Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 5h

thank you! appreciated

Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 14h

very curious where the debates are at these days re: "climate politics should be about the wonky details of energy transition" vs "climate politics and advocacy should be vocally connected to all the other progressive issues"

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 22h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 8h

thanks! @commiedharma.bsky.social I also wrote a response to that piece from Commune, years ago when it was published fwiw viewpointmag.com/2019/05/16/p...

Plan, Mood, Battlefield - Reflections on the Green New Deal - Viewpoint Magazine

"At every node in this global chain, the technical and the political are intimately entangled. Declaring by fiat that decarbonization is unlikely or impossible amounts to an avoidance of the complex, ...

viewpointmag.com

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Clayton Oppenhuizen @csoppenhuizen.bsky.social · 9h

That's interesting, it could be proximity (as in i follow them) but @triofrancos.bsky.social has a great new book that is all about the costs of green. And it joins a broader literature of 21st-century environmental costs of our economy (see red cobalt among others).

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 14h

I hope you enjoy it and it’s useful for your research!

Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Marina Nagornaia @marinagornaia.bsky.social · 17h

One more added to my ever growing To Be Read list.

Very on topic for the short article I'm writing for student magazine Rostra Economica: an exploratory article showcasing the negative externalities related to lithium mining in Chile, incentivized by rising demand for electric vehicles.

Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · Mar 3

Why are minerals so central to geopolitics? How green are electric cars? Why is anti-mining protest increasing? Can the inequalities of the global economy be transformed?

I tackle these topics in my book EXTRACTION: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism

👀 September 2025 @wwnorton.bsky.social

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Climate and Community Institute @cplusc.bsky.social · 1d

The official launch of @transitionsec.bsky.social is in just one week! Join CCI & @cmmonwealth.bsky.social
at the free inaugural panel event featuring our strategic co-dir @triofrancos.bsky.social:
🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Patrick Bigger @pmbigger.bsky.social · 1d

Join us next week for our launch webinar featuring @lalehkhalili.bsky.social @triofrancos.bsky.social @stephensemler.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social to get some of the best new thinking on how to move from economic precarity, climate crisis, & unsettled geopolitics to genuine human security

War, Climate Crisis and the Economy: Transition Security Project Launch

A collaboration between Common Wealth and Climate & Community Institute to investigate the US and UK military industrial complexes.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Transition Security Project @transitionsec.bsky.social · 1d

🚨 1 WEEK TO GO!
🎟️ 350+ tickets gone!

Join us to launch @transitionsec.bsky.social with a panel on the war economy, climate crisis & the geopolitics of the climate transition.

🎙️ @stephensemler.bsky.social @iliasalami.bsky.social @triofrancos.bsky.social
🪑 @lalehkhalili.bsky.social
shorturl.at/njU0q

War, Climate Crisis and the Economy: Transition Security Project Launch

A collaboration between Common Wealth and Climate & Community Institute to investigate the US and UK military industrial complexes.

shorturl.at

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

James Belcher @jamesbelcher.bsky.social · 2d

"I say this more to our liberal or centrist counterparts—that when you don’t think critically about extraction, you can find yourself having promoted all this mining supposedly for the energy transition, but now it’s not even being used for that."

"Centering the Climate-Economy Intersection Is Our Only Way Forward"

An interview with Thea Riofrancos on climate left strategy, asymmetric polarization, and "critical" minerals

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Matthew Haugen @mjhaugen.bsky.social · 2d

I interviewed @triofrancos.bsky.social for @cplusc.bsky.social climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com/p/centering-...

"Centering the Climate-Economy Intersection Is Our Only Way Forward"

An interview with Thea Riofrancos on climate left strategy, asymmetric polarization, and "critical" minerals

climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 3d

Read my analysis here www.ft.com/content/6ff9... and reporting on Trilogy here www.ft.com/content/8951...

Trump’s resource nationalism is the worst of all worlds

Demand for rare earths is greatest in the clean energy sector that the US president is intent on dismantling

www.ft.com

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 3d

The US government has acquired stakes in a 3rd mining company, Trilogy Metals. The Trump admin now owns equity in rare earths (MP Materials), lithium (Lithium Americas), and copper (Trilogy). This "right-wing resource nationalism" derisks mining assets, inflates share values & deregulates governance

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 3d

The feeling is mutual Rosie !! Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed this

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Rosie Collington @rosiecollington.bsky.social · 3d

At this point I am just a @triofrancos.bsky.social superfan & wanna recommend everything she’s doing but I particularly enjoyed this interview with @jathansadowski.com & @edwardongwesojr.com on all things extraction, stranded renewables assets, China, & much more 🫡
open.spotify.com/episode/4kfb...

425. The Oxymorons of Green Capitalism (ft. Thea Riofrancos)

open.spotify.com

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you @aldasky.bsky.social !!

Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 4d

"Greening the global economy does not have to be done through unjust fuel extraction; societies can choose fairer paths to net-zero emissions." Perfectly put.

Love this glowing review of @triofrancos.bsky.social's EXTRACTION in @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

From fossil fuels to ‘green capitalism’: the dilemmas of a just energy transition

Greening the global economy does not have to be done through unjust fuel extraction; societies can choose fairer paths to net-zero emissions.

www.nature.com

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 4d

glad you enjoyed!

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 4d

finally listening to this and really liking the discussion and @triofrancos.bsky.social's call to simultaneously see AI for the bubble/hype/bullshit but also study the stuff that is there, eg the data centers (and, my commentary here: the political and state power mobilizing for it in manifest ways)

Jathan Sadowski @jathansadowski.com · 11d

In the new TMK, @triofrancos.bsky.social joins us to discuss the about the many frontiers, tensions, and futures of green capitalism. We go deep into the political economy of lithium and the material infrastructures of extraction. Thea is so sharp and this is such a great conversation.

425. The Oxymorons of Green Capitalism (ft. Thea Riofrancos)

We are joined by Thea Riofrancos — author of Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism — to chat about the many frontiers, tensions, and futures of green capitalism. How do we understand a system

soundcloud.com

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Sarah Jaffe @sarahljaffe.bsky.social · 9d

Please stop what you are doing and go listen to Melinda Cooper on @thedigradio.bsky.social you will thank me later open.spotify.com/episode/3gAL...

Counterrevolution w/ Melinda Cooper

open.spotify.com

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · 19d

Thea Riofrancos on lithium mining and the contradictions of “green capitalism”

Slaughter for Hire | Joshua Hammer

From Africa to Ukraine, the rise and fall of the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was marked by theatrical violence, the seizure of resources, and an utter lack of accountability.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 7d

Simply replacing fossil-fuel extraction with critical-mineral mining is no way out of the climate crisis, Thea Riofrancos argues in her new book. Scott W. Stern on “Extraction”:

There Is No Green Transition Without Consequences

A new book argues that simply replacing fossil-fuel extraction with critical-mineral mining is no way out of the climate crisis.

bit.ly

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 7d

🙏

Reposted by Thea Riofrancos

Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 7d

@triofrancos.bsky.social on the astonishing biodiversity in the Atacama Salt Flat and the environmental cost of green capitalism.

What Mining for Water in the Andean Desert Reveals About “Green” Capitalism

A high-altitude desert plateau traverses Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. I am on the Chilean side, in the passenger seat of a Jeep, along with two other researchers. The afternoon air is thin and b…

buff.ly

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks!

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