
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


As the world races to transition away from fossil fuels, demand for lithium and other “green” minerals is exploding—reshaping landscapes, supply chains, and geopolitics in the process. On this episode of Terra Verde, host Hannah Wilton speaks with political scientist and author Thea Riofrancos about the hidden costs and contested promises of the green energy boom.
In her new book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, Riofrancos examines how the push for renewable energy connects to the expansion of extractive frontiers, often at the expense of environmental justice communities, workers, and fragile ecosystems. From Chile’s lithium-rich salt flats to the deserts of Nevada, her research investigates how national policies, corporate interests, and legacy mining laws determine where and how extraction occurs—and why addressing these dynamics is critical for a just energy transition.
This conversation also explores how supply chains can become sites of solidarity and political transformation, linking frontline communities across borders, and why addressing the global extractive economy—not just greening consumption—is essential to a truly just energy transition.
The post Green Energy’s New Frontiers appeared first on KPFA.
By KPFA4.3
66 ratings
As the world races to transition away from fossil fuels, demand for lithium and other “green” minerals is exploding—reshaping landscapes, supply chains, and geopolitics in the process. On this episode of Terra Verde, host Hannah Wilton speaks with political scientist and author Thea Riofrancos about the hidden costs and contested promises of the green energy boom.
In her new book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, Riofrancos examines how the push for renewable energy connects to the expansion of extractive frontiers, often at the expense of environmental justice communities, workers, and fragile ecosystems. From Chile’s lithium-rich salt flats to the deserts of Nevada, her research investigates how national policies, corporate interests, and legacy mining laws determine where and how extraction occurs—and why addressing these dynamics is critical for a just energy transition.
This conversation also explores how supply chains can become sites of solidarity and political transformation, linking frontline communities across borders, and why addressing the global extractive economy—not just greening consumption—is essential to a truly just energy transition.
The post Green Energy’s New Frontiers appeared first on KPFA.

65 Listeners

23 Listeners

57 Listeners

204 Listeners

53 Listeners

49 Listeners

48 Listeners

52 Listeners

270 Listeners

21 Listeners

155 Listeners