[acc-cca-l] Green Dreams: Why Technology Can't Save The World - Award-Winning Podcast and New Book Announcement

[Tanner Mirrlees]

[△EXTERNAL]


Dear colleagues,

Imre Szeman and I are happy to announce that Green Dreams<https://citedpodcast.com/category/season-04-green-dreams/>, a podcast supported by a SSHRC Connection Grant and co-created with the brilliant team at Cited Media (Gordon Katic, Marc Apollonio, Alec Opperman, Jay Cockburn, and Nadeen Shaker), has won a Bronze Tower Award<https://radio.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/WinnerDetailsNew/6dfb101c-5c34-4d57-9e3f-34646b8f4188> in the Education Podcast category at the New York Festivals Radio Awards, one of the industry’s major international competitions. The Green Dreams podcast series explores the social and intellectual histories of contemporary environmental futurism.  As the series tagline asks: “Accepting the reality of climate change is just the beginning. What comes next? In Green Dreams, we tell stories of radical environmental thinkers and their dreams for our green future. Should we make those dreams reality, or are they actually nightmares?”

Here is a breakdown of the episodes:

Episode 1: The Green Cosmos explores Gerard O’Neill's dream of space colonies powered by solar energy.

Episode 2: The Green Wonks traces the rise of liberal environmentalism and sustainability governance.

Episode 3: The Green Dragon examines Pan Yue’s vision of an “ecological civilization” in China.

Episode 4: The Green Lifeboat investigates Garrett Hardin's controversial environmental philosophy and the enduring influence of “the tragedy of the commons.”

Episode 5: The Green Monkey Wrench tells the story of Dave Foreman, Earth First!, and the politics of radical environmental action.

Together, these episodes examine the competing environmental futures shaping our world and invite listeners to consider which green dreams are worth pursuing, and which may ultimately become nightmares.

You can listen to the complete series here<https://citedpodcast.com/category/season-04-green-dreams/>, or here on Spotify<https://open.spotify.com/show/6pMLdKYpGooLKis7aORHSi> and Apple<https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/cited-podcast/id558228325>.

We are also excited to share that our new book, Green Dreams: Why Technology Can't Save the World<https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/green-dreams-9781350443174/>, is now in press and has already received some generous advanced praise. Details below!

Electric cars, smart apps, green AI, carbon capture, solar panels-everywhere we turn, we're told technology will save the planet. Green Dreams shows why that promise is so compelling, and why it keeps us chasing solutions that leave the real causes of the climate crisis untouched. Blending cultural criticism, political analysis, and environmental history, Green Dreams traces the rise of green techno-optimism from postwar fantasies of progress to Silicon Valley manifestos, EV marketing, Big Tech sustainability campaigns, and Hollywood eco-futures. Along the way, it exposes the hidden costs of supposedly “clean” technologies: extractive mining, exploding energy demand, ecological destruction, and the preservation of systems built on endless growth and consumption. Rather than rejecting technology outright, Tanner Mirrlees and Imre Szeman argue that technological solutions can matter only if paired with deeper social, political, and economic transformation. Provocative, accessible, and sharply argued, Green Dreams offers a powerful critique of one of the defining ideologies of our time.

Table of Contents
Introduction: The Comfort of Solutions
1. The EV Illusion
2. Inventing Techno-Optimism
3. California Dreamin'
4. Code Green
5. The Dream Machine
6. Power Plays
Conclusion: Exit Strategies
Coda: The New Laws of Nature

 Reviews
“Why is every little territory of our lives colonised by devices? And why has technology invaded the planet, as the only force capable – so we are told – of keeping it liveable and getting global warming under control? In this pellucid and pithy essay, Tanner Mirrlees and Imre Szeman strip away the illusions around dead things supposed to be green – EVs, carbon capture, clouds, AI and much more – connect them to the far right and Hollywood, write the history of the cult and critique of modern tech and, most importantly, insist on shaking off this occupation. Only if living human beings rediscover their freedom to shape the world can it become less destructive. Essential reading for an age saturated with gadgets.” -- Andreas Malm, author of The Long Heat: Climate Politics When It’s Too Late

“The energy landscape is shifting beneath our feet. Solar and wind power are spreading, as are right-wing movements that defend fossil fuels, allied with tech elites who demand more energy. Green Dreams is an indispensable guide through this morass. At the root of the problem, argue Tanner Mirrlees and Imre Szeman, is our widespread faith in technology as the only hope for a better future. From Hollywood to liberal environmentalists, and from AI to China’s green tech boom, Mirrlees and Szeman tell a dynamic story of how techno-optimism rose to power, turned green, and remains as strong as ever. Readers will find the tools to dislodge that false hope and bring better energy dreams to life. – Cara Daggett, affiliate faculty in political science at Virginia Tech and affiliate fellow at Research Institute for Sustainability, Potsdam, and author of The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work

“Can Elon Musk, Bill Gates and other big-tech Prometheans tackle the climate crisis on our behalf using technologies so clever they seem like magic? No, is the emphatic answer detailed in this absorbing and alarming book. Capitalism California-style is the root of our global problems, not the source of much-needed solutions. Wake up from your 'green dreams’ is the urgent message of Mirrlees and Szeman.” -- Noel Castree, Professor of Geography, University of Manchester, UK, & Adjunct Professor, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and author of What Future For the Earth? Speaking for People and Planet in the Anthropocene

"In Green Dreams: Why Technology Can’t Save the World, Mirrlees and Szeman precisely skewer the enticing lure of green techno-optimism—the false promise, often employed by politicians, that "green" technology will save us from impending climate chaos. Techno-optimism does not threaten the status quo of capitalism and economic growth. It is a false and dangerous promise. Thankfully, Green Dreams rejects techno-pessimism and the risk of despair. Truth telling is foundational to building a new and more radical hope. As this book underscores “Ignoring earthly limits is not optimism, but delusion.” The hope for the future lies in our ability to follow Green Dreams’ nine new laws of nature.  Optimism stems from the human spirit and Mother Earth herself. Everything is connected to everything else, as are we all." -- Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, and author of Paradise Won: The Struggle to Create Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve

We are grateful to everyone who contributed to and supported these projects over the years, and look forward to continuing the conversation about energy, environment, technology, and the future.

Warm regards,

Tanner Mirrlees<https://socialscienceandhumanities.ontariotechu.ca/research/researcher-profiles/dr.-tanner-mirrlees.php> and Imre Szeman<https://imreszeman.ca/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.ucalgary.ca/pipermail/acc-cca-l/attachments/20260629/3a0f456f/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Green Dreams.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 103329 bytes
Desc: Green Dreams.jpg
URL: <https://mailman.ucalgary.ca/pipermail/acc-cca-l/attachments/20260629/3a0f456f/attachment.jpg>