Book review: The great costs of mining electrical energy on the planet

In your unwavering following The world in a grain—a book that turned sand into a fascinating story—journalist Vince Beiser reveals the costs of extracting the “titanic quantities” of minerals needed to satisfy the growing demand of our “Electro-Digital Era”. Beiser traces cobalt and lithium from environmentally destructive excavation sites in Chile’s Atacama Desert and under the sea through a geopolitically charged supply chain to our electric cars and solar panels. With gains in green energy failing to rebalance Mother Nature’s balance (only one in 10 solar panels are recycled), Beiser urges us to rethink our understanding of sustainability.