A South Dakota County Drove Away Millions in Solar Energy

Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago

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theguardian.comOtherstory

heatednegative

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Solar EnergyClimate ChangeMisinformation

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Solar Energy

Climate Change

Misinformation

A South Dakota county rejected a solar energy project due to misinformation and misconceptions about its impact, highlighting the challenges of debating misinformation and the importance of addressing it.

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01Story posted
Sep 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM EDT
4 months ago
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Sep 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM EDT
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4 months ago
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Discussion (5 comments)

Showing 5 comments

fzeroracer

4 months ago

1 reply

This reminds me of the argument I had with folks in another thread, that the best way to deal with anti-vaxxers is to debate them. To elucidate them and show them that their claims are wrong.

This is a great and separate example of how that does not work. There's nothing to debate when people believe solar is causing extreme weather changes or is burning your body. No matter how many facts you bring up or how important the money is, they've already decided where they stand and there's nothing you can do to move them. They will die for and with their views. And they will make their views your problem, and blame you for their problems.

And unfortunately, these issues are all coming from the top down.

toomuchtodo

4 months ago

1 reply

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle

Indeed, you can only wait for these folks to age out.

“Too strong a belief in the rationality of people in general, or of the world, will lead us to seek purposive explanations where none exists.”

Braxton1980

4 months ago

1 reply

There's an uptick in younger conservative voters, those more likely to hold such views. I'm not sure the age out solution is working especially when, in the US, the Republican party pushes the narrative to win votes.

In other words there's motion behind these views

toomuchtodo

4 months ago

1 reply

Young women have never been more liberal in America [1]. 77% of women won’t date a Trump supporter [2]. Based on Census Bureau historical data and Morgan Stanley forecasts, 45% of prime working age women (ages 25-44) will be single by 2030—the largest share in history—up from 41% in 2018 [3]. A majority of single women in the US are not in the dating marketplace [4]. The average age of a farmer is 58 [5] and they commit suicide at a rate 3.5x the general population [6]. ~75-80% of them voted for this administration. The US fertility rate is 1.6, and continues to decline.

Based on the above data and facts (think in demographic systems in this context), my thesis is rural America continues to wither away, and demographics continues to be destiny. Conservatives won’t go extinct, but they’re certainly not on an upward trajectory. I cannot predict how farm bankruptcies from the current trade war [7], and the collapse of rural hospital systems in rural America from the OBB is going to change this [8], but it’s likely it pulls forward the future imho.

Young conservative voters appear to have some regret [9] [10], too early to tell if it causes them to vote differently next time. Or if they’ll be able to find partners to have kids with, based on the first paragraph data and facts.

[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/609914/women-become-liberal-men...

[2] https://www.newsweek.com/majority-women-wont-date-trump-supp...

[3] https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/womens-impact-on-the-eco...

[4] https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/nearly-...

[5] https://www.nprillinois.org/2024-02-14/aging-farmers-and-few...

[6] https://www.agweb.com/news/business/health/silent-truth-hidd...

[7] https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/07/farm-bankruptcie...

[8] https://ruralhospitals.chqpr.org/

[9] https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-08-26/trump-... | https://archive.ph/2025.08.27-130342/https://www.bloomberg.c...

[10] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/14/trumps-tarif...

Braxton1980

4 months ago