On the drive to the Sierras with my dad this summer, we saw nothing but dry soil and shrubs for hours. Occasionally, we would come across solar farms, feeling suddenly refreshed by the ocean of blue panels and the wonders it was doing for those who relied on it. When we arrived at camp, I couldn’t stop regretting our lack of benefiting from solar, an energy that powers this planet but that humans don’t take enough advantage of. Why haven’t we transitioned to solar faster? I would ask myself. As I have done more research, however, shifting to renewable energy is more challenging than I thought. In order to curve away from a 2 degree planetary temperature increase, harnessing solar energy is imperative, yet significant complexities lay with its impacts on aesthetic and environmental costs of construction, namely in the Adirondacks.

Solar expansion projects in the Adirondack Park are facing obstacles due to growing concern over their disruption to the visuals of the park. The 53rd governor of New York, George Pataki, who despite being a “proponent” of renewable energy, opposes adding more solar farms to the park because he doesn’t “want to be driving by a 70-acre field full of solar panels when [he’s] bragging about the wild nature of the Adirondack Park.” Pataki, among other decision-makers in the area, are obscured by a concern based heavily on looks, severely impacting the passing of critical renewable energy solutions, taking us three steps back when we should be five steps ahead. Aesthetics, however, is not the only blockade to the further development of solar energy in the Adirondacks; its environmental impact with regards to construction pose another significant question.

The environmental costs of the construction of solar energy present a difficult choice between reducing carbon emissions and protecting the fragile Adirondack ecosystem. In May of this year, the Adirondack Park Agency approved a “a 5-megawatt solar project in the Town of Moriah,” a necessary step towards transitioning away from fossil fuels, but one that will cost the destruction of 15 acres of forest. Moreover, according to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, “PV panels require some rare materials, like silver, whose extraction is energy intensive and polluting.” The source of solar energy itself is relatively sustainable, but environmental costs are significant in the production of its technology. Despite the pushback, the fossil fuel alternative is far more damaging in the long run.

We can not continue to live in a world where fossil fuels dominate the energy industry, or any industry for that matter. Their environmental consequences are far beyond that of renewable energy. Nonetheless, creative minds are working around the obstacles, finding ways to expand renewable energy with the smallest footprint on the ecosystem. Earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to repurpose a “formerly mined land in St. Lawrence County into one of the largest solar projects in the Adirondack Park.” Not only is repurposing land cost effective but it saves the further destruction of ecosystems. We have every sustainable solution just under our noses, it just takes some sniffing around to find it.

Works Cited

Cerbone, Aaron. “Alternate Energy Options for SARANAC Lake?” Alternate Energy Options for Saranac Lake? | News, Sports, Jobs – Adirondack Daily Enterprise, 14 July 2021, www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2021/07/alternate-energy-options-for-saranac-lake/.

Craig, Gwendolyn. “Adirondack Park Agency to Prepare for More Solar.” Adirondack Explorer, 14 May 2021, www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/adirondack-park-agency-to-prepare-for-more-solar.

Craig, Gwendolyn. “Power Struggle.” Adirondack Explorer, 19 Sept. 2021, www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/solar-power-struggle.

Gorman, Mark, and View Profile. “Former Mine Turning into Big Solar Project in Adirondack Park, NY.” Solar Builder Magazine, 28 Apr. 2021, solarbuildermag.com/news-feed/former-mine-turning-into-big-solar-project-in-adirondack-park-ny/.

Smith, Olivia. “The Dark Side of the Sun: Avoiding Conflict over Solar Energy’s Land and Water Demands.” New Security Beat, 2 Oct. 2018, www.newsecuritybeat.org/2018/10/dark-side-sun-avoiding-conflict-solar-energys-land-water-demands/.