▲ 695 ▼ rural americans will drive past a coal-fired power plant, in their five mpg ford truck, to go to a small town city council meeting and complain about how environmentally destructive solar panels are (thelemmy.club) submitted 4 months ago* by stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net to c/memes@slrpnk.net 93 comments fedilink hide all child comments And their vote counts more than yours because they live in rural districts with lower populations. Smh at "democracy."
[–] rabidhamster@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 months ago (1 child) That's pretty interesting. Makes more sense when posited as a way to grow northern crops in more mid-latitude areas. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] freebee@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago I think many staple crops are often more prone to drought issues than not getting enough sunlight. Many crops can thrive pretty well with only 4-5 hours of direct sunlight and for the rest of the day just enough general brightness. A bit less direct sunlight can help reduce water usage. Evolution is going towards semi-transparant solar panels (solar windows) for various use cases, agrivoltaics among them. It's also not unfeasible to have a herd of sheep or goats roaming around solar panels. Tho it's true it's a challenge to successfully combine large scale solar and agriculture, I think the future ahead is looking very bright for this combo. Around here (south Germany) it is by now very uncommon to see stables and warehouses without an enormous solar roof, for example... permalink fedilink source parent
[–] freebee@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago I think many staple crops are often more prone to drought issues than not getting enough sunlight. Many crops can thrive pretty well with only 4-5 hours of direct sunlight and for the rest of the day just enough general brightness. A bit less direct sunlight can help reduce water usage. Evolution is going towards semi-transparant solar panels (solar windows) for various use cases, agrivoltaics among them. It's also not unfeasible to have a herd of sheep or goats roaming around solar panels. Tho it's true it's a challenge to successfully combine large scale solar and agriculture, I think the future ahead is looking very bright for this combo. Around here (south Germany) it is by now very uncommon to see stables and warehouses without an enormous solar roof, for example... permalink fedilink source parent
