The War Below

Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives

By: Ernest Scheyder

Narrated by: Matt Godfrey

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION AND THE 2024 FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

This unprecedented look inside the global battle to power our lives is “required reading for anyone interested in the 360-degree impacts of the energy transition” (Daniel Poneman, former US Deputy Secretary of Energy) from acclaimed Reuters reporter Ernest Scheyder.

To build electric vehicles, solar panels, cell phones, and millions of other devices means the world must dig more mines to extract lithium, copper, and other vital building blocks. But mines are deeply unpopular, even as they have a role to play in fighting climate change and powering crucial technologies. These tensions have sparked a worldwide reckoning over the sourcing of necessary materials, and no one understands the complexities of these issues better than Ernest Scheyder.

The War Below reveals the explosive brawl among industry titans, conservationists, community groups, policymakers, and many others over whether the habitats of rare plants, sensitive ecosystems, Indigenous holy sites, and other places should be dug up for their riches.

With accessible and “illuminating” (Chris Miller, author of Chip War) writing, Scheyder shows the human toll of this war and explains why recycling and other newer technologies have struggled to gain widespread use. He also expertly chronicles Washington’s attempts to wean itself off supplies from China, the global leader in mineral production and processing. The War Below paints a powerfully honest and nuanced picture of what is at stake in this new fight for energy independence, revealing how America and the rest of the world’s hunt for the “new oil” directly affects us all.©2024 Ernest Scheyder (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"The War Below provides an illuminating account of the global struggle for control of critical minerals. As the world uses more batteries it will need vastly more lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. The War Below takes readers on an extraordinary journey from the bottom of the world's deepest mines to the commanding heights of the world's energy system. Scheyder uncovers the forces shaping the struggle for critical minerals, from geopolitical competition between China and the U.S. to political clashes between environmental groups and the world's largest mining firms. This is essential reading for understanding the critical minerals upon which the energy transition—and our future prosperity—relies." —Chris Miller, author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology","

"Finally, the real story of the difficulties of mining and processing enough minerals in the US to supply a green, carbon free energy transition. Scheyder introduces us to the people living in our mining communities whose lives are greatly affected by America's goal to de-carbon energy. In this telling we confront the reality that there are no easy answers or quick fixes. We are also made uncomfortable with the ethics of wanting to preserve our beautiful places, while we rely on foreign supply chains where minerals are mined and processed with no real attention to environmental, labor, and human rights abuses." —Heidi Heitkamp, Former United States Senator of North Dakota",

"Addressing climate change by digging up the earth for minerals is like putting out a fire with gasoline. Veteran journalist Scheyder helps cut through the smoke with his new book. The War Below gives the reader a front row seat to one of the critical debates of our time: how to power the clean energy transition without adding to ecological and human harm through irresponsible mining. Ernie's detailed storytelling and research help convey what's at stake in this new 'race to the bottom." —Payal Sampat, Earthworks

I love the way the author is so descriptive

If you're interested in becoming a better consumer , this book is a must read. It is so informative and the author is very descriptive. Which makes you feel like you were with him as he traveled around visiting mines and potentially mine sites.

Stuck in Neutral - Environmentalists vs Green Energy Transition

It’s hard to make progress when the federal administration has its feet firmly and simultaneously planted on the brakes and the accelerator, sometimes wavering inexplicably between the two to satisfy one group or another and to curry voter favor. Democracy is a great thing, but windsock leadership isn’t helping make quality decisions that assures America’s energy and security independence. The author takes no sides and lets readers decide for themselves what the appropriate balance should be between extreme environmentalism, economic realities and the potential for profit making, and the role for a talking head government where agencies spend millions working at cross purposes - making the USA “uninvestible” for mining raw materials needed for the green energy transition. The author provides no answers, doesn’t lean one way or the other, but provides a wealth of well-researched factual, scientific, and technical information told in a wonderful style that lets the reader decide. Very well-written and narrated book that isn’t just a sound-bite.

An unbiased look at the green energy landscape

through interviews with key players in the green energy transition, the book lays out the various struggles between the potential producers and the communities impacted. no conclusions or sides taken, it shows the choices before the country in its path towards fighting climate change with technology. what are we willing to sacrifice? no easy answers,

Terrific book

Really well researched and written. Should be a wake up call to anyone who reads it!

Wonderfully Informative

The style and presentation were inviting. I didn’t feel overwhelmed by data, statistics, or timelines, which I was challenged with in my last read.

A great piece of material to include in the “Let’s Explore The Impact of EVs” Starter-Pack.

Misses its chance at greatness

"The War Below" (2024) by Ernest Scheyder was disappointing. Scheyder is a journalist who traveled around the U.S. (and occasionally to other places, such as Bolivia), interviewing people in favor of and against various metals mining projects. It is not a technical book, and mining processes are described only briefly. Instead, it focuses on the difficulties of getting new mines (and similar facilities, such as brine processing facilities or evaporation ponds) permitted and built.

The biggest problem with the book is that it feels like it's telling the same story, again and again, in each chapter. The location, the name of the proposed mine, and the names of the key players change, but every time, the efforts of local opponents combined with red tape and technical challenges cause the mining projects never to get off the ground. There is a single chapter (out of 15) on recycling these metals, and I thought it surely would be different, but it ended up emphasizing the dearth of recycling facilities and the difficulty of getting new ones built. The same story again.

It's easy for an author to point out problems in society. It's harder to come up with solutions. And Scheyder never once suggests any solutions. (Indeed, he takes a hands-off, journalistic approach where he mostly avoids directly expressing his own opinions, let alone providing original ideas.) So the book becomes a litany of problems and complaints with no solutions to anything.

After doing so much research and interviewing so many people, Scheyder is qualified. He has turned himself into one of the world's experts in this subject area. By the end of the book, he should have dropped the objective journalist persona and put on the table his unvarnished, best thinking on how to solve the problems he highlighted in the book. A series of depressing tales of neverending red tape and failure doesn't move the dialogue forward. Society needs to learn from past stumbles and determine how best to obtain the minerals it needs. By publishing a prominent book on the topic, Scheyder had an opportunity to contribute to that conversation, authoritatively and constructively. Perhaps, given the gravity of the climate crisis, he had a moral responsibility to do so. But Scheyder passes up a profound opportunity to do good in the world - to make all his years of research and interviews mean something for the future.

It's a terrible waste.

For all that, it's a solidly reported and well-written book. It is informative on the history of mine permitting challenges. So, it earns three stars for its competence and quality, even though it misses its chance to be something greater.

Brilliant page turner!!!!

This books is an incredible work of journalism and research. Written in an entertaining and straightforward way, it had me hooked from page 1! Highly recommend!

Well researched and even-handed on the topic

My knowledge on lithium-ion batteries was very uninformed until reading this book. What I feared was it could be very dry reading, not so!

Ernest Scheyder did a lot of travel and many interviews to gather facts about impacts to lives and the environment, looking at the issue from all sides. And equally impressive is that he was objective and didn't try to influence the reader pro or con to green energy.

The narrator did a fine job with a pleasant voice. This book was a great experience with a lot of information and new (to me) terminology. Definitely will read again to let more sink in.

A must read for anyone interested in the energy transition.

This book does a great job delving into the complexities and difficult choices we must navigate as a society when confronting the energy transition. Mining is destructive but necessary for the things we take for granted in modern life. His on-the-ground reporting from many of proposed mining sites in the U.S. and abroad in places like Bolivia gives interesting nuance to the personalities—both for and against—these projects.

Complex Topic Covered Understandably

This was a well written book that covers how this is such a complex issue with moving parts and many roadblocks. One take away I have is how far behind we are in mining these rare earths as compared to China and that our government needs to act. We also need to find greener tech to do the mining and processing in first place