Extractive Frontiers: Critical Minerals and Green Capitalism, with Professor Thea Riofrancos, Providence College

The attack on Iran by the United States and Israel demonstrated, among other things, the necessity of a rapid transition to renewable fuels, like solar and wind.  The technologies for capturing and converting them into usable form are heavily dependent on critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt and others. Indeed, critical minerals are driving a new wave of resource nationalism and extraction around the globe, many of them being eyed by President Trump as potential regions of intervention and conquest.  What does the gold rush for these minerals portend for world politics and economics? Are we on the brink of a new era of colonialism and imperialism or even resource wars? In two weeks, join me for a conversation about these matters with Professor Thea Riofrancos, from Providence College in Rhode Island, who recently published Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. Riofrancos is associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, a Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community Institute, and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left.