Life, Liberty, and Solar Panels

Welcome back, Shit Givers.

Look, sometimes I start writing and almost immediately, it gets out of hand.

Today’s post is one of those. You’re welcome/I’m sorry.

It’s — well, SLIGHTLY — more satirical than usual, and with MODERATELY more profanity, but it’s still grounded in facts and the opportunity to improve our vital infrastructure by meeting people exactly where they are (YMMV).

👩‍💻 You can read this on the website, or you can 🎧 listen to it (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

🤝 What We Can Do

⚡️ Last week’s most popular Action Step was finding a nearby climate resilience hub using Climate Crew’s interactive map.

⚡️ It’s getting hot out there. Direct your city officials to the Heat Action Platform Policy Tool to explore existing heat adaptation solutions for your community.

⚡️Thinking of becoming a nurse? Bless you, and thank you. Here are some resources including FAQs about education requirements, salary, and benefits.

⚡️ Representation in books helps kids build self-esteem and increase self-acceptance. Find kid-affirming books for your family or classroom with a ColorPop Book bundle.

⚡️ Defend rights to digital privacy all over the world by donating to The Electronic Frontier Foundation.

⚡️ Align your money with your values by finding a financial institution near you with sustainable banking services.

Texas is melting. Baking. Air frying. Being absolutely barbecued with no end in sight.

Whatever your metaphor, whatever your politics, two things are incontrovertible:

1. Texas is getting hotter on average, and more likely to suffer extreme heat events

2. Texas gets a whole hell of a lot of sunshine

There’s simply no better place and no better time for a rooftop solar revolution than Texas in 2023.

Because when it comes down to it, is there any greater threat to liberty than multiple layers of government telling you how you can power your home?

Think about it this way: Is there any better way to say “fuck the libs” than powering your home from the sun?

When I say “liberty”, what I’m talking about is personal freedom, autonomy, and self-sufficiency.

For a statistical minority of the popular vote and simultaneously almost exactly half of the electoral vote, these things are inviolable.

And in a world where ERCOT is actually holding up against a relentless heat wave — with Texans using more energy than they ever have to run air conditioners at full blast — it’s helpful to understand that rooftop solar, not utility-scale solar, is a nearly perfect embodiment of those principles.

Like the act of decentralizing the power grid itself, let’s break it down.

Refuse to depend on big government for anything? Great. Let’s have you generate your own electricity, from the SUN, a tangible, measurable manifestation of personal freedom and autonomy around which everything else resolves — just like Texas.

So autonomous, in fact, that Texas doesn’t have a net metering law, which means you can’t even feed your extra power back into the grid, nor get paid for it.

To go even further, you’re basically choosing to secede from government-run or even government-regulated utilities. You can truly be on your own.

Get off on extra-protecting your family and property from whatever comes your way? How about some kick-ass panels and some big-ass batteries that can keep all of your essential appliances running when ERCOT inevitably goes down again. I don’t say this in jest. It’s hot as hell out there and only getting hotter (we don’t even have to discuss why).

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