Who Owns the Wind?

The energy transition has begun. To succeed – to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar power – that process must be fair. Otherwise, mounting popular protest against wind farms will prolong carbon pollution and deepen the climate crisis. David Hughes examines that anti-industrial, anti-corporate resistance, drawing insights from a Spanish village surrounded by turbines. In the lives of these neighbours – freighted with centuries of exploitation – clean power and social justice fit together only awkwardly. Proposals for a green economy, the Green New Deal, or Europe’s Green Deal require more effort. We must rethink aesthetics, livelihood, property, and, most essentially, the private nature of wind resources. Ultimately, the energy transition will be public and just, or it may not be at all

Author Biography

David Hughes is professor of Anthropology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He has written articles for Boston Review and three previous books, including Energy without Conscience. As an activist, Hughes has served as president of his faculty union and as a member of the Climate Task Force of the American Federation of Teachers.