, a visiting scientist at MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative who specializes in clean energy and mining, cautions however that these environmental impacts often need to be assessed on a more detailed, case by case basis.

The mining of any two different metals requires different techniques with different impacts — as can two separate deposits of the same metal if located in significantly different conditions.  

‘I think if someone were to tell you one or the other is better in terms of direct impacts pound for pound,’ Odell said, ‘you should ask a lot of questions about how they got to that answer.’

Rainbow warriors: Dutch police blast eco-protesters with water cannons and drag them away as demonstrators shut major roadway for a seventh day

• Protests in The Hague against subsidies for fossil fuel using industries continue
• Dutch police deployed water cannons in attempt to dislodge activists 
• Environmental activists globally plan for weekend of climate protests  

By Jacob Judah

Published: 11:39 EDT, 15 September 2023 | Updated: 12:41 EDT, 15 September 2023

A sleepy Joe Biden saw his rambling Vietnam press conference brought to a sudden end on Sunday night with a mic cut and jazz music playing him off the stage, like he went too long in an awards speech.  

Biden was mid-flow and answering questions from journalists when he was interrupted and forced to shuffle away and head backstage. 

‘We talked about stability, we talked about the Third World, excuse me, the Southern Hemisphere has access to change. It wasn’t confrontational at all….’ Biden said as he rambled on. 

Suddenly, the booming voice of his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, could be heard butting in.

‘Thank you everybody. This ends the press conference. Thanks everyone,’ she said as she brought the presser to a close. 

All the while, Biden continued to speak, not realizing his mic had long since been muted. 

In another bizarre twist, sleepy jazz music then began to play over the loudspeaker, with the 80-year-old still seemingly trying to answer questions as he continued to speak into the microphone.

As the president tried to answer a few more questions, the music grew louder prompting Biden to put away his leather-backed folder and shuffle offstage, disappearing behind a black curtain. 

Earlier in the press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, following the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, Biden risked upsetting his Vietnamese hosts with quotes from the Robin Williams movie Good Morning, Vietnam – which he seemed to think was a song.

The president arrived in the country after two days at the G20 summit in India and admitted he was struggling to tell if it was day or night.

‘Good evening, everyone,’ he told a press conference.

‘It’s already evening, isn’t it? It’s around the world in five days – it’s interesting.

‘One of my coworkers said, ‘Remember the famous song ‘Good Morning Vietnam’?’ Well, good evening, Vietnam’.’

In what was supposed to be a show of stamina – Biden is circumnavigating the globe in five days – he ended the 26-minute event by saying, ‘I’m going to go to bed.’ 

The president had been asked if he was concerned that there was no agreement on fossil fuels that came out of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.

He regaled reporters with a story he says is from a John Wayne movie and features the ‘Indians’ – not the ones he just met with – who don’t buy it when a Union soldier says ‘everything will be good’ if they go back to the reservation. 

‘And the Indian looks at John Wayne and points to the Union soldier and says, ‘He’s a lying dog-faced pony soldier.’ Well, there’s a lot of lying dog faced pony soldiers out there about global warming. But not anymore,’ Biden said. ‘All of the sudden, they’re all realizing it’s a problem,’ the president said, whispering into the mic.

He’s used ‘lying dog-faced pony soldier,’ once at a 2020 campaign event in New Hampshire and at an event in Connecticut in June, where he also muttered, ‘God save the Queen, man.’ 

The president’s clumsy comments were leapt on by opponents and slammed by critics as further signs that he would struggle to cope with a second term.

‘Biden gets VERY confused during his ‘press conference’ in Vietnam,’ tweeted RNC Research.

‘And Democrats wonder why Biden isn’t polling better,’ added former  Trump senior adviser Jason Miller.

Others cringed at his misplaced attempt at humor warning that his jokey reference to the Vietnam War risked upsetting a key ally in the struggle against China.

‘Oh good, reference the darkly satirical title of a movie about a horrible and bloody war that still looms largely in Vietnam’s psyche,’ tweeted FuriaDiDonna.

‘So he’s making a joke in Vietnam about a catchphrase (not a song) in a (great) movie that’s about the US being at war in their country??’ added Booker9e.

‘The Joe Biden Comedy Hour,’ wrote Robert Phyithree.

‘Stick around, it will only get more ridiculous and sublime.’ 

The 1987 film was one of the biggest hits of the year, telling the story of Airman Adrian Cronauer who arrived in Saigon to work as a DJ for Armed Forces Radio as the war intensified in 1965.

Starting each show with his catch phrase ‘Good morning, Vietnam!’, Cronauer, played by Williams infuriates his superiors with his rock and roll playlist and satirical commentary on their conduct of the war.

It won Williams the funniest actor prize at the American Comedy Awards and its soundtrack, featuring the Beach Boys, James Brown and the Searchers, went platinum.

Sunday’s bizarre moment came at a press conference that started more than an hour late and kicked off by the president acknowledging that his aides told him who he would be calling on.

‘They gave me five people here,’ Biden said, returning to his custom of both calling from, and speaking about, the list apologetically. 

‘I’m just following my orders here,’ he said at another point, as he looked at his list to call another news organization or name, as reporters in the audience yelled and waved their hands frantically to be called on. 

The questions were China-heavy and Biden skipped answering queries when they were piggybacked on another question – so he didn’t address Russia and North Korea going into business together, nor Ukraine’s discontent with the G20 statement on the war, which didn’t name Russia as the aggressor. 

The choice of journalist also appeared to have Biden mostly ignoring a group of U.S. print and TV reporters who were girding to get into domestic concerns like his low poll numbers due to his advanced age and a possible indictment of his son, Hunter, on a gun charge.

Those polls show a broad concern about his age going into a second term, with a survey last week from AP-NORC showing that 77 percent of Americans, including 69 percent of Democrats, believe Biden is too old to run for reelection. 

A Wall Street Journal poll out Monday had similar findings, with 73 percent of voters saying Biden is too old to run again, including two-thirds of Democrats. 

White House aides pointed to this whirlwind trip as evidence that Biden is up to the job. 

He later joked that the schedule was ‘no problem.’ 

‘I can imagine. It is evening, I’d like remind you,’ a BBC reporter quipped to the president. 

At one point, Biden grabbed the hand mic and started walking.

He moved toward the side of the stage where one of the five chosen reporters was standing, but it briefly gave the appearance he was abandoning the press conference. 

Every reporter on the list was a woman, something that wasn’t lost on a journalist from the independent U.S.-backed Voice of America. 

‘Thank you Mr. President. I hope you didn’t think that calling only on women would get you softballs tonight,’ she told him. 

Biden said that wasn’t the case. 

‘Oh I know better than that. If you sent me a softball, I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I’d probably strike out even worse,’ Biden joked.

After Biden answered one of the two questions posed to him by VOA, he told the journalists, ‘I tell you what, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to bed.’

A White House official later defended Biden’s performance saying he ‘substantively answered questions’ from several reporters during the press conference.

‘The President substantively answered questions from 7 reporters. This is a distraction, and it would do your readers a good service to dive into his answers on China, relations with Indo-Pacific countries, human rights and climate change instead,’ the official said in a statement.

Coco Gauff’s US Open semifinal match is STOPPED by environmental protestors as she battles Karolina Muchova to reach finals in Flushing

By Patrick Djordjevic For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 20:33 EDT, 7 September 2023

A judge has ruled in favor of youths who claimed Montana‘s use of fossil fuels contributed to the climate crisis and harmed their health.

The ‘monumental decision’ was based on the state’s policy in evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits – which does not allow agencies to assess the effects of greenhouse gas emissions – was found unconstitutional.

The youths, aged five to 22, did not seek a payout following a win but wanted defendants to ‘bring the state energy system into constitutional compliance.’

Experts said the plaintiffs had Montana’s constitution on their side, which likely helped with the ruling.

Article Nine reads: ‘The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.’

The trial convened in June, and plaintiffs spent five days sharing stories about injuries they claimed came from climate change and how their homes have been negatively impacted. 

District Court Judge Kathy Seeley wrote in the ruling that ‘Montana’s emissions and climate change have been proven to be a substantial factor in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment and harm and injury’ to the youth. 

Now the ruling is in the hands of the state Legislature, which has to determine how to bring the policy into compliance. 

That leaves slim chances for immediate change in a fossil fuel-friendly state where Republicans dominate the statehouse.

Montana has the nation’s largest recoverable coal reserves – over 74 billion tons – nearly one-third of the US total, according to MBMG Coal Program.

The state also ranks sixth in coal production, with about 30 million tons produced annually from 6 mines.

In 2022, coal generated 42 percent of Montana’s in-state electricity generation, but the resource supplied more than half until 2016.

This is compared with hydropower at 41 percent and wind power at 12 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). 

Part of the hearing heard the plaintiff’s attorneys state Montana has never denied a permit for a fossil fuel project, The Washington Post reports.

Judge Seeley heard from a 15-year-old plaintiff who has asthma.

He told the court how he felt like ‘a prisoner in my own home’ when isolated with COVID during intense wildfire smoke, which he said resulted from climate change.

Rikki Held, the 22-year-old plaintiff, has been vocal about her family-owned cattle ranch, which she claims was also destroyed by the climate crisis.

Held said her family ranch relied on the nearby Powder River to grow crops and hydrate cattle.

The river dried up in 2007, and then in the spring of 2017, ‘abnormally high temperatures linked to the climate crisis caused the frozen river to melt at a rapid rate and flood,’ the lawsuit claimed.

The state argued that even if Montana completely stopped producing carbon dioxide, it would not affect a global scale because states and countries worldwide contribute to the amount of C02 in the atmosphere. 

‘I know that climate change is a global issue, but Montana has to take responsibility for our part in that,’ Held said during the hearing.

The lawsuit, filed in March 2020, described how children are more vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, noting it ‘harms their physical and psychological health and safety, interferes with family and cultural foundations and integrity, and causes economic deprivations.’