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How to Save a Planet

Sheep + Solar, A Love Story

How to Save a Planet

Gimlet

Science, News, Society & Culture

4.81.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We all know that a key part of addressing climate change involves getting off fossil fuels. But renewable energies, such as solar energy, are not without costs. One key cost? It uses a lot of land. We take a look at one creative solution to this problem – mixing solar panels with agriculture. And we are not at all sheepish about the role of one very adorable four legged animal. Guests: Judy St. Leger, Keith Hevnor, Lexie Hain, Byron Kominek Calls to Action If you are a sheep grazer looking to get into solar, or a solar developer in search of a good shepherd, check out the American Solar Grazing Association’s website for resources. You can learn about the blueberry work that Lily Calderwood from the University of Maine is working on here, and theUniversity of Massachusetts Extension's program work with cranberry and solar panels here. Judy St. Leger's farm is Dutch Barn Farm, Lexie Hain's solar grazing business is Agrovoltaic Solutions, the solar company that Keith Hevnor works for is Nexamp, Byron Kominek's is Jack's Solar Garden. If you're in Colorado, you can arrange to tour Jack's Solar Garden. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced funding for a new to optimized design for “agrivoltaic” systems. It's a four year project that you can learn more about here Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. Our producers are Anna Ladd, Rachel Waldholz and Hannah Chinn. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman and Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Peter Leonard, Catherine Anderson, and Emma Munger. Our fact checker this episode is James Gaines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to How's Haven Planet, I'm Alex Bloomberg, and this is the show where we talk about what

0:07.0

we need to do to address climate change and how to make those things happen.

0:18.0

Hey, Kendra.

0:25.0

Hey, Alex.

0:27.0

You are an elite member of the crack producing and reporting team here at How Does Ever Planet, and you're here to tell us about

0:33.0

something you recently did.

0:34.0

You went on your first field reporting trip for the podcast.

0:37.0

I did, literally.

0:39.0

I was in a field.

0:41.0

You know that's not what field reporting means, right?

0:44.0

Like it doesn't mean you have to go to a field.

0:46.0

Wait, I've been doing it wrong this entire time.

0:49.0

What were you doing field reporting in the literal field?

0:52.0

I was making friends with sheep.

0:59.0

Yes, those are sheep.

1:01.0

Oh, they're coming.

1:02.0

They're like running.

1:05.0

Hello, this is number five.

1:07.0

She was hand raised.

1:10.0

So that's her name, not her number.

1:13.0

So the voice you're hearing apart from the sheep is this woman named Judy St. Ledger.

1:19.0

She's a shepherd, and she tells me this delightful backstory behind number five's name.

...

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