Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism
Have we been tricked by renewable energy?
Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism by Ozzie Zehner (2012) offers a critical view of reality that is a necessary read for anyone who identifies as an environmentalist. In three parts, the book explores green technologies, the societal hype around their implementation, and finally, a holistic approach to (the future of ) environmentalism.
This review provides an overview of each part with an expansion of the final portion as it offers a myriad of solutions to various issues, e.g., women’s rights, consumption culture, and energy efficiency.
First, Part I: Seductive Futures reviews the major types of green technologies — with amusing chapter titles such as “Solar Cells and Other Fairy Tales” and “The Hydrogen Zombie” — and their (false) promises of producing clean energy. Each chapter ends with the harsh realization that we (developed countries) do not have an energy production crisis; we have an energy consumption crisis.
Next, in Part II Zehner details the “Alternative-Energy Fetish” and how green technologies are popularized through media and corporations. In this sense, green consumption and green consumerism are “in” while…
