Admission is free; event language is English

This book is an in-depth analysis into the growing industry of green technologies and the environmental, social, and political consequences of the mining it requires. In the fight against climate change, lithium’s role in reducing emissions by powering green economies is a mixed blessing. Drawing on groundbreaking fieldwork in Chile, Nevada, and Portugal, Riofrancos explores the environmental and social costs of the global race to expand lithium mining amid supply chain concerns. With haunting descriptions of vulnerable ecosystems, she examines how mining harms landscapes, provokes protest, takes center stage in national politics, and links countries on the peripheries of the world economy to huge corporations, commodity markets, and powerful investors. Riofrancos traces the history of global extraction from colonial conquest, to the 1970s energy crisis, to the still uncertain green future.

While an unregulated mining boom could inflict irreversible harm, Riofrancos offers compelling ideas about how to harmonize climate action with social justice. Across the world’s extractive frontiers, we encounter the most brutal aspects of capitalism—but also witness inspiring visions for our planetary future. 

The author, Thea Riofrancos, Professor at Providence College/Rhode Island, US, an activist scholar, presents the main topics of her book.

Nina Schlosser, Phd. Fellow from Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, and currently coordinator of the RLS Graduate School Crisis and Socio-Ecological Transformation, working on Extractivism and eco-socialist alternatives. Nina will comment on Riofranco’s theses.

Facilitator: Caroline Rübe, from Surplus Magazine.

With a warm welcome from Suhrkamp Verlag.

The book: https://www.suhrkamp.de/buch/thea-riofrancos-extraktion-t-9783518432921