Ancient battles, modern lessons

At the Battle of Thermopylae in Ancient Greece, a Spartan soldier is told that the invading Persian army is so vast their arrows will blot out the sun. “So much the better,” the Spartan replies, “we shall fight our battle in the shade.”

It’s an ancient example, but one Centretown’s solar power enthusiasts ought to draw from. The battle has entered popular culture as a symbol of defiance and strength in the face of impossible odds.

The 2006 film 300 and the 1962 film The 300 Spartans portray a hopelessly outnumbered band of Spartan soldiers as heroes who stand against the million-strong army of the conqueror Xerxes.

Ancient Greece seems further from Centretown than the nearest star but a recent conflict between solar panel users and Ottawa condo developers is making both seem a whole lot closer to home.

Recently, local photographer Paul Couvrette has been speaking out against a condo project by developer Tega Homes.The project is going up next door to his house and among Couvrette’s problems with the project is the impact it will have on solar panels on his property.

Couvrette says the project next door will block out the sun and make them useless. After investing thousands of dollars in the panels, Couvrette is demanding a “right to light.”

As new age as this idea sounds, formal legal protections for property owners’ sunlight have been on the books elsewhere for centuries.

In England, for example, the right to light was enshrined to protect property owners from projects that would obscure windows and lower the value of their real estate.

Despite similar legal traditions, no jurisdiction in Canada has comparable protections. And in Ottawa, where developers wield significant economic and political power, we are unlikely to be the first.

In Centretown, condos are profitable for the developers that build them. As long as there is demand, they will continue to sprout up like weeds in a garden. By contrast, users of solar panels are economically and politically negligible on a macro level.There are a relatively small number of users and few homeowners venture to install them.

 Even so, alternative energy generation can help alleviate demands on an already over-burdened energy market, reduce home heating costs and reduce families’ dependence on fossil fuels.The benefits of sunlight require no explanation to gardeners or anyone with windows.

Despite being politically and economically overmatched by big developers, users of solar cells can and should stand up for these things.

It doesn’t require a social conscience to understand the value of producing and selling your own energy and it takes even less to enjoy the sun on your face.

Both are things to be appreciated and both are worth defending from the massive condominium developments that threaten them.

While Centretown’s solar enthusiasts have little in common with the Spartans at Thermopylae, both are outnumbered in battle for their way of life. Though worlds apart, their situations are the same.

Cell users should rise to the occasion and take a stand for their right to sunlight. If condos blot out the sun, they should fight in the shade.