Power Metal

Praise for Power Metal

“Vince Beiser delivers an exposé that cuts through the promising façade of the green revolution. … This is not a diatribe against technology, nor a rejection of the urgent need for clean energy. Rather, it’s a sobering reality check. Power Metal is an essential, eye-opening read.” –Jewish Independent

“Each chapter provides a vivid and often in-person reckoning with one part of the supply chain, taking readers from the crayon-bright lithium pools of Chile’s Atacama Desert to a Vancouver dumpster. . .to the California offices of iFixIt, a company that helps people repair devices they might otherwise toss.” —Undark

“Unflinching. . .Beiser urges us to rethink our understanding of sustainability.” —Scientific American

“Journalist [Vince] Beiser enumerates the precious metals comprising the electronics we consume with near-thoughtless abandon…[but] counters the darkness with bright stories of entrepreneurs salvaging the metals, giving old batteries repurposed afterlives,and repairing electronic devices to extend their lives…[This is] a book that alarms even as it leads us to solutions.”—Booklist

“Power Metal is a necessary, illuminating, and often shocking read. Fast-paced, fascinating, and alive with colorful characters, it’s a whirlwind tour of the epochal energy transition currently underway as we enter what Vince Beiser so aptly calls the ‘electro-digital age.’” —John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather

“In Power Metal, Vince Beiser explores the dirty underside of the clean energy transition. The result is at once fascinating and eye-opening – an essential read for anyone concerned about the future.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

“Vince Beiser’s Power Metal should be the next book you read. If we miraculously solve climate change and eliminate fossil fuel, Beiser gives us a whole box (as in pandora) of new troubles we are facing. It is a lot to think about.” —Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt and Cod

“Beiser takes readers on a globe-trotting journey to the mines and scrapyards that are the unlikely foundation of the age of smartphones and green energy. This eye-opening book challenges us to reckon with the unintended consequences of our choices as consumers and citizens – making it a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of our planet.” —Daniel Pink, author of Drive and The Power of Regret

“Electrifying the world is a noble rallying cry in climate activism, but it is at best a lesser evil, as Vince Beiser convincingly illustrates in this bracing tour of how we are destroying the planet in the name of saving it. Taking us along the toxic supply chains of our clean industries, he brings to life today’s tug-of-war over minerals, refineries and market share that constitutes the new geopolitics of energy.” —Dr. Parag Khanna, author of Connectography and MOVE