Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Our Daily Planet is a daily morning email (M-F) to keep you informed of the stories shaping our environment. If these issues matter to you, we’d like to be the best ten minutes of your morning.
A bill sitting on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk could take away local government’s decision-making about their energy choices, including where to build large-scale solar arrays.
The outcome will impact the historically Black town of Archer, where Origis Energy and Gainesville Regional Utilities want to build a 50-megawatt solar farm.
Archer residents don’t want to be the host for the latest form of industrial development — and the clean energy produced would go to Gainesville, not their home.
As E&E reports, the Archer project “highlights an emerging rift between President Biden’s environmental justice and clean energy goals.”
Why This Matters: Rapidly scaling clean energy is key to fighting climate change, but that development shouldn’t come at the cost of ignoring community input–especially from frontline communities. Gov. DeSantis currently has two energy bills on his desk: one that would prohibit local governments from stopping solar projects on agricultural land — which would allow the Archer project to move forward — and one that would stop local goals of procuring 100% renewable energy.Taken together, they would significantly roll back the ability of Floridians to make choices about their energy, instead putting these decisions into the hands of the state legislature that’s heavily influenced by the state’s utilities.
Location, location, location: As the Biden administration moves forward with its clean energy and infrastructure plans, where exactly new large-scale projects are developed matters.
“Recognize the need for utility-scale solar facilities to move to a clean energy future, and recognize that those facilities still exert their own environmental and social impacts,” said Kim Ross, executive director of the pro-renewables group ReThink Energy Florida, testifying before a Florida Senate committee in April. “There are times where solar in a particular location is not appropriate.”
Biden has promised that underserved communities will receive 40% of the “benefits” from clean energy investments, E&E reports, which advocates want to see used for community and rooftop solar projects.
Solar Co-Ops: When it comes to rooftop solar, Solar United Neighbors is working in Florida and other states across the country to make clean energy easier through solar co-ops. The co-op process brings together a group of homeowners (or even renters in some cases) to benefit from a localized array of solar panels. Co-ops like these are one more tool that can help bring emissions-free power to communities that have traditionally been priced out of distributed energy resources.
Go Deeper: Meet Kristal Hansley, the first Black woman to launch a community solar company.
The Colorado River is drying up, millions are at risk of losing their water supply, and Indigenous communities are fighting to keep their water rights. The Western megadrought is taking its toll on American communities, but how did we get here? In his new film, River’s End: California’s Latest Water War, Jacob Morrison delves […]
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and HP just announced that they’re taking their friendship to the next level. The odd couple is teaming up and expanding their partnership to restore, protect, and improve the management of almost one million acres of forest. HP is pledging $80 million to forest conservation and restoration, and not stopping there […]
Researchers from the National University of Singapore used data from more than 1,000 twin siblings to evaluate their opinions about environmental policy. They found identical twins were more likely to have similar views on green policy than non-identical twins, suggesting that support for climate action may have a genetic component. Felix Tropf, a professor in […]
Subscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
Want the lastest climate news summarized for you each morning?
Our Daily Planet is your daily dose of the stories shaping our world and the ways that you can take action. From the climate crisis to the protection of biodiversity, if these issues matter to you then please subscribe & stay informed!
Your privacy is Important! We promise never to use your email address to send you spam or advertisements.