# The extraction industry powering the green transition (from the Rhodes Center Podcast)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/trending-globally-politics-and-policy-745507/the-extraction-industry-powering-the-green-transition-from-the-rhodes-center-podcast
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/trending-globally-politics-and-policy-745507/the-extraction-industry-powering-the-green-transition-from-the-rhodes-center-podcast.md
Podcast: [Trending Globally: Politics and Policy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/trending-globally-politics-and-policy-745507)
Published: 2026-04-30T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://trending-globally.captivate.fm/episode/the-extraction-industry-powering-the-green-transition-from-the-rhodes-center-podcast
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/ef527946-6b24-4e61-a791-37d8e42ff91b.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/trending-globally-politics-and-policy-745507/episodes/the-extraction-industry-powering-the-green-transition-from-the-rhodes-center-podcast
Duration seconds: 2420

## Resource

Lithium is an essential ingredient of most modern electronics. It helps to power our phones, our laptops, and increasingly EVs and other key parts of the green transition. As Thea Riofrancos, a political scientist and author of the new book “Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism,” explains, the story of lithium — how it's mined, how it’s refined, and how it makes its way around the world — isn’t just a business story. It's a story of geopolitics and power. On this episode (originally published on the Rhodes Center Podcast, another podcast from the Watson School), Watson political economist and Rhodes Center director Mark Blyth talks with Thea about the politics and economics of lithium extraction, how the race to electrify our energy supply is reshaping the global economy, and what it means for the future of our planet. Learn more about and purchase Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism Watch Mark and Thea’s discussion at the Watson School

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/trending-globally-politics-and-policy-745507/episodes/the-extraction-industry-powering-the-green-transition-from-the-rhodes-center-podcast/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/trending-globally-politics-and-policy-745507/the-extraction-industry-powering-the-green-transition-from-the-rhodes-center-podcast.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.