Ozzie Zehner
Visiting Scholar | UC Berkeley
San Francisco, CA, UNITED STATES
Author of Green Illusions | Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley
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Biography
Ozzie Zehner is the author of Green Illusions and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. His recent publications include public science pieces in Christian Science Monitor, The American Scholar, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, The Humanist, The Futurist, and Women’s Studies Quarterly. He has appeared on PBS, BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and regularly guest lectures at universities. Zehner’s research and projects have been covered by The Sunday Times, USA Today, WIRED, The Washington Post, Business Week and numerous other media outlets. He also serves on the editorial board of Critical Environmentalism.
GREEN ILLUSIONS:
✔ Discover the 5 unseen harms of solar cells and witness a simple sticker that could produce a greater energy impact than all of the nation’s photovoltaics combined.
✔ See why engineers can’t solve wind power’s biggest obstacle and what they’ll really need.
✔ Learn why nuclear power may not close a single coal-fired power plant in the U.S.
✔ Discover why future environmentalists will resist electric cars and hybrids as well as a host of other technologies.
✔ Find out why contraception won’t solve concerns about overpopulation (and what actually could).
✔ Examine the problems with thinking of consumption in terms of “Sustainable,” “Green,” or “Organic” (and uncover secret paths forward).
✔ See why future environmentalists will reject LEED buildings and straw-bale homes in favor of more durable options.
✔ Discover why carbon taxes won’t solve our energy challenges (and learn about one tax that could).
✔ Learn what environmentalists of the future are studying in college today.
❝Provocative and essential! Green Illusions shakes us awake...❞
– John Perkins, Author, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
❝At once prophetic and pragmatic – must be read by anyone concerned about our collective future.❞
– Joel Bakan, Filmmaker and author of The Corporation
❝An extremely important message for a society whose best-intentioned members have lost themselves in a wilderness of wishful thinking.❞
– James Howard Kunstler, Author of The Long Emergency
❝Terrific book…Zehner is especially good at untangling sloppy thinking.❞
– David Owen, The New Yorker and author of Green Metropolis
Industry Expertise (5)
Public Policy
Architecture and Planning
Energy
Writing and Editing
Research
Areas of Expertise (9)
Alternative Energy
Environmentalism
Wind Power
Consumer Society
Walking and Biking Neighborhoods
Governance and Public Policy
Population and Overpopulation
Hydrogen Hydropower and Hybrids
Critical Environmentalism
Education (3)
Universiteit van Amsterdam: MS/Drs, Science and Technology Studies
Kettering University: BS, Engineering
Smithsonian Institution: Journalism
Affiliations (1)
- University of California, Berkeley
Links (3)
Event Appearances (9)
Authors@Google Mountain View, CA
University of California - Berkeley
Visiting Scholar Lecture Berkeley, CA
Kettering University
Sobey Lecture on Leadership and Ethics Flint, MI
Kendall College of Art and Design
Visiting Scholar Lecture Grand Rapids, MI
The Morning Show
MI Public Radio
Energy and Politics
(30 min segment) PBS Television
Everything is Broken
NY Public Radio
The Joy Cardin Show
WI Public Radio
San Francisco State University
Visiting Scholar Lecture San Francisco, CA
Sample Talks (2)
Green Illusions
Though we generally believe we can solve environmental problems with more energy—more solar cells, wind turbines, and biofuels—alternative technologies come with their own side effects and limitations. How, for instance, do solar cells cause harm? Why can’t engineers solve wind power’s biggest obstacle? Why won’t contraception solve the problem of overpopulation, lying at the heart of our concerns about energy, and what will?
Solar Cells and Other Fairy Tales
We environmentalists admire solar photovoltaic cells for silently extracting clean energy from the sun’s rays but the panels have a dark side too. They contain heavy metals that can leach into groundwater when disposed at the end of their lifecycle. And, solar cells are undeniably more expensive than a host of other initiatives that promise greater ecological returns.
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