x-post from e/e- here's an idea for the green new deal- [View all]

help farmers re-electrify rural america.

so, when that draft of the green new deal made the rounds, and everyone started stockpiling cheeseburgers, and drawing up plans for their govt home remodeling, msnbc had the good sense to track down the facts about cow farts and climate change.

first off, it's not the farts, its the belching. and there is good research underway to find better feeds that fix that.

but second, as we all know, it is manure and cafo runoff that are killing our waterways.

perhaps some of you have noticed that i have an obsession w 2 particularly glaringly stupid environment nightmares that have, imho, simple solutions.
one is coal ash, which is a mineral mine laying around waiting for someone to get rich on.
the other is manure. pig shit in particular, but manure in general.

a fairly simple anaerobic digester system makes free methane in a bottle.
the sludge that comes out at the end is far more useful as a fertilizer than raw manure. put it in a bag, and make a good buck w your green fertilizer.
such obvious low hanging fruit.

so, the msnbc spot was-
talking to a couple huge dairy farmers in iowa. got the facts about part one.

then this- the entire small town there was powered by electricity from a single dairy farm.

the barns were piped up so that the manure was automatically pumped into the digester.
the whole set up cost $20M.
it made sense for this farmer to invest in that system. so should the tax payers.

this is my pet theory, but there is plenty of good stuff down this same road.
like, how about the green new deal gives green farmers low interest loans and grants of "seed money" for green innovations to agriculture.
how about transition funds for organic farms?
how about increased conservation easements?
how about more wind and solar subsidies? (how about solar for rural schools and hospitals?)

seems like all these things are rich in opportunities for rural economies.

talk about reaching out to the rural voters. (i know, i know, they are crazies. but there are dems out there everywhere, and this could show everyone what we are made of in a way that pokes the dummies in the eye.)



https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127127536