r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 4h ago

Two Minnesota solar farms planted native grasses and wildflowers beneath their panels. Five years later, flowering plant species had increased sevenfold, native bee numbers more than 20 fold and total insect numbers had tripled, while more bees were also visiting nearby soybean fields.

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/two-minnesota-solar-farms-turned-the-ground-beneath-their-panels-into-habitat-and-native-bee-abundance-rose-more-than-20-fold/36680/
11.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

224 comments sorted by

View all comments

695

u/MyCoffeeIsCold 3h ago

Solar is great and has a place in our energy portfolio in the right locations.

We have had proposals to clear cut 60-70 acres of FOREST for solar projects here in New York. One of the dumbest things I have ever heard.

221

u/nochinzilch 3h ago

I swear, people will look for any excuse to chop stuff down.

-33

u/Churchbushonk 3h ago

You make money on the timber, offsetting your cost. Then you plant trees somewhere else. No biggie.

38

u/MyCoffeeIsCold 2h ago

Yeah no. You must be a solar sales rep.

42

u/Dry_Instruction8254 2h ago

I'm ok with them cutting down forests... After every parking lot, abandoned industrial complex, and reservoir is covered first.

23

u/ChuckaChuckaLooLoo3 2h ago

Yes. Walmart should lead the way on this and cover their lots with solar. There are zero trees and those lots are giant heat producers on a warming planet.

11

u/berfthegryphon 2h ago

At least start with Walmart having to put solar or green roofs on every single one of their buildings.

9

u/evermorecoffee 2h ago

Why not both? 😊

8

u/berfthegryphon 2h ago

Absolutely. But panels on a roof could be done much quicker and cheaper than in a parking lot. Scaffold the improvement. Start small and work your way up

2

u/abbynorma1 2h ago

And landfill!

•

u/PetsAndMeditate 38m ago

What about all the abandoned shopping malls, turn them into arboretums

•

u/TheBoraxKid1trblz 1h ago

That's what's attractive to investors but ignores the actual impacts on the environment. It takes hundreds or thousands of years for an ecosystem to develop and grow healthy, productive, and balanced. A forest is more than trees it's soil, hydrology, plant communities, animal communities, microbiology, nutrient cycling, atmosphere. It takes many generations of life forms living and dying to stabilize these pieces into a biodiverse ecosystem.

And in a state that would naturally be completely forested it doesn't even make sense to plant more trees- where would you?

Development is going to happen and ultimately improves human life overall but it's counterproductive to pretend the impact on nature is no biggie. I'd feel better about it if for every acre developed an acre somewhere nearby received permanent protection. We're quickly running out of space

•

u/helloimalexandria 36m ago

Well, it seems there is no permanence for protection of nature if our current goon squad can just rollback environmental protections and make it cool to log sensitive forests to put roads through them. Or to cull herds of wild horses because they’re protected and because they’re protected, so is the land they’re on. If they’re not there, the land is free to use for development (yes, this is really happening right now).

I think at a certain point, we should minimize development and instead, focus on ways to reduce our population. It’s happening already naturally, but I know people who have four kids. Like, come on, man. Things are going to get worse the more of us there are.

•

u/mechabeast 1h ago

Put the solar farm where you plan on putting the new trees instead

•

u/Affectionate-Low1705 50m ago

Ffs do you know how long it takes for trees to grow?

•

u/BurningOasis 32m ago

Lol I'll be dead by then, who cares.

  • That Guy, Probably