The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy 

and the Future of Environmentalism

Ozzie Zehner

University of Nebraska Press

Lincoln and London

“In this terriʈc book, Ozzie Zehner explains why most current approaches 

to the world’s gathering climate and energy crises are not only misguided 

but actually counterproductive. We fool ourselves in innumerable ways, 

and Zehner is especially good at untangling sloppy thinking. Yet Green 

Illusions is not a litany of despair. It’s full of hope—which is different from 

false hope, and which requires readers with open, skeptical minds.”—

David Owen, author of Green Metropolis

“Think the answer to global warming lies in solar panels, wind turbines, 

and biofuels? Think again. . . . In this thought-provoking and deeply 

researched critique of popular ‘green’ solutions, Zehner makes a convincing 

case that such alternatives won’t solve our energy problems; in fact, they 

could make matters even worse.”—Susan Freinkel, author of Plastic: A 

Toxic Love Story

“There is no obvious competing or comparable book. . . . Green Illusions 

has the same potential to sound a wake-up call in the energy arena as was 

observed with Silent Spring in the environment, and Fast Food Nation in 

the food system.”—Charles Francis, former director of the Center for 

Sustainable Agriculture Systems at the University of Nebraska

“This is one of those books that you read with a yellow marker and end up 

highlighting most of it.”—David Ochsner, University of Texas at Austin