Rare Earths Are the New Oil. Here’s Why | Aaron Bastani Meets Nicholas Niarchos

The race to electrify the global energy system is underway, but awareness about this supply chain is woefully inadequate among the users of these technologies - many of whom profess to have green politics. On Downstream this week, Aaron Bastani spoke with Nicholas Niarchos, author of The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth. How has the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo unfolded over the past two centuries? How has China come to control so much of the rare earth supply chain? Is foreign states' activity in the DRC development, or a new form of colonialism? And is this supply chain now set to replace fossil fuels in the 21st century, as the dirtiest supply chain on earth?