As some of the world’s deep thinkers start realizing humanity has worse problems than it getting very marginally less chilly on a planet whose current temperature is waaaay below the average for “preindustrial” times, for instance Bill Gates somehow just realizing malaria is worse than warmth, we note with relief rather than pleasure a Reuters “Sustainable Switch” email on “Toxic waters in Southeast Asia and Jamaica”. We’re against such things, of course. But precisely because we’re against them, and they are a real, serious and fixable problem, we’re glad they’re paying attention to something other than the climate scare.

According to the story, and possibly you guessed, “Toxic mines put Southeast Asia’s rivers, people at risk, study says”. Because, again contrary to green orthodoxy, in the West actual pollution has been taken very seriously since at least the 1960s and a great deal has been done to turn former toxic waste sites like the once-flammable Cuyahoga River and once dead Lake Erie back into flourishing ecosystems. But in much of the world, the authorities are not trying to control such problems and lack the governance capacity, admittedly fast withering here too, to create and particularly to enforce meaningful rules if they did try.

Here in North America, for instance, jurisdictions ban plastic straws lest they should somehow escape our elaborate waste management system and slay a turtle. And when they do, firms actually stop giving out plastic straws and instead hand you a paper tube guaranteed to become soggy and unusable half-way through your beverage. Whereas the actual marine plastic pollution problem, it is well-understood by those who care to understand it, stems from a tidal wave of trash pouring out of Third World rivers with the connivance of governments that are, in any case, overwhelmed, and the indifference of people who either cannot afford to care or have yet to achieve the rather sudden insight that hit Westerners around the time of the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” photo and then the first “Earth Day” that it wasn’t somebody else’s problem or fault.

As the article warns:

“Across mainland Southeast Asia, more than 2,400 mines – many of them illegal and unregulated – could be releasing deadly chemicals such as cyanide and mercury into river water, according to research from the U.S.-based Stimson Center think tank released on Monday.”

The problem is massive:

“‘The scale is something that’s striking to me,’ said Brian Eyler, senior fellow at Stimson, pointing to scores of tributaries of major rivers, like the Mekong, the Salween and the Irrawaddy that are probably highly contaminated.”

If you look at a map you’ll see that many of these rivers have at least some hydrological origins in China. But it’s not the main way this issue originates there. Rather, and to its credit, the Reuters article also observes that many of these mining operations are, um, Chinese-financed and controlled.

To our partial surprise Myanmar, né Burma and not improved since changing its name, is “one of the world’s largest producers of heavy rare earths”. And did we say the piece wasn’t about climate? Well um this bit is awkward. So awkward, in fact, that the article doesn’t contain the word. But it does blurt out that these “rare earths” (essentially the Lanthanides for those of you whose periodic table didn’t start and end with Tom Lehrer) are:

“critical minerals infused into magnets that power the likes of wind turbines, electric vehicles and defence systems. From mining sites in Myanmar, the raw material is transported for processing to China, which has a near-monopoly over production of these vital magnets, with Beijing deploying rare earths as leverage in its tariff war with the U.S.”

It gets worse. This clean energy isn’t just poisoning rivers and ruining crops and farmers. It’s also responsible for massive deforestation.

Old habits die hard. Scientific American actually noticed another real problem, but promptly and implausibly pinned it on climate change:

“Amid a deepening ecological crisis and acute water shortage, Tehran can no longer remain the capital of Iran, the country’s president has said. The situation in Tehran is the result of ‘a perfect storm of climate change and corruption,’ says Michael Rubin, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute…. Instead Iranian officials are considering moving the capital to the country’s southern coast. But experts say the proposal does not change the reality for the nearly 10 million people who live in Tehran and are now suffering the consequences of a decades-long decline in water supply.”

Riiight. And how and when did climate change kick in such that it caused both a decades-long decline in water supply and in engineering competence in Iran? (And kudos to the Phys.org piece that, under the misleading hed “Study finds humans outweigh climate in depleting Arizona’s water supply”, actually starts “A study led by University of Arizona researchers shows that decades of groundwater pumping by humans has depleted Tucson-area aquifers far more than natural climate variation”. Natural. Egad.) As for Tehran, ah well see:

“Rubin says, ‘it would be a mistake to look at this only through the lens of climate change.’ Water, land, and wastewater mismanagement and corruption have made the crisis worse, he says.”

Only through the lens. But still we must be sure to keep that lens firmly in place because otherwise we’d have to reconsider our opinions which would hurt.

Speaking of which, and returning to those contaminated rivers, The Economist may gush that “A more surprising ingredient of China’s success is its nimble and permissive regulators.” But um there is a downside to those “nimble” regulators. And if you think Chinese firms are subject to shareholder activism about the greenness of their foreign operations and so forth, remember, all Chinese firms are by law obliged to obey the Chinese government so it’s the shareholder. And it’s villainous and lies a lot.

Indeed, the article notes:

“Mines across Myanmar and Laos use in-situ leaching for rare earth elements that was initially developed within China, according to Stimson’s Eyler. ‘In general, Chinese nationals work on these mines as managers and technical experts,’ he said. In response to questions from Reuters, China’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of the situation.”

But Reuters now is, and so are its readers. Which is a good thing precisely because it’s a bad problem.

P.S. Speaking of turtles, we note a positive item from Inside Climate News that has nothing to do with climate either and they don’t pretend otherwise: “For more than 40 years, green sea turtles teetered on the brink of extinction around the world, their numbers decimated by commercial hunting of the animals for their meat, harvesting of their eggs and destruction of their nesting beaches as seaside developments took over coastlines. Many have been fatally ensnared in fishing gear or choked by drifting plastic debris. Yet, despite these threats, decades of persistent conservation efforts have slowly helped reverse the species’ decline.” See what happens when you focus on real issues?

P.P.S. We then sneer at a piece in the same Inside Climate News that warns against American efforts to control illegal migration on their southern border because “Early research has shown the walls can stop or deter the migration of pivotal pollinators and that is risky, conservationists caution.” But at least it didn’t mention climate either. Maybe they’ll have to change their name to Inside Environment News… and be happier for it.