Author Talk | Extraction

Thea Riofrancos will be in conversation with Malcolm Harris about Riofranco’s latest book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, an in-depth analysis into the growing industry of green technologies and the environmental, social, and political consequences of the mining it requires.

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. While an unregulated mining boom could inflict irreversible harm, Riofrancos offers compelling ideas about how to harmonize climate action with social justice.

Thea Riofrancos is an 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.

Malcolm Harris is the author of the national bestseller Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. His latest book is What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis.

Registration encouraged, but not required