Today’s episode comes from Electric Futures, a podcast series exploring lesser known stories of the energy transition.

On the US-Mexican border in California lies the Imperial Valley. It is a mix of deserts and verdant green fields. For centuries, it has been a crossroad for immigrants and Americans searching for opportunities. The Imperial Valley is now participating in an on-going white gold rush – a sprint to extract lithium from brines deep in the earth. This lithium is critical to the production of electric vehicles, which are a vital element in strategies to slow growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and limit global warming.

Charles Zukoski—Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and previous provost of the University of Southern California—and the team at USC Annenberg produced this episode.

You can learn more about Electric Futures at: https://linktr.ee/uscelectricfutures

And listen to our season of Home, Interrupted from Feet in 2 Worlds at: https://www.fi2w.org/home-interrupted/