Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Grace Wang ’26
UNDECLARED
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
PROJECT TITLE
Mining for the Climate
ORGANIZATION(S)
Blue Lab,
Effron Center for the
Study of America,
Princeton University
LOCATION(S)
Pasadena, California;
Thacker Pass, Nevada;
Princeton, New Jersey;
Gaston County, North
Carolina
MENTOR(S)
Allison Carruth,
Professor of American
Studies and the High
Meadows Environmental
Institute, Princeton
University; Nate Otjen,
Postdoctoral Research
Associate, High Meadows
Environmental Institute,
Princeton University;
Juan Manuel Rubio, UC
President’s and Andrew
W. Mellon Postdoctoral
Fellow, Department of
Global Studies, University
of California, Santa
Barbara
I worked with the Blue Lab’s Mining for the
Climate team to research lithium mining in
the United States and produce a public-facing
podcast series about a proposed lithium mine
in Gaston County, North Carolina. Following
preliminary research, our team undertook 10-
days of fieldwork in North Carolina, California
and Nevada. We traveled to proposed mine sites
and interviewed mining company executives,
local activists and government officials. During
our fieldwork, we reckoned with the challenges
posed by the renewable energy transition and
the consequences of the extractive processes
necessary for it. After returning, we workshopped
our podcast’s first season and began writing
the episodes. I spearheaded production on
the fourth episode in the series, which delves
into the narratives of local residents in Gaston
County. During this internship, I gained valuable
fieldwork research and audio production skills,
as well as expansive knowledge of the complex
issues surrounding energy transition and
extraction.