The Rare Metals War

The Dark Side of Clean Energy and Digital Technologies
Guillaume Pitron (trans. Bianca Jacobsohn)

“[E]xposes the dirty underpinnings of clean technologies in a debut that raises valid questions about energy extraction.”

Publishers Weekly

“[T]he journalist and filmmaker warns against the optimistic belief that technology is the solution…At a time when many claim to be “citizens of the world” or retreat into naive or hypocritical protectionism, Pitron’s book is an attempt to open people’s eyes to the consequences of their societal choices and lifestyles.”

Green European Journal

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“An expert account of a poorly understood but critical element in our economy.”

Kirkus Reviews

Is the shift to renewable energy and digital devices going to free us from severe pollution, material shortages, and military tensions?

Rare metals are essential to electric vehicles, fighter jets, wind turbines, and solar panels, and also to our smartphones, computers, tablets, and other everyday connected objects. But consumers know very little about how they are mined and traded, or the environmental, economic, and geopolitical costs of this dependence.

This book reveals the dark side of the world that awaits us. It is an undercover tale of a technological odyssey that has promised much, and a look behind the scenes. Behind it all lurks China, which has captured the lion’s share of the ownership and processing of rare metals we now can’t do without. Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, this book shows that by breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence—on rare metals that have become vital to our new ecological and digital society.

“[E]xposes the dirty underpinnings of clean technologies in a debut that raises valid questions about energy extraction.”

Publishers Weekly

Green European Journal

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 9in × 6in

Extent:288pp

ISBN (13):9781950354313

RRP:$20.00

Pub date:5 Oct 2020

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

2021 ABDA Best Designed Autobiography/Biography/Memoir/Non-Fiction Cover - Long-listed 2018 BFMTV’s Economic Book of the Year - Winner 2018 Cosnes City Book Fair Readers' Club Award - Winner 2018 HEC Student Prize - Winner 2018 ManpowerGroup/HEC Paris Literary Award - Winner 2018 Prix Turgot, Best Financial Economy - Winner 2018 The French Geographical Society Escourrou Award - Winner

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AUTHOR

Guillaume Pitron

Guillaume Pitron, who was born in 1980, is a French award-winning journalist and documentary-maker for France’s leading television channels. His work focuses on commodities and on the economic, political, and environmental issues associated with their use. The Rare Metals War, his first book, sold 80,000 copies in France and has been translated into ten languages. Guillaume Pitron holds a master’s degree in international law from the University of Georgetown (Washington, DC), and is a TEDx speaker. More information at www.guillaumepitron.com.

TRANSLATOR

Bianca Jacobsohn

Bianca Jacobsohn is a South African/French translator and conference interpreter who specialises in energy, finance, strategic metals, and high-level diplomacy.

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