Image - the speakers and a detail from their book cover
San Francisco

Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles and a Just Future

Buy Tickets

If you are not a member yet, now is the time to join our community and receive the great benefits of membership. We are a group of people seeking truth, insight and wisdom about the issues we face as individuals and as a society. Please join! You can become a monthly sustaining member for just $13 a month.

California’s Salton Sea region is home to some of the worst environmental health conditions in the country. Recently, however, it has also become ground zero in the new “lithium gold rush”—the race to power the rapidly expanding electric vehicle and renewable energy storage market. The immense quantities of lithium lurking beneath the surface have led to predictions that the region could provide a third of global demand. But who will benefit from the development of this precious resource?

Join us as Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor, authors of the new book Charging Forward, show that the questions raised by Lithium Valley lie at the heart of the “green transition.” They weave together movement politics, federal policy, and autoworker struggles, stressing that getting the lithium out from under the earth is just a first step: the real question is whether the region and the nation will get out from under what they say has been the environmental degradation, labor exploitation, and racial injustice that have been as much a part of the landscape as the Salton Sea itself.

What happens in Lithium Valley, the authors argue, will not stay there. This tiny patch of California is a microcosm of the broad climate challenges we face; Benner and Pastor argue that understanding Lithium Valley today is the key to grasping the future of our economy and our planet.

About the Speakers

Chris Benner is the director of the Institute for Social Transformation and the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change at UC Santa Cruz, where he is also the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship and a professor of environmental studies and sociology. He has co-authored five books with Manuel Pastor, including Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn From America’s Metro Areas and Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Manuel Pastor is the director of the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California, where he is also a distinguished professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity. He is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change. He has co-authored five books with Chris Benner, including Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future. Pastor is also the author of State of Resistance: What California’s Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America’s Future. He lives in Los Angeles.

Organizer
Andrew Dudley
Notes

This program is in-person-only. If you have symptoms of illness (coughing, fever, etc.), we ask that you either stay home or wear a mask. Our front desk has complimentary masks for members and guests who would like one.

The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming.

A People & Nature Member-led Forum program. Forums and chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of Commonwealth Club World Affairs, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Benner photo by Gwynn Benner; Pastor photo courtesy the speaker.

All ticket sales are final and nonrefundable.

Thu, Oct 17 / 5:30 PM PDT

The Commonwealth Club of California
110 The Embarcadero
Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States

Speakers
Image - Chris Benner

Chris Benner

Director, the Institute for Social Transformation and the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change, the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, and a Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology, University of California, Sata Cruz; Co-author, Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future

Image - Manuel Pastor

Manuel Pastor

Director, the Equity Research Institute, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity, and Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change, University of Southern California; Co-author, Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future

Image - Andrew Dudley

Andrew Dudley

President and CEO, Earth; Co-host, "Earth Live"—Moderator

Format

5 p.m. doors open & check-in
5:30–6:30 p.m program
6:30 p.m. book signing
(all times Pacific Time)

COST

Members receive 30–50 percent discounts (not a member? Join)

In-person:
$22
$50 with a book
Free for Leadership Circle members and for students (no a book)