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North Carolina Town Defeats Big Solar's Plan To Suck Up the Sun (arstechnica.com)
mdsolar writes with this excerpt from Ars Technica: The citizens of Woodland, N.C. have spoken loud and clear: They don't want none of them highfalutin solar panels in their good town. They scare off the kids. "All the young people are going to move out," warned Bobby Mann, a local resident concerned about the future of his burg. Worse, Mann said, the solar panels would suck up all the energy from the Sun. Another resident -- a retired science teacher, no less -- expressed concern that a proposed solar farm would block photosynthesis, and prevent nearby plants from growing. Jane Mann then went on to add that there seemed to have been a lot of cancer deaths in the area, and that no one could tell her solar panels didn't cause cancer. "I want information," Mann said. "Enough is enough."
I think there might be other reasons for young people moving away. Their narrow-minded elders, a town council willing to be swayed by nonsensical arguments, the simple pure idiocy that seems to prevail. The people who stay are happy with the situation (or just can't get out).
Oh arse
I appreciate that the summary and associated news stories are presenting a fair, unbiased view of the situation, free from ridicule and sarcasm (SWIDT?).
This would have been the THIRD solar farm approved in the vicinity of the town -- there are already two solar projects underway.
The solar farm would not have increased tax revenues or added value to the town. It would not likely employ any of the town's residents.
Yes, the town residents are poorly informed about solar -- they have two projects underway and haven't seen the results of them yet.
The town council did what the town council is supposed to do -- represent the will of their constituents. The solar company seeking the zoning change would have been well advised to work on communicating and educating the town they needed permission from. Why would the town council overrule their voters in exchange for...nothing?
There's quite a double standard when it comes to education -- take someone in an urban environment who can't name their state capital or point to the United States on a map, and it's the fault of the school system and their environment. Take a similarly ignorant person for a rural environment and suddenly they become a willfully hick and fully at fault for not seeking out and drinking deep of the cup of knowledge.
Some day dumb people should be just set up to vote in fake elections. They won't know.
They already are. Not caught on to that yet?
"I said we should set up fake elections for the dumb people, so our elections WORK."
If your surname happens to be Rockefeller or something like that then you don't need to ask. That's been already the case for ages now.
I see bigotry for the southern US is alive and well here on Slashdot. Why look into all the facts when you can parrot this juicy headline.
Conservative, mod down for violating
And yet, what I do on my own land — build a solar plant or dig a lake or raise cows — should not be subject to other people's voting.
The whole idea of "zoning laws" and "permits" for this and that is absolutely contrary to freedom and property rights.
So you'd be perfectly happy with a strip mining pit next to your house? How about a toxic waste dump? Or a landfill? Hey it's my property, I can do whatever I want with it right?
If what you want to with your property won't impact others, great. But if it does, then they very much have a say in the matter.
~X~
Bottom 40 of 50? So they are 11th?
The writer of an article chose to ignore the entirety of the panel discussion and select a few ignorant and irrelevant statements made during the proceedings just to give the people a rise. And thus the reaction we see here. It looks like there are more ignorant folks out there than just the few in this town.
Nice cherry picking. The reaction is to the people making those statements - and a State where these people vote, and prove their stupidity often. After all, y'all had a Governor by name of Mark Sanford, who was using State money to travel to South America to get a little regular on the side poontang. Then after that y'all elected him to th eHouse of Representatives. I'll bet he's gettin' regular strange in DC. Stupid people, KKK homeland, and people who can be outraged over a presidential blowjob, but rewarding of using guvmint money to facilitate dippin yer wick to a feriner, and then rewarding it.
Forgive us - for we only make fun of North Carolina because they've worked so hard to deserve it.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.