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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."
Solar power is just nuclear power done in a very inefficient way. Here in Maryland we get the vast majority (~65% ) from two nuclear power plants. (And we share most of one with Pennsylvania). Yet people still want to build these tiny little 2 megawatt solar panels that only work during the day.
I also thought it was too insane to be true and looked up the local rag. Jane Mann really does come across as being utterly demented, her husband only marginally less so.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
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.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Every community has these kooks. I've had the sad misfortune to be on a jury with one. It took all my willpower not to choke the ignorant bitch. We had a case where a car put on their turn indicator and stopped to let traffic go by before turning. The car behind them stopped and so did 3 others but one girl, very cute and sweet looking, plowed into the back of an elderly couple's car. She stated that she felt it wasn't the girl's fault because she probably wasn't looking. She said that shit completely sincere. It went on like that all day.
Please, please don't judge North Carolina by these rubes. This dumb little town is about 100 miles from Research Triangle Park, the largest concentration of PhDs in the world. North Carolina is a progressive and beautiful state with the best climate in the eastern US. It has traditionally had the best public education system in the South.
Yes, we are currently in the clutches of a backwards Republican state government so there are lots of headlines about regressive policies. But this is an aberration ( the first Republican government in over 100 years) and it will not last long.
Actually, the rubes are a perfect way to judge North Carolina, because over 95% of the population of North Carolina IS rubes like the ones
mentioned in the article.
North Carolina is progressive ? That's utter bullshit. North Carolina is the most backward state I've ever lived in by a huge margin. I've been visiting
North Carolina since the mid 1970s, and I have lived in North Carolina for the past 14 years ( extended family needed my help and I chose to sacrifice my own happiness for a while in order to do what I thought was right ). I am leaving North Carolina soon, for good, and other than brief visits to family I will never return to the state. I certainly won't live in North Carolina again.
The original poster is a myopic clueless fool. North Carolina is a backward shithole filled with awful ignorant hateful rednecks. Eric Rudolph and that idiot who shot up the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado were both from North Carolina. Trust me, North Carolina is a state that you'd only like
if you are yourself a clueless idiot.
Lastly, North Carolina has consistently placed in the BOTTOM 40 of all 50 states, in public school test scores.
By the way, the high concentration of people with doctorates in RTP doesn't mean anything with respect to quality of life. Most of these people are in "work and raise a family" mode, and they don't tend to enhance the social scene.
Frankly, I'd bitch slap the original poster if I could. He is an idiot who is spewing misinformation and NEEDS a bitch slap.
Yes, we are currently in the clutches of a backwards Republican state government so there are lots of headlines about regressive policies. But this is an aberration ( the first Republican government in over 100 years) and it will not last long.
This is just it though. Those "rubes" also vote, and you're going to have to deal with the fact that they will vote for people that will sell them all sorts of snake oil on behalf of rich benefactors, whether it's voting against solar development, or the state passing laws (at the behest of the telecoms) against municipal broadband, or installing their compatriots in charge of one of the state's flagship universities: http://www.newsobserver.com/ne...
As for it being an aberration - I have some bad news for you, it's not. It's part of the realignment of politics in the South. Small-c conservative Democrats have almost universally been replaced by Republicans. There are a lot of reasons behind this, but it's highly unlikely to reverse itself, partly because they've gerrymandered themselves into an entrenched position. Take a look at Virginia to your north - it's much the same way, although there at least the Republicans have a less slightly strong grip. At best it's going to be something you are constantly fighting, especially on off-year elections when the turnout is low.
In Missouri the courts told the state they couldn't keep a local chapter of the KKK from adopting a section of highway for trash removal. The courts said that unpopular speech was still protected speech, and putting up a sign saying who was part of the program didn't openly and directly endorse racial violence. The state could end the program, stop putting up signs thanking people, or give the KKK their sign.
The state legislature came to the rescue, though, with another sign. That whole section adopted by the KKK was designated an honorific route. They found themselves in charge of volunteer trash cleanup of the Rosa Parks Memorial Highway. After unsatisfactory participation in the program (one guy showed up once IIRC), the adoption was removed.
It doesn't take a whole state to do something that embarrasses people. It just takes a few neighbors you'd rather not have in the neighborhood practicing the same rights the non-bigots don't want to give up.