Rising to the Sun

The country roads around the small town of Albion are some of the prettiest you’ll see in Michigan. Take it from this podcast host, who would run them with his cross country teammates at Albion College.

Now, there are new neighbors out among the corn and soy and old trees, stunning in their own way but undeniably different: solar panels. Over 4,000 acres of them, generating enough electricity to power 60,000 homes.

Bonnie Lord noticed these panels, too. She’s the editor-in-chief of the Albion Pleiad, Albion College’s student-run newspaper. She spent hours and hours researching the solar farms, meeting with local government and business leaders, and talking to folks living nearby. Then, she put all she learned into a three-part news comic series.

Bonnie joins Common Groundwater for the start of our miniseries on solar energy development. Michigan will be powered by 100% clean energy by 2040, but local, state and national forces appear bent to keep this from happening.

Bonnie’s story—and the area’s—is grounded in truth and compassion, and they serve as a bit of a microcosm of the larger state of solar, showing us all the goodness (and worry) this renewable energy can bring to a community.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts

Read Bonnie’s comic news series on Calhoun County’s solar renaissance here.

Check out other stories from the Albion Pleiad here. (And if you like what you see, support local journalism with a donation!)

Learn more about the Environmental Council’s latest clean energy efforts here.

Common Groundwater is hosted by the Michigan Environmental Council and Beau Brockett Jr.

Our music is “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi, arranged by Derek Zhang and performed by Taj Wallace.