Hello everyone and welcome to talk nerdy. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025, and I'm the host of the show, Dr. Kara, Santa Maria. So we've got a great one for you

this week. We've only got one more after this week, and then we take two weeks off for the

holiday break, and we will see you in the new year. Another really complex conversation,

a super important conversation. This week, it's with Dr. Thea

Rio Frankos. She's an associate professor of political science at Providence College, a strategic

co-director of the Climate and Community Institute, and also a fellow at the Transnational

Institute. And she wrote a new book that grapples with some really

important topics. It's called Extraction, The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. You're not going to

want to miss this. So without any further ado, here she is, Dr. Thea Riofrancos.

Well, Thea, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm thrilled to be here.

So I am, I'm glad that we got in. Your book has been out by the time this airs for about two months, but I'm glad that we were able to kind of snag you. I don't know if you're still doing

book tour stuff or if I'm sort of at the at the tail end of it. I'm still in the thick of it. I'm going to New York City

tomorrow actually for a book event there. Perfection. Okay, good to know. So I'm excited to talk to you

not just about, you know, the book, but also about your work in general, get to know you a little bit better

first. I think before we get into extraction, I'd love to hear sort of how you got into political

science, if that's always been your academic focus or if your path has meandered a bit.

It has always been my academic focus since I was an undergrad. And actually, like, I decided to major in political science before I even arrived at college. Like, I filled out some form. Like, what do you want your major to be? And you could choose nothing. You could say undeclared. And I was like, no, I will do political science. And I actually didn't really like my first political science class.

No shade on that professor, you know, but it didn't really grab me, but I was like stubborn

and was like, I care so much about politics.

I was already an activist and a left-wing progressive activist like at that young age.

And so I just thought, I care about activism.

I care about changing the world.

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