Our open-access article 
of the week coins a useful term – 'technowashing' – to describe the growing obsession with technological solutions to climate change, which are often just a cover-up for continuing with the status quo in industry or politics. pdf
Article by Sofia Ribeiro, Viriato Soromenho-Marques
Featured in The Activist
> Abstract. Although it is important to communicate scientific knowledge, it seems that this assumption is even more evident when it comes to environment-related themes, which have gained more relevance in the public sphere in the last decades. This article evaluates the spectacularization techniques of technology and science displayed as if they were the only solution to the environmental crisis. Firstly, from a literature perspective, this article shows the evolution of science communication and the relationship between society and science over the last centuries. After that, it presents a critical view on the excessive optimism around technology and scientific advancement, arguing that the possible solutions to the environmental crisis cannot come exclusively through technology substitution. The article thus shows that there is today a clear distinction between science communication and the communication of science as a mass product, which is promoted today by different stakeholders to manipulate public opinion for different reasons. Finally, the article identifies some common elements of this phenomenon that we call technowashing, insofar as it aims at a laundering of responsibilities and harmful impacts of business and political decisions. Keywords: techno-optimists; technowashing; science communication; climate change
While a profound change is necessary, what we see in plans to fight the climate crisis is a techno-optimistic position, centred on an unlimited belief in human power and ingenuity, neglecting the rather short timeframe, we have to reverse the path we are on. A full lifestyle and socio-economic change seem to be a stronger priority compared to the sheer replacement or creation of new technologies. (p. 2)
Furthermore, we identify, from the outset, two basic disputable statements: the assumption that technology will solve all our problems and the lack of a critical assessment of the hierarchy of technological options, and, regardless of their feasibility and impact, they all may be developed and used as weapons in the fight against the climate crisis. In this paper, we intend to study the differences between the rightful communication of science and its use as a political, commercial, or business product, which will result in a concept that helps to understand the hope in technology and science.
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PERAKSLIS, Christine, 2020. Exposing Technowashing to Mitigate Technosocial Inequalities. IEEE Technology and Society. Online. 21 June 2020. [Accessed 20 April 2022]. Available from: http://technologyandsociety.org/exposing-technowashing-to-mitigate-technosocial-inequalities/
> In this issue we exposed modes of technowashing, a convoluted and more imperceptible form of glossing over reality in the digital realms. We addressed the way marketers, while attempting to feign such constructs as trust and loyalty, are concealing processes to create digital dependence. We tackled the airbrushed realities of technosocial inequalities.