Solarpunk

Does solarpunk dream utopic dreams of clean, just, green cities that are great places to live in vibrant communities with other people? Or is solarpunk about getting back to the land, having your own chickens, being self-sufficient, and helping out your neighbors? City dweller Ariel, who dreams of life in the countryside, and countryside dweller Christina, who sees the advantages of city life, consider the pros and cons of trying to live urban versus rural solarpunk lives.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/10927570

Lose yourself in the visionary fiction of Cory Doctorow, the celebrated author and digital rights activist known for his masterful explorations of the intersection of tech and society. And help support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with your purchase.

I would have linked the NYT article direct but it's paywalled. Thanks, Obama.

Sorry for the clickbait title but I thought a great video from a great but not well known channel.

But now a smattering of solar panels across 12 villages in a couple of Ecuador’s deeply forested eastern provinces are making Canelos’s vision materialize. Every morning, before dawn, his people pass around a bowl of wayusa, a traditional drink made from a local plant that helps bring their dreams into focus. In them, they believe, lies the path of their communities’ future.

Now solar power is shaping how they go about daily life in ways big and small, from how they get to work to how they negotiate their connections to the world beyond the Amazon.

This is a projection in Oakland. You can find the original art here.

The way-back machine found a March 2023 Reddit post by Aaron Bushnell where he said, “I’ve realized that a lot of the difference between me and my less radical friends is that they are less capable of imagining a better world than I am. I follow YouTubers like Andrewism that fill my head with concrete images of free, post-scarcity communities, and it makes me so much more prepared to reject things about the current world, because I’ve imagined how things could be and that helps me see how extremely bullshit things are right now.”

If you care to see the full quote, you can check @tinythunders on Twitter or Andrewism’s YouTube Channel, the community tab.

We have done it. We are there. A sustainable world. An abundant, renewable clean energy. A recovering ecosystem and a biodiversity that we can now help improve instead of merely defend. Changes happened. Changes in politics, in tech, in culture. We waste less, we consider the long term impact of our decisions, we consider natural resources as atakeholders in our decisions and give them representatives.

Now what? Well, humans are debating about to do next and, big surprise, several factions are out there.

Extend the list, imagine factions collaborating or fighting, or detail a faction either seriously or tongue-in-cheekly

• Archaecologists argue that we should restore the ecosystem to a state close to the paleolithic before humans started damaging the planet. Their food is good but is a pain to peel.

• Ecovolutionists argue that the Anthropocene should not be ignored and that we should accept the profound impact we had on Earth, and let it run its natural course while we re-invent our way of life to have a lower impact. Their more radical branch releases genetically adapted version of endangered plants in human biomes. The Monsoon Red Concrete Mold is their proudest achievement.

• Biomaximizers think that some ecosystems are inherently more desirable than others: they argue that maximizing biodiversity and biomass should be our goal, that deserts should be turned into primal forests and that we should build reefs in the oceanic deserts. Their Saharan seed-bombing raves are rad.

• Biomoralists think we should raise the morality of the animal world and break the prey-predator mechanism, that nature is something to improve respectfully and humanely. Their vegan cat food is actually surprisingly tasty.

• Ecogardeners are in favor of biotopes that have biodiversity but also are welcoming of humans and nice to the eye. They are not fans of mosquitoes or wolves, but god do they love flowers.

• The Followers of Gaia want to maximize the consciousness of the biosphere by planting more telepathic organisms they can connect with. They are currently disagreeing on which species have the more psy power but I am sure they will end up agreeing on a list eventually. Their only consensus now is that sauge is good and who would disagree?

• Consumerists are for declaring natural reserves but embrace the ability to be "wasteful" again, now that recycling and energy uses are sustainable. I mean, I kinda get their point but renewable skiing in Dubai still feels like missing the point.

• Earth-conservationists argue we should all move to space and let the Earth grow back to its natural stage. They are bewildered that the archaecologists do not agree with what they essentially see the same goal.

A well overdue introduction to one of the biggest Solarpunk writing podcasts on the English-speaking internet! I've been postponing writing a comprehensive post about this project for well over a year - and suddenly, we are in the middle of the second season!

The ruling class wants you to be literate enough to understand their written orders. And nothing more. True literacy is punk. True literacy is revolutionary.

If you look at this article and think "this is too long to read" you're part of the target audience. Make the time.

The year is 2080, we solved the climate crisis, we solved the poverty crisis. You live in a pretty chill solarpunk utopia that is considerate, sustainably, just and generally safe. The few dangerous places out there are clearly labelled.

Choose one of those signs and explain why it is displayed where it is.

EDIT: for some reasons up/downvotes do not work for me here. Is anyone having similar problems?

New TTT just dropped. Sorry I know I keep sharing Youtube videos I'm probably just Basic like that.

I'm voting green because if democracy is 'on the ballot' then I figure it's the choice I actually believe in and not just the slightly lesser of two evils. And so recently I feel targeted by democrats and its getting kind of weird and I was wondering if any other greens are experiencing the same thing in the US. I'm very open about my party preference and intentions for 2024.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/6681263

Even though we provide meals and groceries to thousands of people, we are not a charity. Food Not Bombs is trying to inspire the public to participate in changing society and focus our resources on solving problems like hunger, homelessness and poverty while seeking an end to war and the destruction of the environment. We are also showing by example that we can work cooperatively without leaders through volunteer effort to provide essential needs like food, housing, education and healthcare. When over a billion people go hungry each day, how can we spend another dollar on war?