Food First Energy Second!
About our local community and poorly placed renewable energy systems.
I wanted to report on my continuing research into what's happening in Ulster County, the Rondout watershed and the region, in regards to these oversized solar projects getting plopped down on good farming land and smack in the middle of beautiful views.
After reading many documents like; Accelerating Large-Scale Wind and Solar Energy in New York State (The first word in title kinda says it all) put out by Scenic Hudson, purportedly a conservation group protecting natural resources. I also attended a webinar by the Office for Renewable Energy Siting the state wing of this agenda to roll out mega-solar at any cost to local food security and natural beauty necessary. Also attending meetings about Solar canopies over parking lots (which I think is a good idea!) and attending another webinar by the lauded Office of Renewable Energy Siting, about putting in, 25 Megawatts and bigger = 120 acre minimum, powering about 25,000 homes, this is industrial scale solar in which they revealed the ability to side step any regulations or zoning laws by declaring them "unreasonably burdensome".
It is clear that "environmentalist's" in the region, NGO’s, local politicians, and our Town Boards are all apologists for industrial contractors. There is no decent comprehensive regional design plan that these renewables fit into. As a result open fields, that could quickly become a real food asset to our community are being termed "idle" in one presentation I sat in on, they were actually calling good farming land idle to justify putting a 500 acre solar array on it!
I have encountered a rabid solar advocacy mind set, being encouraged by local conservation groups, Climate Action initiatives and the New York state, county and local governments. They rationalize their aggressively pro solar attitude under the auspices that at all costs we must implement these technologies, no bars held or die from climate change!
This lack of vision and the clear collusion going on within these parties causes me to be very concerned for a balanced and appropriate placement and use of renewable energy systems and for the future of the Town of Wawarsing. We must be sure that it does not conflict with the real need to grow food for ourselves locally.
What we have with the Solar and Climate action agenda is business as usual with a glossy green coating on it and no significant vision outlining our approach to the implementation of renewables with a lack of understanding for the need to be more food and energy independent. Arguably by putting food first as our focus with a new land use plan in Wawarsing and our watershed, we are being much more practical and down to earth about our priorities.
Many recent studies confirm that 90%, of the food we eat, comes from outside of where we live. Thus we have little practical sense of the real value of locally rich soils, since the majority of them do not actually directly feed us, but instead they feed factory farmed animals in the midwestern United States, not nourishing those of us who actually live here.
Imagine that our potatoes, onions, squash, sweet corn and beans, in the Town of Wawarsing and the Village of Ellenville came from the 65 acres of amazingly rich and fertile, Unadilla silt loam, where those solar panels are going in, off of 209 by the prison in Napanoch. We would not be letting it happen, it would not have even been considered. This is the fundamental issue I want to address with a good future plan for our community in the Town of Wawarsing.
We must put together a plan to be more food independent and more energy independent. This dovetails beautifully with the goals of creating green jobs locally and greater local food security for all, year round, full diet, food production combined with a integrated renewable energy system. If we allow this piece meal approach to development in our region and this aggressive placement of renewables to continue to happen we will sacrifice natural beauty, water quality, biodiversity and our ability grow food for ourselves food growing all for energy production.
This problematic pattern of land use is largely a result of our industrialized import/export model of economic growth and centralized infrastructure development. We need a new model of growth that focuses on greater local/regional food and energy security, integrated in a plan for resilient long term investments in a sustainable infrastructure for our region. We need to adopt strategies that achieve greater self reliance in food and energy by localizing production of all goods and services and integrating them to be more low tech and human scale. Creating green jobs and local
livelihoods for local people from local landscapes, this is the articulated vision we need to flesh out for our community, together.
I wanted share this important example to check out, for a sense of a good direction to achieve our regional need of a more resilient infrastructure and equitable economy.
Here are some Good numbers and a solid example of how well Bio-gas replaces propane and Natural gas and addresses the need to get all organics (41 million tons annually, according to the EPA to divert.) and get them out of trash.
Solar Thermal hot water info and why it is key to the full set of renewables we need to tap into.
Solar Thermal hot water systems are Way more reliable for the home owner too, and it works well in Austria, further north then we are on the globe!
Choosing the Right technology for the right job. Some issues in our nation with this technology:
Soon to be bulldozed for industrial solar: Aratina Solar, CA 2,400 acres - 4,200 Joshua trees Oberon Solar, CA, 2,700 acres - ancient desert ironwoods destroyed Gemini Solar, NV, 7,100 acres - over 1,000 desert tortoises Yellow Pine Solar, Nevada, 3,000 acres - over 90,000 Mojave yuccas
To guide future land use patterns we need to create a good finished design and a solid set of achieve-able goals, we can do this, it is our responsibility to ourselves and to future generations.
Food First Energy Second!
Andrew Faust - Center For Bioregional Living - 917-584-4588