solar sanctuary for land, creatures, community

Sanctuary /ˈsaŋ(k)tjʊəri/ (n). A place offering protection and safety; a shelter. A source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble.

Imagine a native wildflower meadow buzzing with wild pollinators. Now walk along curving paths cut through the meadow and discover sustainably designed sculptural wildlife habitats made of biomaterials including cast mycelium. Walk further and realize that you’re actually in a small solar farm, dotted by integrated, functioning solar panels that generate clean energy.

why solar x meadow x art?

This pilot project in the Hudson Valley, NY aims to facilitate a win-win-win for pollinators, climate, and community. As pollinator habitat wanes, solar installations are expanding (Scientific American, January 2019). The US is expected to convert six million acres of land to solar fields before 2050 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2017). In 2021 New York ranked fourth in the nation in electricity generation from small-scale solar (https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php). This project will be a local illustration of what could be a much broader remedy.

Solar farms, once devoid of life, are becoming sites of ecological repair. By co-locating them in wildflower meadows, they not only produce green energy but also nourish pollinators, recharge groundwater, prevent erosion, and sequester carbon.

There is mounting evidence that combining green energy, wildflowers, and pollinators is good for nature and people. Having restored and managed a wildflower meadow for 7+ years, it was my site of solace during the pandemic and where I fell in love with and came to understand the importance of pollinators and their role in biodiversity and climate repair. As a sculptor, this is my way to share a potentially transformative experience with others.

Mary Oliver said that attention is the beginning of devotion. By inviting community into the creative process from the ground up, my hope is that this project will be a catalyst for empathy, fostering a web of care for land, people, and creatures.

This project will offer local access to nature-immersion that invites wandering, lingering, and watching over. It offers an alternative vision for what otherwise unsightly and ecologically barren solar installations impose on land and people. This project takes an existing model (solar farms) further by intentionally creating space, shelter, and solace for all beings. 

 

Dear community leaders, solar advocates, ecologists, art organisations, potential funders and sponsors…

I’d love to discuss how you might get involved in this exciting win-win-win project.

I can bring you a meaningful and impactful community project with resources, plans, experience, and imagination. I’m looking for technical input, a site host, in-kind services and materials, funding, and hands-on support.

You can email me directly: kelly (at) kellyobrien (dot) art or reach me by mobile: +1 301 906 6425. Thank you!

 

RESOURCES, LEARNING, LINKS

This list builds on research from my last project Pollinator Sanctuary. I’ll continue to add references here as Solar Sanctuary progresses.

Blaydes, H. (2022). Solar park management and design to boost bumble bee populations. Environmental Research Letters 17 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5840

Burroughs, J. (2016). Birds and poets: with other papers. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Cronon, W, (2003). Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang

Donkersley, P. et al (2023). A little does a lot: Can small-scale planting for pollinators make a difference? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 343 by Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2022.108254

Helmer, J. (2019). Solar Farms Shine a Ray of Hope on Bees and Butterflies. Scientific American, Vol. 320, Issue 1

Housedeorffer, J. (Ed.) et al (2021). What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Johnston, L. J. (2023). The Possibility of Regeneration: resources and further reading.

Krznaric, R. (2021). The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking. New York: The Experiment

Lowenhaupt Tsing, A. (2021). The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

Macknick, J. (2017). National Renewable Energy Lab Webinar: Co-locating Agriculture and Solar

Malterre-Barthes, C. (2022). Material Reform: building for a post-carbon future. London: MACK

Million Pollinator Gardens (extensive resource list)

Montag, H., G. Parker & T. Clarkson (2016). The Effects of Solar Farms on Local Biodiversity; A Comparative Study. Clarkson and Woods and Wychwood Biodiversity

Nelson, M. (Ed.) (2001). Traditional Ecological Knowledge (New Directions in Sustainability and Society). Cambridge University Press

Puig de la Bellacasa, M. (2017). Matters of Care. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Richardson M. & Butler, C.W. (2023). The Silk Mill Vision of a Nature Connected Society. University of Derby

Salmon, E. (2000) Kincentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the HumanNature Relationship. Ecological Applications, 10(5), 2000, pp. 1327–1332 q 2000 by the Ecological Society of America

Wolf, C. (2022). Art and Posthumanism: Essays, Encounters, Conversations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Xerces Society (2012). Conserving Bumblebees: Guidelines for Creating and Managing Habitat for America’s Declining Pollinators