The anti-industrial tradition of a hundred years ago makes sense to me because of coal. Not that we should defer judgment to a child but it is significant that industry back then would be objectionable to a child: dirty, smelly, loud. But then when you have people now trying to stop solar panels... what can they even say? They can call it an "industrial wasteland of solar panels", but... I mean, the solar panels don't make noise, you can't smell them, don't dirty up the area, and don't even require paving so it's still a field with grass and such. Can anyone come up with rhetoric like DH Lawrence in the '20s, I mean the previous '20s? Like,
The utter negation of natural beauty, the utter negation of the gladness of life, the utter absence of the instinct for shapely beauty which every bird and beast has, the utter death of the human intuitive faculty was appalling.
Can you really say that convincingly about a solar farm? What can you say? How about:
But Matt Luke, who was then the Cornwall councillor for the area, said the plans were "the wrong thing on the wrong site for numerous reasons" including the site being "the last green fields in the landscape".
Luke said: "The visual impact is far wider than any of you can imagine, this land can be seen from the whole of St Austell Bay.
"These are the last green fields in the landscape – the rest has been built on.
"It will be visible in the landscape. To say it won't is absolute nonsense."
Well, yes, you'll be able to see that something has been built, and instead of being green it will be green and black. How can anyone get fired up about this? Later in the article:
Councillor James Mustoe, a Conservative councillor whose division contains St Austell Bay, said: "I'm really sorry to see the Bristol-based planning inspector decide, on behalf of the Secretary of State, to overturn Cornwall Council's decision to refuse an industrial scale solar farm on green field land in Carlyon parish."
Anesco said the new solar farm would operate for 40 years and generate enough electricity to power 3,880 homes.
The opponents are relying on the word "industrial" to evoke the more successful rhetoric of the past, the proponents are pointing out this will power your house. If this is industry, why don't we like it again? (and it isn't industry really, that's in China and as noxious as ever)