California’s Imperial Valley is home to one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—a mineral that may be crucial to engineering a low-carbon economy. Companies and governments interested in extracting Imperial’s lithium promise that the process will bring jobs and investment to the Valley, one of the most socially and economically marginalized places in the state. In this episode, we ask experts, activists, and community members whether lithium mining in Imperial could be part of what experts call a “just transition”: a shift to green energy that undoes the logic of exploitation that’s led us into climate crisis, instead of repeating it.

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