Letters to the Editor: April 29

Advantages(?) of solar farms Many local agencies and interest groups see an advantage to local production of renewable energy in the form of solar farms. None of these apparently deem the following consideration as a significant drawback. The U.S. and the world will not be less hungry after the solar farms are built. Thus, local land taken out of service for the production of food and fiber must be replaced by moving previously unused land elsewhere into production. It is a conundrum that local production of wind and solar energy contributes directly to the destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest through the loss and necessary replacement of local productive land. The Amazon forests being one of the last large tracts of unused but arable land available, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil must really appreciate Americans' (blind) devotion to renewable energy at any cost. Is it really an ecologically sound position to take arable land out of production when fallow land within transmission distance exists? Is this project driven by an embrace of renewable energy or by the political pressure mentioned in my previous thoughts. John Platt Arlington Ludd County There is a scene in "2001: A Space Odyssey," where the monolith first appears and the reaction of the locals is to jump, shout and throw things at it. Although it is fiction, it serves as a valid model for the way humans have reacted to new technology throughout our history. In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, a band of textile workers believed the new machines, run by the recently developed steam engine, were going to make their jobs obsolete. The Luddites, named after weaver Ned Ludd, were a secret society devoted to sabotaging the machinery they viewed as a threat to their vocation and later included any new technology. The Luddites have been confined to history, but their philosophy lives on. The modern version opposes any renewable energy resource. Instead of sabotage, they use disinformation, misinformation and political actions. I have created a new acronym for these modern Luddites: "CAP," or citizens against progress. Now that Hancock County has a chapter we have HCCAP. CAP members react in a knee-jerk fashion to any plan for a larger-scale renewable energy facility. In Logan County, it was wind turbines. The chapter of Logan Citizens Against Progress eventually got their way and a some farmers in Hardin County made a lot of money. Unfortunately, CAP members are science deniers who think we can continue to burn fossil fuels without consequences. Distilled the actions of HCCAP and the county commissioners, who care only about the future of the county up to the next election, are illogical and harmful. I think we do John Hancock an injustice and should consider changing the name to Ludd County if renewables are kept out. The cost of not switching to renewable energy is much greater than any imagined short-term problem, but I know I will never convince those who put more stock in their gut feeling than science. Don't shout, scream and throw bones at the monolith. Embrace change and embrace progress. Let's hope the modern Luddites haven't made it too late. Bruce Workman Findlay