I was, literally, in the middle of writing an entry on John Abrams’ book Companies We Keep, when his latest RSS feed popped into my basket. Since my dedicated blog entry will be choc-a-bloc full of interesting bits I’m sending this link out with no introduction.
In the New York Times I also came across this story about pole-mounted solar unexpectedly showing up in neighbourhoods around Fair Lawn, New Jersey. I found the copious reader comments more interesting than the article itself: not so much NIMBY (I expected way more) and greater acceptance that solar needs to be installed and we can’t always choose an ‘optimal’ location.
Locally, one of my neighbours is dealing with the installation of a solar farm on the property next to her. Probably not a big deal for most folks, considering the ample size of the properties and buffer of space in between. But my neighbour, her husband and five children live close to the land, raise much of their food, and rely on the movements of animals between the properties for hunting. They are, understandably, concerned about the loss of natural game habitat.
My dilemma is this: how do I support my neighbour and the solar farm simultaneously when they are both tremendously important?