8 July

There are massive solar and wind farms near Wellington, from a distance you think it must be some bluey-silver crop, like lavender. Companies from around the world have been queuing for years to try to get these installed in Australia, we have enormous amounts of land and sunshine and wind. Some regional and farming people opposed these from the start, with the claim they ‘destroy good agricultural land’. Let’s be blunt here, most agricultural land worldwide is nothing more than soil mining. Every living thing cleared and killed, topsoil washed and blown out to sea, a yearly dose of super needed to get anything to grow at all. Cattle and sheep can happily graze under solar panels, in fact they’re healthier and happier because they get something most farmers now never provide them - shelter. The soil no longer bakes unprotected in summer heat and winter frosts, and the panels even trap condensation, giving more moisture to the soil. On top of it all, it gives desperately needed new income streams to farmers. Old Australia is dying now, and not before time. Blocking transformational change so badly needed here.