Good things are happening! Construction gets underway at one of the first solar canals in the United States, New York files an “unprecedented” lawsuit against PepsiCo for plastic pollution, Florida is blocked from enforcing its ban on drag, and Starbucks workers walk out on the company’s flagship sales day.
First Solar Canal Breaks Ground
In the sunny, drought-ridden Southwest, some policymakers have been advocating adoption of a new climate technology: covering canals with solar panels. Officials hope this will create renewable energy while also preserving water. Now, in Arizona, the first of these projects in the U.S. has broken ground, and others may soon follow.
The Gila River Indian Community, which is located just south of Phoenix, announced this month that it was launching the first phase of its planned solar-over-canal project, saying it was the first in the country to actually begin construction. To start, 1,000 feet of canal managed by the reservation will be covered with solar panels, a pilot project that tribal officials said will hopefully be expanded across the reservation’s 140-mile irrigation system, a critical resource in a region where water is increasingly scarce. The tribe is using federal funds for the first phase of the $6.7 million project, which is slated for completion in 2025, and will work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct it.
For years, researchers have argued that solar canals, which have been used in India for a decade, could yield major benefits in the U.S. Covering canals reduces evaporation, saving water, and helps prevent growth of algae and other vegetation, which improves water quality. At the same time, the solar panels are cooled by the water beneath them, improving their efficiency. Yet it has been slow going to get these projects off the ground in the U.S., in part due to high capital costs.
Now, that seems to be changing. In addition to the Arizona project, a solar canal in California’s San Joaquin Valley is slated to begin construction this year, and the state is studying other potential sites for additional projects. Studies have found that covering California’s canal system with solar could save billions of gallons of water annually. As the Southwest’s water troubles worsen, such a solution is more needed than ever.
Regarding the solar canals: when discussing why it has been slow going here in the US, I would like to see our messaging change from talk of high costs: "Yet it has been slow going to get these projects off the ground in the U.S., in part due to high capital costs." , to more accurately calling out how the Corporatocracy & MIC we live under have mistakenly put value only in those things which generate massive profit - at the expense of life, relationships & the natural beauty abundant in this world. We see over and over there is always enough money for war and other extractive businesses, that perpetuate the worship of, and enslavement to profit. I think it really comes down to values; if they valued all life and relationships more, then there would be no problem funding such projects. And I think if we start stating it as their devaluing of things of deeper worth, rather than their language of financial profit, we can help create a better narrative that may gradually change how people think and act.
Lisa, I think you said it perfectly. I would venture to say there isn't anything venturous about capitalists these days. They're about as vulturous as they could possibly be.