Advocacy
Water, Environmental Justice, and Geothermal Lithium Extraction at the Salton Sea in California
As Principal Investigator for Comite Civico del Valle’s Lithium Valley Equity Technical Advisory Group, Dr. Blair serves as project lead on strategic advising and community-engaged research focused on environmental justice issues related to the proposed development of geothermal lithium extraction and potential battery manufacturing at the Salton Sea in Imperial Valley, California. This case study contributes to a broader cross-institutional research project on hydrosocial dynamics and environmental justice in water-energy transitions, funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
As an International Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Dr. Blair collaborated with Indigenous peoples, fenceline communities, biodiversity conservation scientists and environmental activists to protect rivers, watersheds and wetlands. This engaged advocacy has sought to raise awareness for more just, sustainable and equitable alternatives to large hydro-electric dams, industrial logging, mining and oil projects in collaboration with coalitions organized by Chile’s Free-Flowing Rivers Network, the Plurinational Observatory of Andean Salt Flats (OPSAL), as well as the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi.
Protecting Indigenous Lands and Watersheds from Impacts of Mining, Dams, Logging, and Fossil Fuels in Chile and Canada
Public Writing
-
The Falklands/Malvinas and Argentina's Thatcherite Turn
James J. A. Blair
North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), December 13, 2023
Image Credit: Photo by Miguel Barrientos.
-
Avoiding Methodological Nationalism in a Disputed Overseas Territory
James J. A. Blair
University of Exeter, July 18, 2023
-
Plurinational Climate Action: Environmental Governance Beyond Green Extractivism
James J. A. Blair and Ramón M. Balcázar
Cultural Anthropology: Hot Spots, Fieldsites, June 23, 2022
Image Credit: Photo by Jessica Carey-Webb.
-
Lithium Mining Must Not Dry Up the Atacama Desert
James J. A. Blair and Amanda Maxwell
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), May 12, 2022
-
Exhausted: How We Can Stop Lithium Mining from Depleting Water Resources, Draining Wetlands, and Harming Communities in South America
James J. A. Blair, Ramón M. Balcázar, Javiera Barandiarán and Amanda Maxwell
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), April 26, 2022
-
Water Is a Right: The Parallel COP in Chile
Jessica Carey-Webb and James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), December 23, 2019
-
Revisiting Nahuelbuta (1 of 2)
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), August 19, 2019
-
Revisiting Nahuelbuta (2 of 2)
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), August 9, 2019
-
International Day of Indigenous Peoples: Free Nahuelbuta
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), August 9, 2018
-
Chile’s River Protector Network Rejects Alto Maipo Complex
James J. A. Blair and Andrea Becerra
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), July 9, 2018
Image Credit: Group photo from VI summit of the Red por los Ríos Libres in Cajón del Maipo, Chile. Courtesy of Mauricio Ceron Becerra and Pablo Melo.
-
Indigenous Lands in Canada & Colombia on World Heritage List
James J. A. Blair and Jennifer Skene
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), July 2, 2018
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons (available online: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiribiquete_view.jpg)
-
NAFTA to Canada: Face the Facts on Tar Sands Tailings Ponds
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), May 10, 2018
Image Credit: Tar Sands Tailings Ponds. Source: Pembina Institute (available online: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pembina/7448799054/in/album-72157637876932305/, accessed May 10, 2018).
-
Conservation and Community in Laguna San Ignacio
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), May 3, 2018
-
World Water Day: Chile’s New Wave of River Protectors
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), April 6, 2018
Image Credit: Photo courtesy of Glenda Aldunate.
-
Chilean Courts Protect Patagonia’s Puelo and Cuervo Rivers
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), January 9, 2018
Image Credit: Puelo River in Chilean Patagonia. Photo by Amanda Maxwell.
-
Tar Sands Tailings Ponds: Out of Canada’s Control
James J. A. Blair
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), December 21, 2017
Image Credit: Tar sands tailings. Source: Pembina Institute (available online: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pembina/7495470626/in/album-72157637876932305/, accessed on 12/21/2017).
-
Latin America 2017: Top Three Green Trends
James J. A. Blair and Andrés Anchondo
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), December 19, 2017
Image Credit: Revillagigedo National Park, Mexico. Source: SEMANART, Mexico (available online: https://twitter.com/SEMARNAT_mx/status/934086783138017280/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fplaneta.com%2Frevillagigedo%2F, accessed 12/19/2017).
-
Protect Chile’s Patagonia with Clean Energy Alternatives to Mega Dams
Amanda Maxwell, Andrea Becerra and James J. A. Blair
ESRI Story Map hosted on Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), February 7, 2017
-
The Limits of Environmentalism at Earth’s End: Reindeer Eradication and the Heritage of Hunting in the Sub-Antarctic
James J. A. Blair
Engagement, December 20, 2016
-
Brexit’s South American Ripple Effect
James J. A. Blair
North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), August 4, 2016
-
Treasure Islands? Oil and Gas in the Falklands
James J. A. Blair
The Economist, February 28, 2014
Image Credit: Reference map featuring oil drilling areas licensed by the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) in the South Atlantic. Map by Terry Spies (data available online: http://dataportal.saeri.org/).
-
Self-Determined: Argentina, The Falklands and the UN
James J. A. Blair
The Economist, August 8, 2013
-
Referendum rewound: The Falkland Islands
James J. A. Blair
The Economist, June 21, 2013
Image Credit: I, Padraic Ryan, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, unaltered, via Wikimedia Commons (available online: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UN_Headquarters_2.jpg)
-
Loud and clear: The Falklands referendum
James J. A. Blair
The Economist, March 16, 2013
-
Sending their message: The Falkland Islands’ referendum
James J. A. Blair
The Economist, March 11, 2013