Mining for the Climate

Building a mine requires a substantial amount of land. This episode investigates the tactics used by Piedmont Lithium to accumulate a critical amount of land for its operations. We take listeners to visit burned-out houses and empty lots and to meet the neighbors who sold and those who remain.

Mining for the Climate is a co-creation of Nate Otjen and Juan Manuel Rubio. It’s a production of Blue Lab at Princeton University.

Episode ...

Like a body, a mine has its own metabolism. It consumes water, trees and energy, and it releases chemicals, carbon and wastewater. These metabolic processes are supposed to be hidden: few want to see, hear, smell or taste a mine in operation. Unearthing the body of the mine, we ask how Piedmont Lithium highlights certain aspects of the mine’s processes while directing attention away from others.

Mining for the Climate is a co-creat...

Many residents of Gaston County make their living through farming and ranching. We meet a cattle and a horse rancher whose livelihoods and animals are threatened by the mine. Both women are doing everything in their power to stop the mine and maintain their way of life.

Mining for the Climate is a co-creation of Nate Otjen and Juan Manuel Rubio. It's a production of Blue Lab at Princeton University.

Episode Credits:

Written by Grac...

The road ahead for the Carolina Lithium project seems uncertain. In this final episode, we look at the greatest obstacle confronting Piedmont Lithium: convincing the Gaston County Board of Commissioners to approve their rezoning request.

Mining for the Climate is a co-creation of Nate Otjen and Juan Manuel Rubio. It's a production of Blue Lab at Princeton University.

Episode Credits:

Written by Nate Otjen

Hosted by Nate Otjen

Sound...

Nevada has a long history of mining. In the last decade, the state has positioned itself as the leading producer of lithium in the United States. This episode looks at how the recent approval of the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine in northern Nevada foreshadows larger efforts to turn the region into what some activists and scholars term an energy colony.

Mining for the Climate is a co-creation of Nate Otjen and Jessica Ng. It’s a product...

Outsiders and those who are not connected to the land often see the desert West as barren and unpopulated. However, Indigenous peoples and other beings have coexisted with the land since time immemorial. In this episode, we hear from Native and non-Native people who have deep connections with the McDermitt Caldera. Together they are grappling with what the potential loss of these attachments means and fighting to protect them.

Mini...

The questions of who can access land and which uses are prioritized have become urgent and pervasive in northern Nevada. The federal government determines how public land is used and which entities have priority accessing it. This episode discusses how mining became prioritized over other forms of land use in the region and considers the implications of this history for present-day communities facing lithium mines.

Mining for the C...

The Thacker Pass Mine brings many uncertainties to the region’s Indigenous and settler ranching communities. This episode features Susan Frey, a rancher in Orovada, and Gary McKinney, a Shoshone Paiute activist who lives on the Duck Valley Reservation. Together, Gary and Susan ask what resistance and survival look like in the long term.

Mining for the Climate is a co-creation of Nate Otjen and Jessica Ng. It’s a production of Blue ...