{"product_id":"living-minerals-javiera-barandiaran-9780262553704","title":"Living Minerals: Nature, Trade, and Power in the Race for Lithium","description":"\u003cb\u003eA sobering investigation of the rush for lithium for electric vehicles, the problematic history of lithium mining, and the consequences for sustainability.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eConsumers today are buying electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries motivated by the belief that they are doing good and decarbonizing society. But is sustainable lithium extraction possible? In \u003ci\u003eLiving Minerals\u003c\/i\u003e, Javiera Barandiarán examines the history of lithium mining and uses during the 20th century, with a specific focus on the two oldest brine-lithium mines: Silver Peak, Nevada and Salar de Atacama, Chile, where lithium is found as one more element in a liquid mix of salts, minerals, and organisms. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor six decades, mining experts have failed to ask about water usage, about waste or brine leakage, and about the ecosystem impacts in delicate deserts. Instead, they have relied on various fictions about the size of reserves, the fate of leaked brine, or the value of waste in facilitating mine development. These fictions, rooted in brine-lithium's material qualities, could be sustained thanks to powerful mining memories that celebrated resource nationalism. Unique in its historical and multi-dimensional approach to minerals and mining, based on the novel Rights of Nature paradigm, and the use of new archival materials from both Chile and the U.S., the book argues that decarbonizing society requires that we reckon with these realities--or risk deepening our dependency on an unsustainable mining industry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Javiera Barandiaran\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262553708\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262553704\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 280\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback","brand":"Javiera Barandiaran","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47419035189503,"sku":"9780262553704","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_98dbcc28-11aa-4e2a-93b0-0432413d447a.jpg?v=1761509056","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/living-minerals-javiera-barandiaran-9780262553704","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}