LMN is delighted to announce our second Resisting Mining Book Club of 2026 with guest speaker Thea Riofrancos, where we’ll discuss her book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (WW Norton, 2025).
About the book
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism 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.
Thea will give an introductory lecture which will be followed by a Q&A. You do not need to have read the book to attend this meeting. However, where possible, we will send registered attendees extracts in advance.
About the author
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. Her research focuses on resource extraction, climate change, the energy transition, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. These themes are explored in Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) and in her coauthored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019), as well as multiple articles and essays.