Renewing Destruction examines how wind energy projects impact people and their environments. Wind energy development, in Mexico and most countries, fall into a roll out neoliberal strategy that is justified by climate change mitigation programs that are continuing a process of land and wind resources grabbing for profit. The result has been an exaggeration of pre-existing problems in communities around land, income-inequality, local politics and, contrary to public relations stories, is devastating traditional livelihoods and socio-ecological relationships. Exacerbating pre-existing social and material problems in surrounding towns, wind energy development is placing greater stress on semi-subsistence communities, marginalizing Indigenous traditions and indirectly resulting in the displacement and migration of people into urban centers.

Based on intensive fieldwork with local groups in Oaxaca, Mexico, this book provides an in-depth study, demonstrating the complications and problems that emerge with the current regime of sustainable development and wind energy projects in Mexico, which has wider lessons to be drawn for other regions and countries. Put simply, the book reveals a tragic reality that calls into question the marketed hopes of the green economy and the current method of climate change mitigation. It shows the variegated impacts and issues associated with building wind energy parks, which extends to recognizing the destructive effects on Indigenous cultures and practices in the region. The book, however, highlights what to consider or, more importantly, what to avoid if one is working with industrial-scale wind energy systems.

Alexander Dunlap is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo.

Prologue

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Istmo: A Brief History of Politics, Conflict and Development

Chapter 2: We are surrounded: Living under Wind Turbines in La Ventosa

Chapter 3: Counterinsurgency for Wind Energy: The Bíi Hioxo Wind Park

Chapter 4: Insurrection for Land, Sea and Generational Integrity in Álvaro Obregón

Chapter 5: The Theatrics and Violence of Consultations: The Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Consultation in Juchitán

Chapter 6: Renewing Destruction: Colonization, the Genocide-Ecocide Nexus and Wind Energy Development

Conclusion: The Grid System Spreads, Dependency Consolidates

Bibliography

Index

About the Author