Powering the Future, Exploiting the Present: Lithium, the Green Transition & Environmental Justice
Collaboration between the Green Youth Movement, Eye on Global Health and School of Global Health
Why this collaboration?
The Green Youth Movement and Eye on Global Health are two active student initiatives in Copenhagen. We wanted to collaborate to explore the interconnectivity between our two missions: Planetary health, environmental justice and decolonisation. From our early brainstorm sessions, we landed on (lithium)mining, an industry that is strongly connected to the green transition, whilst also showcasing challenges of neocolonialism and local as well as global health- and environmental challenges.
About the event
In this event, Lithium Mining in the Lithium Triangle in South America is used to examine the interconnectivity of societal and systemic challenges around the Green Transition, green extractivism and (neo)colonialism. Lithium mining, being the lifeline of the green transition, provides opportunities for greener energy and greener economies. However, when zooming into the local dynamics around lithium mining, social and systemic injustices are exposed, brought by neoliberalist ideologies and neocolonial tendencies, which establish power inequalities. Profits go to powerful corporate companies while local mineworkers are often left with the negative spillover effects of mining: health challenges and environmental pollution.
When discussing the challenges around lithium mining, we cannot just speak of water shortages, or environmental pollution as siloed problems that mine workers and the local population can be blamed for. Instead, there is a web of concepts that define how systemic inequality and injustice create on-the-ground power imbalances in access and opportunities, creating localised problems. Using a shift of lenses, we try to demonstrate the interconnectivity between climate change and the green transition, neocolonialism and health inequity, to showcase that these challenges can only be addressed when looking at the interconnectivity of problems at a systemic level.
Join us for this night of discussions, zooming into the complexity of lithium mining in this part of the world!
Sign up now for the event and a free sandwich!
The event is supported by Global Development Network and Tuborg Fondet.