Why a Chilean salt flat is a microcosm of the extractive frontiers of green capitalism

In the Atacama desert, the extraction of lithium , so to addressing the climate crisis , comes with escalating social and environmental costs A high-altitude desert plateau traverses Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. I am on the Chilean side, sitting in a Jeep along with two other researchers. The afternoon air is thin and brisk but the sun is piercing , a combination I am familiar with from years of living and travelling in South America’s Andean range. The is a study in contrasts and contours: broad basins suddenly cut off by sweeping curves; flat expanses sliced by near vertical ascents. The Licancabur volcano looms large above us. Vegetation and humidity leve