Driven by the rapid global transition to electric vehicles and green energy grids, the demand for lithium skyrockets, triggering an unprecedented global resource boom. Extraction intensifies across the 'Lithium Triangle' of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, where vast salt flats are tapped for lithium-rich brine, as well as in hard-rock mining zones in Australia and China. This rush sparks intense geopolitical rivalries as major economic powers scramble to secure supply chains, while raising significant concerns over local water depletion and indigenous sovereignty in arid mining regions.

This lithium rush gives rise to a new genre of contemporary 'Green Extractivism' poetry. Modern poets write verse exploring the irony of modern eco-technologies that require destructive mining practices in fragile ecosystems like the high Andean salt flats. The brilliant white salt flats and the toxic evaporation ponds introduce a stark, minimalist visual palette into eco-poetry, prompting writers to question the ultimate costs of the global green energy transition.