#  Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard 

 



    ![Two-toned blue graphic background with the name of the seminar in white on top.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2025-04/Seminar%20STS%20Circle_0.png?itok=lofjKFnq) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **November 17, 2025** 

 12:15PM - 02:00PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS South, S354**  

 [1730 Cambridge Street  
Cambridge, MA 02138  
United States



 ](<https://www.google.com/maps?q=US MA Cambridge 02138 1730 Cambridge Street>) 

A light lunch is provided for those that register by 1:00pm on the Thursday before the event.

 

 

 



 

## Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism

### Speaker

- Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science, Providence College.

### Chair

- Sheila Jasanoff, Faculty Associate. Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies; Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy, Committee on Degrees in Environmental Science and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.

### Contact

**Henry Austin**  
<henryaustin@hks.harvard.edu>

### Abstract

Will green capitalism save us from the climate crisis? "Clean" technologies and renewable energy are certainly growing sites of capitalist investment, with government policies playing a key role in making these sectors profitable. But the supply chains that produce the technologies pose vexing dilemmas for the energy transition. These dilemmas are most dramatic at the extractive frontiers of green capitalism: where the natural resources needed to manufacture electric vehicles and build windmills are extracted. In this talk, we will unpack these challenges through the lens of lithium, a so-called "critical mineral" essential for its role in decarbonizing one of the most polluting sectors: transportation. With forecasters predicting an enormous surge in lithium demand, exceeding existing supplies, Global North governments and downstream firms scramble to "secure" lithium, resulting in a new state-corporate alliance and the return of vertical integration. Meanwhile, Global South governments are attempting to leverage critical mineral deposits into sustainable and sovereign economic development. And, across the world, environmental and Indigenous movements contest the rapid expansion of extraction, defending ecosystems, livelihoods, and waterways already under pressure from global warming from a new boom in mining. It is in the play of these forces, unfolding amidst geopolitical rivalry and economic turbulence, that the energy transition will be forged. To conclude, we will explore the possibility of a less mining-intensive pathway to zero carbon transportation.

### Bio

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, renewable energy, climate change, the global lithium sector, green technologies, social movements, and the Latin American left. She is the author of *Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism* (W.W. Norton, 2025) and *Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador* (Duke University Press, 2020), and the coauthor of *A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal* (Verso Books, 2019). Her publications have appeared in scholarly journals such as *Global Environmental Politics*, *World Politics*, and *Perspectives on Politics*, as well as in media outlets including *The New York Times*, *Financial Times*, *Foreign Policy*, *n+1*, *Dissent*, and more.



 

##  Register for in-person or virtual event 

 



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 See also:- [ 2025–2026 ](/academic-year/2025-2026)
- [ Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard ](/seminars/science_society/schedule)
 
 

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