CONVERSATION with Thea Riofrancos: “The term ‘critical minerals’ can trick us into thinking something is scarce”
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Lithium-ion battery
15 min read
The article extensively discusses lithium as essential for batteries and the energy transition, but readers may not understand the technical chemistry, history, and environmental tradeoffs of the technology driving this mineral demand
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Rare-earth element
14 min read
Riofrancos specifically explains the misconceptions around rare earths (that they're not actually rare, the 17 elements involved, and their geopolitical significance), making the full scientific and industrial context valuable background
I'm sure you’ll already be aware that our second issue is due out in just a few weeks (and if not, we’ve clearly not been annoying enough).
The print copies are looking pretty gorgeous, including a beautiful glossy photo essay from Indonesian journalist Garry Lotulung and a spiffy new design, but if you can’t spring for a print subscription, you can still read all the contributions and support our work with a digital sub for just over £1/month. In return you get access to our whole digital archive, plus the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting climate writing and journalism.
Your print copies should start landing on your doormats in a couple of weeks – and you’ll be able to read all the pieces from Issue #2 on our shiny *new* website when we officially launch the issue on 22 September.
In anticipation of the issue, today's newsletter features a preview from the issue; our interview with Thea Riofrancos. Thea is Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, and the Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute. She’s also the author of the superb new book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, which has done more than any other to shape the way that both I and the rest of us at The BREAK–DOWN think about the question of extraction. As Adrienne Buller, my co-editor, and I write in the introduction to the issue (which is up on our site to read now!), Thea’s work keeps with the “complexity of decarbonization,” approaching the tensions within it head-on. The questions that structure it are: how can we reconcile the urgency of decarbonization with its potential harms, and how, through collective effort, can we minimize those harms? These will only be more urgent in the years ahead.
Read on for an abridged preview of Thea and Adrienne’s conversation from our second issue.
Where Capital and Nature Meet
This extract is taken from ISSUE #2 FRONTIERS, which is out 22 September. If you’d like to be one of the first to read the full conversation, subscribe now:
AB: Your latest book, ‘Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism’ focuses largely on lithium, but you also reference several other minerals—copper, cobalt, yttrium—all of which fall within various designations like “critical” or “strategic” or “rare earth”.
Could you explain the significance of these designations? What do they really mean, where do they come
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.