We are very excited to be part of the newly-released podcast series Continental Shift, a joint production of Adrienne Buller (The BREAK—DOWN podcast) and Youssef Bouchi (Geopolitical Ecology).
This four-part series on the global rush for critical minerals and what it means for the North American continent and beyond brings together renowned experts in a variety of fields to examine the rush for “critical minerals” — the commodities like cobalt, copper and lithium that are deemed “critical” by different governments depending on their priorities, whether that’s the transition to green energy, AI infrastructure, or high-tech military assets.
Episode 1: Free Market Fictions and Trade Frictions, with historian Quinn Slobodian and economist Isabel Estevez, unpacks how longstanding trade rules, investor protections and liberalization have shaped how resources are extracted and governed in North America.
Episode 2: A (Not So) New Gold Rush, with researcher and author Thea Riofrancos and Global Witness’ Emily Iona-Stewart, looks at what exactly what makes these commodities so “critical” in the first place, who defines them as such, and who benefits from that decision.
Episode 3: Extraction South of Empire offers a closer look at extractivism in Mexico, mapping how policy and capital have reshaped labour, land, and water regimes, with researchers Darcy Tetreault and Sol Pérez Jiménez.
Episode 4: Extraction North of Empire asks whether extraction in Canada can be reimagined in ways that respect Indigenous rights and ecological limits, with UBC professor Jess Dempsey, MiningWatch Canada’s Jamie Kneen, and Gitxsan land use consultant Naxginkw (Tara Marsden).