Envisioning the Solar Community
There is something about renewable energy that can bring together people to form communities. There are plenty of webs of connection between the communities interested in developing solar power as a way of life. It’s as complex a series of interlocking pieces as any organized system. In this case, the idea of a central organizing principle would be difficult to find, outside of the common cause toward decreasing consumption of vital resources. It’s probably easier to say that the divergent communities are connected through a series of relations, not all of which are apparent from the surface.
Organizations like Solar Footprint , a student-sponsored group in Arkansas, do have a lot in common with California solar companies , even though great distances separate them. What is truly remarkable about these systems is that one can enter into the whole by joining one of its parts. It might not be surprising, then, that renewable energy communities do have a lot in common, and although there are at times key differences, they do not get in the way of the common purpose. It is another way of looking at the world, and getting connected to a cause that takes the next generations into consideration leads necessarily to a way of thinking that invites coalition, linkages, and lineage.