Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/619254
DECEMBER 23 -29, 2015 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The ver y idea of climate change — aka global warming — and fossil f uels' role in that alleged process boil the blood of non- believers, scientif ic ev idence be darned! It is hard to make a case against climate change, though, when we are all running around in shor t s and sandals and painting our toenails summer red the week before Christmas. Even so, all I could think of when I read about the whoop-de-do surrounding tiny Woodland, Nor th Carolina, over solar panels was " You really cannot make this st uff up!" Woodland, a municipalit y of about 800 souls in Nor thampton Count y, an area Nor th Carolinians refer to as " down East," has just learned a brut al lesson in the realities of social media and the international reach of the Internet . Turns out it is not much f un to be the but t of jokes about countr y bumpk ins, local yokels and Clampet t s reincarnated. As best I can glean from news account s, the sit uation is this. Woodland, like many r ural areas in our st ate, has embraced solar far ming. T he area remains r ural poor and largely under educated. Solar far ms are clean indust r ies in an area t hat has few indust r ies of any sor t . Woodland has already approved three solar farms encircling the town, one of which is close to completion. A four th solar company applied to the town council earlier this month for one more farm, and as Gomer Pyle might say, "all heck broke loose." Local resident s expressed opposition to yet another solar project with such memorable point s of v iew as solar panels "suck up all the energ y from the sun." A retired science teacher shared her worr y about local plant s, asser ting that solar panels t ake so much sunlight, plant s do not get enough and t urn brown. She also noted the high number of cancer deaths in the area and shared that no one could conv ince her that solar panels do not cause cancer. The Woodland Town Council voted not to rezone the proper t y in question and imposed a moratorium on f ut ure solar project s, and the stor y went v iral. A quick Google search conf irms that lot s of folk s all over the world were hav ing a good chuck le at Woodland's expense. Not so fast . W hile members of the Flat Ear th Societ y did speak, so did other local resident s whose concerns seem more reasonable. They spoke of declining proper t y values, young people with no job prospect s since solar farming requires few employees and encroachment on residential areas. Such concerns are also heard beyond the conf ines of Woodland. Interest in alternative energ y sources including solar has been rising along with concern about the impact of fossil f uels on our env ironment . Nor th Carolina has become a magnet for solar farms with our mostly sunny weather, f lat rural areas with cheap farmland, especially when it is close to power grid connections. So popular are we that Nor th Carolina is now four th in the nation in solar out put . Not ever ybody is happy about this development, as Woodland resident s clearly expressed. Objections in Woodland and elsewhere generally center on solar farms' effects on propert y values and local economies and not so much on the safet y of solar farming for both plants and animals, including human beings. Also concerning is the rapid transformation of North Carolina's rural landscape from soybean and tobacco fields to acres of glowing blue solar panels w that now dot our countryside. N.C. State Universit y crop science professor Ron Heiniger was quoted in the News and Observer about the transformation of eastern North Carolina in particular. Says Heiniger, it "may well be one of the most important agricultural issues of our generation." He goes on to say that solar farming could become so widespread that some traditionally agricultural land may never be farmed again. There is a lot going on here. Economic angst about land values and the morphing of traditional industries into who knows what. Agricultural lifest yles that no longer support and sustain generations of families. Rural and urban. Young people seeking a living and the people who want them to stay home. Qualit y education in the 21st century. Tradition and technolog y in a world that now moves with lightning speed. After the vote and the mocking of Woodland on social media, town officials scrambled to explain what had occurred. Mark Lane, a town council member, took pains to explain the town's position. "We're not opposed to the solar farm itself. We wanted to make sure they didn't overtake the town." Lane's statement rings true. As for your columnist, I am pondering whether I will wear a gauzy cotton dress or a snugly wool sweater to Christmas dinner. Happy holidays to all, including the folk s in Woodland! It Takes All Kinds by MARGARET DICKSON THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET MARGARET DICKSON. Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Solar panels caused quite a stir in Woodland, N.C., recently