Thea Riofrancos
@triofrancos.bsky.social
Political Scientist, Providence College
Strategic Co-Director, Climate and Community Institute
Author / Resource Radicals (Duke UP 2020)
Co-Author / A Planet to Win (Verso 2019)
Forthcoming / Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (WW Norton)
Strategic Co-Director, Climate and Community Institute
Author / Resource Radicals (Duke UP 2020)
Co-Author / A Planet to Win (Verso 2019)
Forthcoming / Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism (WW Norton)
Pinned
Why are minerals so central to geopolitics? How green are electric cars? Why is anti-mining protest increasing? Can the inequalities of the global economy be transformed?
I tackle these topics in my book EXTRACTION: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism
👀 September 2025 @wwnorton.bsky.social
I tackle these topics in my book EXTRACTION: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism
👀 September 2025 @wwnorton.bsky.social
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Some of my favorite leftist Latin American scholars were in a room talking about what leftist-governed cities in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador have to teach a socialist in the belly of the beast - truly you do not want to miss this episode, so many actually practical and urgent lessons here
Season 7 launches 🔥 by reflecting on "What Zohran Can Learn from Latin America's Pink Tide" - with some insightful analyses on the challenges for the Zohran administration , and what leftist-governed cities in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil +Ecuador have to teach us open.spotify.com/episode/75Oo...
What Zohran can learn from Latin America's Pink Tide
open.spotify.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Some of my favorite leftist Latin American scholars were in a room talking about what leftist-governed cities in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador have to teach a socialist in the belly of the beast - truly you do not want to miss this episode, so many actually practical and urgent lessons here
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Season 7 launches 🔥 by reflecting on "What Zohran Can Learn from Latin America's Pink Tide" - with some insightful analyses on the challenges for the Zohran administration , and what leftist-governed cities in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil +Ecuador have to teach us open.spotify.com/episode/75Oo...
What Zohran can learn from Latin America's Pink Tide
open.spotify.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Season 7 launches 🔥 by reflecting on "What Zohran Can Learn from Latin America's Pink Tide" - with some insightful analyses on the challenges for the Zohran administration , and what leftist-governed cities in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil +Ecuador have to teach us open.spotify.com/episode/75Oo...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
A true powerhouse lineup with Edwin Ackerman, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Gabriel Hetland and @triofrancos.bsky.social, moderated by @llchristyll.bsky.social (an an excessively enthusiastic intro by yours truly @ipenaranda.bsky.social )
November 10, 2025 at 9:09 PM
A true powerhouse lineup with Edwin Ackerman, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Gabriel Hetland and @triofrancos.bsky.social, moderated by @llchristyll.bsky.social (an an excessively enthusiastic intro by yours truly @ipenaranda.bsky.social )
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
My local library got a copy of Extraction from @triofrancos.bsky.social — it starts with a description of the Atacama desert and salt flats in Chile and how a colonial narrative of emptiness justified extraction of mineral wealth. Made me dig out an old photo album from 2002 when I was there.
November 7, 2025 at 3:24 AM
My local library got a copy of Extraction from @triofrancos.bsky.social — it starts with a description of the Atacama desert and salt flats in Chile and how a colonial narrative of emptiness justified extraction of mineral wealth. Made me dig out an old photo album from 2002 when I was there.
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
I'm on @macrodosepod.bsky.social alongside great peeps, for an episode on war, climate crisis, and the economy.
My own remarks focus on the rise of state capitalism with a military-imperial twist, at the very heart of US empire
open.spotify.com/episode/4un1...
@campolis.bsky.social
My own remarks focus on the rise of state capitalism with a military-imperial twist, at the very heart of US empire
open.spotify.com/episode/4un1...
@campolis.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 10:47 AM
I'm on @macrodosepod.bsky.social alongside great peeps, for an episode on war, climate crisis, and the economy.
My own remarks focus on the rise of state capitalism with a military-imperial twist, at the very heart of US empire
open.spotify.com/episode/4un1...
@campolis.bsky.social
My own remarks focus on the rise of state capitalism with a military-imperial twist, at the very heart of US empire
open.spotify.com/episode/4un1...
@campolis.bsky.social
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
If you missed our launch event on 16 October, you're in luck!
You can now listen back to the live recording with @stephensemler.bsky.social, @iliasalami.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @lalehkhalili.bsky.social on @macrodosepod.bsky.social
👇
open.spotify.com/show/7ABsNTl...
You can now listen back to the live recording with @stephensemler.bsky.social, @iliasalami.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @lalehkhalili.bsky.social on @macrodosepod.bsky.social
👇
open.spotify.com/show/7ABsNTl...
War, Climate Crisis and the Economy w/ Common Wealth
open.spotify.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
If you missed our launch event on 16 October, you're in luck!
You can now listen back to the live recording with @stephensemler.bsky.social, @iliasalami.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @lalehkhalili.bsky.social on @macrodosepod.bsky.social
👇
open.spotify.com/show/7ABsNTl...
You can now listen back to the live recording with @stephensemler.bsky.social, @iliasalami.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @lalehkhalili.bsky.social on @macrodosepod.bsky.social
👇
open.spotify.com/show/7ABsNTl...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
considering moving to NYC for many reasons today but not least of which would be to come to this event next week with @triofrancos.bsky.social and @dwallacewells.bsky.social
www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/thea-r...
www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/thea-r...
November 5, 2025 at 10:03 PM
considering moving to NYC for many reasons today but not least of which would be to come to this event next week with @triofrancos.bsky.social and @dwallacewells.bsky.social
www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/thea-r...
www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/thea-r...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
New Dig ep w/ Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Brazilian political economy and where Brazil fits into world capitalist system structured by relationships of domination/unequal exchange. How the left must navigate contradictions of governance. www.thedigradio.com/podcast/braz...
Brazil and the World System w/ Fernando Haddad
Featuring Fernando Haddad on Brazilian political economy and where Brazil fits into a world capitalist system structured by relationships of domination and unequal exchange. Haddad is Finance Minister...
www.thedigradio.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
New Dig ep w/ Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Brazilian political economy and where Brazil fits into world capitalist system structured by relationships of domination/unequal exchange. How the left must navigate contradictions of governance. www.thedigradio.com/podcast/braz...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
La chercheuse Thea Riofrancos (@triofrancos.bsky.social) publie "Extraction", dans lequel elle part d'une longue enquête sur les mines de lithium pour comprendre les recompositions du capitalisme à l'ère de la "transition" énergétique
On en discute ici avec elle :
www.nouvelobs.com/economie/202...
On en discute ici avec elle :
www.nouvelobs.com/economie/202...
« La Chine, officiellement communiste, est probablement l’Etat capitaliste “vert” le plus performant au monde »
La chercheuse Thea Riofrancos vient de publier « Extraction », fruit d’une enquête de dix ans sur les mines de lithium, l’un des métaux essentiels à la transition énergétique. L’occasion d’analyser le...
www.nouvelobs.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:10 AM
La chercheuse Thea Riofrancos (@triofrancos.bsky.social) publie "Extraction", dans lequel elle part d'une longue enquête sur les mines de lithium pour comprendre les recompositions du capitalisme à l'ère de la "transition" énergétique
On en discute ici avec elle :
www.nouvelobs.com/economie/202...
On en discute ici avec elle :
www.nouvelobs.com/economie/202...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
I really enjoyed speaking with @triofrancos.bsky.social about EVs, minerals, the birds of the Atacama salt flats, the surprising biodiversity of microbes, and her great new book, Extraction.
windowofopportunity.substack.com/p/on-evs-min...
windowofopportunity.substack.com/p/on-evs-min...
Are EV Batteries Destroying Indigenous Lands?
Thea Riofrancos is asking all the hard questions — and pointing to some encouraging answers.
windowofopportunity.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I really enjoyed speaking with @triofrancos.bsky.social about EVs, minerals, the birds of the Atacama salt flats, the surprising biodiversity of microbes, and her great new book, Extraction.
windowofopportunity.substack.com/p/on-evs-min...
windowofopportunity.substack.com/p/on-evs-min...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
A reminder this is on tomorrow at Brown. Come along if you can.
And if you are around Providence this Friday, come hear the wonderful @triofrancos.bsky.social talk her new book at Watson:
October 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM
A reminder this is on tomorrow at Brown. Come along if you can.
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
New Dig ep w key Global South leaders from Philippines and Uganda, Walden Bello and Jane Nalunga. We trace neoliberalism’s defeat of Third Worldist project to Global South social movement/civil society networks that rose from ashes to take on neoliberal globalization. thedigradio.com/podcast/thir...
Third World Networks w/ Walden Bello and Jane Nalunga
Featuring Walden Bello and Jane Nalunga on neoliberalism’s defeat of Third Worldist radical projects and the Global South social movement and civil society networks that rose from the ashes to take on...
thedigradio.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:47 PM
New Dig ep w key Global South leaders from Philippines and Uganda, Walden Bello and Jane Nalunga. We trace neoliberalism’s defeat of Third Worldist project to Global South social movement/civil society networks that rose from ashes to take on neoliberal globalization. thedigradio.com/podcast/thir...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
And if you are around Providence this Friday, come hear the wonderful @triofrancos.bsky.social talk her new book at Watson:
October 28, 2025 at 2:42 PM
And if you are around Providence this Friday, come hear the wonderful @triofrancos.bsky.social talk her new book at Watson:
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Have you read Dr. @triofrancos.bsky.social’s new book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism?
Check out this interview in @thebaffler.com to learn more about her maxim for economies transitioning to clean energy:
“Minimize extraction, maximize public good.”
thebaffler.com/latest/schro...
Check out this interview in @thebaffler.com to learn more about her maxim for economies transitioning to clean energy:
“Minimize extraction, maximize public good.”
thebaffler.com/latest/schro...
Schrodinger’s Element | Ajay Singh Chaudhary
In her new book, Thea Riofrancos homes in on the extraction of lithium—and the thorny problem of an ecologically sound energy transition
thebaffler.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Have you read Dr. @triofrancos.bsky.social’s new book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism?
Check out this interview in @thebaffler.com to learn more about her maxim for economies transitioning to clean energy:
“Minimize extraction, maximize public good.”
thebaffler.com/latest/schro...
Check out this interview in @thebaffler.com to learn more about her maxim for economies transitioning to clean energy:
“Minimize extraction, maximize public good.”
thebaffler.com/latest/schro...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Two weeks ago Andrew Marantz accompanied me to the @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social rally in Wash Heights. He wrote a piece about @thedigradio.bsky.social and about how I see this huge opening for the left, need for coalition w libs, and the urgency of getting serious about building/wielding power. Link👇
October 27, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Two weeks ago Andrew Marantz accompanied me to the @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social rally in Wash Heights. He wrote a piece about @thedigradio.bsky.social and about how I see this huge opening for the left, need for coalition w libs, and the urgency of getting serious about building/wielding power. Link👇
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Emendou nesta excelente recomendação do @urbfernandes.bsky.social e eu fiquei apaixonada pela queen Thea Riofrancos "over explaining" (explicando detalhada, profunda e maravilhosamente) os dilemas, mas tbm mergulhando na materialidade do oximoro "capitalismo verde". spotify.link/154oXUFfBXb
425. The Oxymorons of Green Capitalism (ft. Thea Riofrancos)
spotify.link
October 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Emendou nesta excelente recomendação do @urbfernandes.bsky.social e eu fiquei apaixonada pela queen Thea Riofrancos "over explaining" (explicando detalhada, profunda e maravilhosamente) os dilemas, mas tbm mergulhando na materialidade do oximoro "capitalismo verde". spotify.link/154oXUFfBXb
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
CONVERSATION with Thea Riofrancos: “The term ‘critical minerals’ can trick us into thinking something is scarce”
open.substack.com/pub/breakdow...
open.substack.com/pub/breakdow...
CONVERSATION with Thea Riofrancos: “The term ‘critical minerals’ can trick us into thinking something is scarce”
Read a sneak preview from Issue #2 — out 22 September ⛏️🌱
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:17 AM
CONVERSATION with Thea Riofrancos: “The term ‘critical minerals’ can trick us into thinking something is scarce”
open.substack.com/pub/breakdow...
open.substack.com/pub/breakdow...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
After having listened to @danieldenvir.bsky.social double episode interview with Melinda Cooper (which I can't recommend highly enough), I was reminded to renew my annual contribution to @thedigradio.bsky.social thedigradio.com/podcast/coun... So grateful for this podcast.
Counterrevolution w/ Melinda Cooper
Featuring Melinda Cooper on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. Neoliberalism remade the American economy into an engine for the appreciation of assets stretching from the...
thedigradio.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:55 PM
After having listened to @danieldenvir.bsky.social double episode interview with Melinda Cooper (which I can't recommend highly enough), I was reminded to renew my annual contribution to @thedigradio.bsky.social thedigradio.com/podcast/coun... So grateful for this podcast.
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
I was first radicalized by anti-corporate globalization movement that defined the US left in the late 90s, reaching its apotheosis w/ Battle in Seattle against WTO. A few weeks ago, I hosted a live Dig w/
@eurtradejustice.bsky.social
in Brussels on the history of global trade justice movement 1/
@eurtradejustice.bsky.social
in Brussels on the history of global trade justice movement 1/
October 22, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I was first radicalized by anti-corporate globalization movement that defined the US left in the late 90s, reaching its apotheosis w/ Battle in Seattle against WTO. A few weeks ago, I hosted a live Dig w/
@eurtradejustice.bsky.social
in Brussels on the history of global trade justice movement 1/
@eurtradejustice.bsky.social
in Brussels on the history of global trade justice movement 1/
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
So honored when @danieldenvir.bsky.social & the @eurtradejustice.bsky.social invited me to appear as a guest on a live episode of my fave politics/history podcast,
@thedigradio.bsky.social. Check out a fascinating convo on the global justice movement's history: thedigradio.com/podcast/anot....
@thedigradio.bsky.social. Check out a fascinating convo on the global justice movement's history: thedigradio.com/podcast/anot....
Another World Was Possible
Featuring Alexandra Wandel, Gonzalo Berrón, and Paul Adlerstein on the 1999 mass protest against the World Trade Organization in Seattle and on the giant global justice movement that mobilized unions,...
thedigradio.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:08 PM
So honored when @danieldenvir.bsky.social & the @eurtradejustice.bsky.social invited me to appear as a guest on a live episode of my fave politics/history podcast,
@thedigradio.bsky.social. Check out a fascinating convo on the global justice movement's history: thedigradio.com/podcast/anot....
@thedigradio.bsky.social. Check out a fascinating convo on the global justice movement's history: thedigradio.com/podcast/anot....
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
This two-part series is excellent
New @thedigradio.bsky.social: SECOND of two w @melindacooper.bsky.social on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. How asset boom and bust drove MAGA’s rise and also revealed powerful monetary tools that could make socialism—that and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/from...
From Fiscal Austerity to Monetary Abundance w/ Melinda Cooper
Featuring Melinda Cooper on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. Balanced budget conservatism and supply side populism engineered a politics of austerity and budget deficit...
www.thedigradio.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:40 AM
This two-part series is excellent
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
so @triofrancos.bsky.social headed up some work with @cplusc.bsky.social on exactly that. we can do a lot better if we rely less on EV rollout, more on public transit rollout, and put workers across the supply chain in a position to determine conditions
climateandcommunity.org/research/mor...
climateandcommunity.org/research/mor...
Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining - Climate and Community Institute
Transportation is the number one source of carbon emissions in the United States– making the sector crucial to decarbonize quickly to limit the climate crisis. States …
climateandcommunity.org
October 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
so @triofrancos.bsky.social headed up some work with @cplusc.bsky.social on exactly that. we can do a lot better if we rely less on EV rollout, more on public transit rollout, and put workers across the supply chain in a position to determine conditions
climateandcommunity.org/research/mor...
climateandcommunity.org/research/mor...
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Who should benefit from the energy transition? Communities? Workers? Billionaires?
As federal posture toward a clean energy supply chain shifts rapidly, our new report shows that communities are turning to community benefit agreements (CBAs) to gain control over their futures. 👇
As federal posture toward a clean energy supply chain shifts rapidly, our new report shows that communities are turning to community benefit agreements (CBAs) to gain control over their futures. 👇
October 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Who should benefit from the energy transition? Communities? Workers? Billionaires?
As federal posture toward a clean energy supply chain shifts rapidly, our new report shows that communities are turning to community benefit agreements (CBAs) to gain control over their futures. 👇
As federal posture toward a clean energy supply chain shifts rapidly, our new report shows that communities are turning to community benefit agreements (CBAs) to gain control over their futures. 👇
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
At some point in Melinda Cooper's 5-hour @thedigradio.bsky.social marathon she explains Greenspanism as a macro-framework that is actively tolerant of asset bubbles, and when one pops the priority is to defend the monetary conditions for the next one to arise
Bubbles are good, actually…
on.ft.com/476jUkn ‘Of course it’s a bubble’: AI start-up valuations soar in investor frenzy
on.ft.com/476jUkn ‘Of course it’s a bubble’: AI start-up valuations soar in investor frenzy
October 16, 2025 at 7:08 AM
At some point in Melinda Cooper's 5-hour @thedigradio.bsky.social marathon she explains Greenspanism as a macro-framework that is actively tolerant of asset bubbles, and when one pops the priority is to defend the monetary conditions for the next one to arise
Reposted by Thea Riofrancos
Riofrancos: Global South countries can leverage their resources toward their own development and interests, not just exports. We are seeing new forms of collaboration between China and the Global South: Chinese firms set up mfg sites there and building industrialization (e.g. solar panels) locally.
October 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Riofrancos: Global South countries can leverage their resources toward their own development and interests, not just exports. We are seeing new forms of collaboration between China and the Global South: Chinese firms set up mfg sites there and building industrialization (e.g. solar panels) locally.