Lithium has been described as “white gold,” the next oil, or a kind of savior from climate change. Consumers are buying electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries motivated by the belief that they are doing good and decarbonizing society. Is there any truth to these big claims? Is sustainable lithium extraction possible? Join UCSB Global Studies Associate Professor Javiera Barandiarán, Ph.D., for a sobering examination of the history of lithium mining in the twentieth century, and learn why the rush to mine more lithium is unlikely to resolve climate change unless a sustainable trade is developed. Dr. Barandiarán will explore the global scramble among nations and corporations to secure lithium reserves, probing the consequences for local communities and surrounding ecosystems. She calls for a reimagining of natural mineral resources, urging that they be regarded as living entities deserving protection, like forests and rivers.
Barandiarán is the director of UCSB’s CREW Center for Restorative Environmental Work and the author of Living Minerals: Nature, Trade, and Power in the Race for Lithium, Science and Environment in Chile, and Demanding a Radical Constitution. For her research on lithium mining, she won NSF research funding, a Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin, and a fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.
Courtesy of Chaucer’s Bookstore, Living Minerals: Nature, Trade, and Power in the Race for Lithium will be available for purchase at the event.
No tickets or reservations needed, but note that Science Pub is a popular program. Early birds get good seats, order food and drink at leisure, and enjoy a raffle to support science education and win Museum swag. Arriving close to 6:30 may land you in an overflow room or without a seat.
This event is part of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s ongoing Science Pub series of free science talks held on the second Monday of every month. For more information about Science Pub, contact Kelsey Perry at kperry@sbnature2.org.
Lithium mine satellite image CC 2.0 by Oton Barros (DSR/OBT/INPE)