Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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We are living through a period of climate change that poses an existential threat to life as we know it. Rising temperatures will impact health and financial stability for governments, businesses and individuals. Needed investments in renewable energy will cost far less than dealing with the consequences of climate change.
While climate change is being addressed globally and nationally, Lawrence and Douglas County are largely focused on mitigation of impacts on infrastructure, neighborhoods and businesses. These are necessary but insufficient actions. What can we do to move the needle locally that will help to avoid the worst outcomes?
Our use of fossil fuels is at the heart of our climate change crisis. It’s time for our community and elected officials to demonstrate leadership in changing our relationship with fossil fuels. Kansas has the potential to be a leader in solar power with more sunny days than Florida.
Individual investments in rooftop solar represent a positive step, yet it would take 20,000 rooftop installations to generate the power of one utility-scale, commercial solar project. We must consider all options to reduce fossil fuel use, including conservation and commercial solar projects. The cost of utility scale solar power has dropped exponentially. Today, wind and solar photovoltaics are the lowest cost of new electric generation. In addition, our ability to store renewable energy has improved and has become more affordable.
Climate change disproportionately impacts people of color and poor communities. The fossil-fuel based economy creates pollution and environmental degradation. These impacts become the burden of local communities. The climate crisis is an opportunity to address a broader social justice agenda by reducing harmful emissions, advancing energy efficiency and clean energy, and strengthening community resilience and livability.
The Douglas County Planning and Zoning Commission approved utility scale solar regulations in 2022. In the meantime, fossil fuel advocates have been funding misinformation campaigns through social media and professional-looking websites. This anti-renewable energy misinformation has been spread by elected officials and others in Kansas.
This is a call to fair-minded Douglas County residents to advocate for science-based regulations, application processing and rules. It’s important that we speak out so that commissioners know that the majority of Douglas County residents support large-scale clean energy projects along with community and rooftop solar. We can’t afford to delay action based on misinformation.
The Board of County Commissioners will be considering renewable energy’s role in Douglas County.
Commissioners are tentatively scheduled to make critical decisions about the West Gardner solar project during their meeting on Wednesday, June 21. The final meeting agenda will be published on Friday afternoon.
Meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Douglas County Courthouse. Please consider attending to speak to these issues. If you are unable to attend in person or virtually, written comments can be submitted to publiccomment@douglascountyks.org until 24 hours prior to the meeting. Information about attending the meeting virtually and to confirm agendas can be found via the county’s website.
— Rick Cagan (he/him), of Lawrence, is retired from NAMI Kansas (National Alliance on Mental Illness), where he worked from 2016 through 2022. He spent 27 years in advocacy and human services in Virginia, including work for migrant and seasonal farmworkers, on rural advocacy, and with public housing tenants. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Princeton University and a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a graduate of the Sunflower Advocacy Fellowship, the Kansas Health Foundation Fellows VIII, and the Johnson and Johnson Head Start Management Fellows Program at the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. He is a recipient of the Samuel Crumbine Medal for Meritorious Service presented by the Kansas Public Health Association. His current volunteer work is related to mental health, criminal justice, tobacco cessation and climate change.
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