The Power Of The Pen & Grassroots Media — Anti-Solar Amendment 1 Blocked In Florida

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I’m sending a “Thank You” note to CleanTechnica & related sites. The education of the grassroots should never be dismissed. Sincere grassroots writers, of this site and others, have again shown the power of the pen, alongside larger media outlets like Rolling Stone and the Miami Herald.

CleanTechnicaPlanetsave, Gas2, SolarLove, EV ObsessionSustainablog, and other sites in our network and many other online sites take part every day in the grassroots struggle to bring clarity out of the murky clouds — whether regarding air pollutionpoverty, or food disparity. In the case I’m focusing on in this article, it was the cloud of Amendment 1 on the November 8th ballot in Florida.

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The big falsehood of Amendment 1 that was perpetrated throughout Florida via millions of dollars of utility money, as well as on the ballot, was the implication that it was a pro-solar amendment — when it was quite the opposite. Several of our articles untangled the cunning deception embedded in the wording. These articles pulled in views for days and days, and kept getting shared.

solar-floridaI believe the work helped to eventually stop Amendment 1 and protect rooftop solar in Florida. Nullified, the amendment’s halt shows some of Floridians’ more sublime unity. Grassroots movements can create subtle but powerful changes in energy, understanding, and action.

The utilities and fossil billionaires (the Koch brothers, for example) behind Amendment 1 were hoping to find voters in ignorance, and hoping deceptive language would be enough to weaken the rooftop solar movement.

Much wealth is made in a market of ignorance. People are fatigued, overworked, overwhelmed, and persuaded by ideas and ideals — unbiased studies or universities studies aside. Amendment 1,  essentially a fallacy, fell short.

There was big money spent on shrouding the truth, money that could have been used for vital improvements in children’s lives, families lives. There’s a tragedy in that reality alone.

It remained, though, that the people were too difficult to deceive — grassroots energy is more difficult to unplug than the ethics of monopoly-controlled media.

Certainly, blogging and green media have become a big part of grassroots movements, and I wonder how much that contributed to the eventual vote.

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Thank you to each and every one of you who vote “No” on Amendment 1, who had signs in your front yards, who conversed with your neighbors about the amendment, who engaged in grassroots education to protect rooftop solar in Florida, The Sunshine State.

“The physical world is not dependent on the economy — the economy is dependent on the physical world,” grassroots leader Bill McKibben aptly stated in a 2007 documentary about grassroots activism. I watched the film — Everything’s Cool — at an environmental film festival (another grassroots effort). It is still relevant today. Have a watch:

Related Stories:

Crowdfunding Carbon Credits for a Grassroots Deforestation Intervention

Solar Customers Don’t Harm Ratepayers 


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Cynthia Shahan

Cynthia Shahan, started writing after previously doing research and publishing work on natural birth practices. Words can be used improperly depending on the culture you are in. (Several unrelated publications) She has a degree in Education, Anthropology, Creative Writing, and was tutored in Art as a young child thanks to her father the Doctor. Pronouns: She/Her

Cynthia Shahan has 947 posts and counting. See all posts by Cynthia Shahan