Earthworks

Earthworks exposes the brutal reality behind our hopeful, greener future. This book reveals how our salvation from climate change depends on a new form of planetary destruction-one that mirrors the colonial violence of the past while promising a sustainable future. As governments worldwide race to meet net-zero targets, critical mineral demand is exploding. This book arrives at the precise moment when these supply chains are becoming geopolitical battlegrounds.

Adam Bobbette tells the story of ten minerals that will drive the future – cobalt, copper, lithium, platinum, nickel, coltan, manganese, rare earths, germanium, tin, and finally sand. He travels to the smoking coal pits of Borneo, where mountains have been levelled and dead zones stretch along the coast. He exposes the horrors that are being done in the cobalt mines of Congo to the lithium deserts of Chile, the nickel smelters of Indonesia, to the rare earth mountains of Mongolia in order to provide for our future. And he also charts the global race for these minerals, so that today China owns 80% of the necessary lithium that will drive the revolution in battery power.

Earthworks reimagines our relationship with the earth itself. It reveals how these materials connect us to places and people across the globe, making the case for a more ethical relationship with the mineral world.