Untitled

artwork by Molly Costello (instagram)

what is solarpunk?

“Solarpunks cherish nature, progress and science; the individual and the community.

They believe in a world that is green, colourful, and bright. It can be described as a literary genre, an aesthetic, or a movement. The key points are:

An emphasis on renewable energy, especially solar power.

A demand for technology and society to re-centre around sustainability, longevity, and balance.

A focus on decentralisation, community activism, social justice and civic empowerment.

A recognition that economic, social, and ecological injustices are all deeply inter-connected.”

- Sunbeam City

“Solarpunk is a literary movement, a hashtag, a flag, and a statement of intent about the future we hope to create” - Ben Valentine

Solarpunk as a concept emerged from the imagination of authors and creators in the early 2000′s, and was shared freely throughout the internet. It originated as a genre of creative writing and artwork, but it quickly began to be implemented into decentralised left-wing spaces. Nowadays, solarpunk embodies a whole range of politics, activism, design and art; but at its heart it encompasses positive, grassroots community action and innovation as a way to prevent ecological crises. 

resources

non fiction books, essays and articles

Solarpunk: a reference guide

Solarpunk: notes towards a manifesto 

Solarpunk against a shitty future 

What is Solarpunk?

Solarpunk Resources

Designing Regenerative Cultures by Daniel Wahl

The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams  

Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal  

Ecovillages: Lessons for Sustainable Community by Karen T. Litfin  

Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability by Dominique Hes  

novels and fiction

Goodreads solarpunk list  

Solarpunk Press 

Solarpunk Story Exchange

Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation 

Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers by Sarena Ulibarri

Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology by Claudie Arseneault

Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation by Phoebe Wagner 

Twenty One Twenty by Jason J. Robinson

Winds of Change: Short Stories about Our Climate by Mary Woodbury 

Ecopunk! - speculative tales of radical futures by Liz Grzyb

videos

Sunbeam Cinema (my list of documentaries and films)

Imagining a Solarpunk future (TED talk)

podcasts

Adventures in New America 

The War on Cars

Climate One 

Future Perfect 

The Impact 

The Institute for Local Self Reliance 

It’s Going Down

The Shift Up Podcast

Solarpunk Press 

Strong Towns 

Team Human 

Occulture Podcast, ep. 122

(my list of podcasts and radio shows)

websites and blogs

Sunbeam City Wiki  Solarpunk Anarchists  Solarpunk Station 

tumblr

This is where I need your help - I would love to collate a list of Solarpunk-themed tumblr blogs. If you post about Solarpunk and would like to be included in this list, please comment or message me with your blog URL. Thank you! 

Relevant posts

my list of permaculture resources

my tips and tricks for disabled activism 

my post on gardening 

my post on community activism

y’all deserve to hear the good news too, and yes i fact checked these.

7 miles of habitat for bees will be planted in london

the biggest coal plant in north america has been converted to solar panels

roads in edinburgh will close once a month to help pollution

maine has banned styrofoam

new york city and los angeles have both made “green new deals”

The london marathon replaced 200,000 single use water bottles with seaweed water pods

the bees in notre dame survived the fire, and the roof could possibly built in a more eco-friendly way.

the population of flightless kakapos (a cool bird) is rising

the carbon emissions in the uk are the lowest they’ve been since 1998

Another large bee habitat (.5 mil acres) has been created

there is a robot that delivers young coral to help repopulate the great barrier reef

portugal plans to stop using plastic on fruit, vegetables, and bread by 2020

106 new species of bees have been discovered in australia since 2010

a group of Sikhs plan to plant 1,000,000 trees as a gift to the earth

disney has made a mickey-shaped solar farm

Morgan freeman turned a 124 acre ranch in mississippi to a bee habitat

China plans on making a “forest city” to help clean up their air

An increasing amount of countries and states are beginning to ban single use plastics.

A couple replanted a whole forest in brazil (2.7 mil trees) in 20 years, and the animals have come back to live there

The hole in the ozone layer is repairing itself more each year

China plans on spending 360 billion dollars to improve renewable energy and has scrapped plans for coal powered plants that were going to be built.

A national park has been built in the amazon (3.3 mil acres in peru) to preserve the rainforest

Ireland and the uk have declared a climate emergency

The guy who played aquaman (jason momoa) has spent 31,000 dollars to help clean up plastic

South korea is now recycling 95% of food waste

There is a cleanup campaign being planned for mt. everest

Puerto rico wants to use all renewable energy by 2050 and is setting official goals for that

Some schools have special water bottle fill-up stations that encourage you to use refill and reuse plastic bottles rather than throwing them out after one use, these are becoming more common.

9 endangered species are thought to make a comeback this year

20 countries in africa are planning to make a “green wall” of trees and plants that will span the width of africa to stop desertification

recently, a lot of volunteers and organizations are planting a ton of trees.

Awareness about the environment and climate change is growing super fast right now among people and countries, which will only help us

Most pollution is caused by like 100 companies, but a few of those (like pepsi) are trying to cut down on that.

if this stuff keeps happening things will get even better, and the only thing stopping us really are those big companies who don’t want to pay the money to switch to more eco-friendly energy sources. i know the media tends to cause fear and stress about this stuff for a lot of people, but there really is hope.

easy things we can do: 

Recycle 

Plant gardens in your yard for bees if you can

Participate in community volunteer things that plant trees and gardens

Theres this search engine called ecosia that plants a tree for every 45 searches you make, it has almost 2 mil users. 

Pick up trash if you see it when you’re at the beach or in nature

If you have a fair amount of money, consider donating some to trustworthy environmental organizations

Start using a reusable water bottle (like those ones at target) rather than relying on single use plastic ones.

Cut the plastic rings on plastic milk bottles. You know, the little spiky plastic ring near the cap. Birds get those things stuck around their neck and die, so cut them so that they can’t get stuck on a neck.

Sometimes I find myself fantasizing about growing my own food, collecting rainwater, foraging, essentially living in the forrest. i get discouraged that it seems so unfeasible…i don’t even know cardinal directions! But I have to remind myself, the fantasy isn’t really about living in a magical, self-sustaining witch-hut (although that’s dope). It’s about feeling empowered and independent, about reclaiming a relationship with the earth, about working with raw materials and building a safe space for myself.

¤ Be involved in local community and charity!

¤ Barter where you can, and buy local & thrift where you can’t! Make! Make! MAKE!

¤ Get some solar panels! Small ones, big ones, whatever you can afford.

¤ If you can get away, go forest bathing! Appreciate nature, and teach your children to do the same. Remember–leave only footprints.

¤ If you got a patch of land, garden it! Can’t grow it yourself? Volunteer it to someone who will!

¤ Collect your rainwater!

¤ Got kids or going to have them? Have two. Then stop. The third kid is SO much more expensive in terms of… Well literally everything. Bigger house. Bigger car. More resources.

¤ Cloth diapers, reusable wipes. Homemade laundry soap. Clothesline. (I realize this is house spouse territory, but do what you can.)

¤ Encourage your local school district to open an outdoor classroom, or a class garden! Or volunteer to help with one of those “circle of life” lessons that involve baby chicks or silk worms. (Tada! Now you have chickens!)

¤ Collect local deadwood (my area has loads), and either turn it into works of Art–or of it’s not good for anything else–Biochar. By removing dead wood from urban areas you reduce the ever increasing risk of fire.

¤ Time to end the rent rat race? Buy a tiny piece of land and build your dream house YOUR way. Natural building. Tiny. Reclaimed materials. Solar. High tech. All good.

-try composting. If your city has a compost program, opt in. If not, make your own!

-track your water usage. Then try to limit it in small ways. Do the same with your electricity!

-plant a tree. Or five. Seriously - they’re such a great investment.

- go to a co-op and buy…well…anything. Often they have eco friendly soap, shampoo and cleaning products!

Articles on container gardening

Free cloth diaper patterns

Recipe for laundry soap

How to make biochar

The homesteading movement

24 meatless recipes

Make a: - Bee box - Bird house - Bee-friendly garden - Bat box

Track your daily water usage

1) Familiarize yourself with your state and where you live.

o   What types of ecosystems are near you (Chaparral, Tropical Hardwood Hammock, Longleaf Pine Forest, etc)? What is so special about them?

o   What rare species live in your state? What state-threatened and state endangered species live near you? What federally threatened and endangered species live near you? Pay EXTRA close attention to non-charismatic species, such as reptiles, amphibians, insects (hello NATIVE BEES AND POLLINATORS) and arthropods, PLANTS, crustaceans (there are TONS of threatened crawfish), mollusks (Florida has at least one threatened snail and a few rare clams!), fungi, etc. What threats do these organisms face, and what can you do to help them?

o   What environmental issues are prevalent in your state, and why? What is one local environmental issue that is very close to you?

A network of 113 lines, including 26 long-distance routes and 87 frequent regional routes, 21 of which would support high-speed service. Connecting thousands of American cities and towns, including the 132 shown on this map, of which 45 would have high-speed service and only 12 would not be served by frequent regional routes. Today, after eleven years of planning, I’m launching my vision of Rail for America.

This isn’t a formal policy proposal or a business plan. This is an idea: a glimpse into what the American rail network has potential to be, through which I hope to illustrate where Amtrak’s service is desperately lacking. This plan asks the question: what if America’s transit network was comparable to those of Europe and China? Of course, Europe and China have much denser populations than that of America, and so the network proposed here is less dense than those of Europe and China. But this is a fundamentally different kind of system than today’s Amtrak, which is held back by only serving towns it deems viable without feeling the need to serve the entire country. I aim to fix that.

Over the next few months, I’m going to be shifting the focus of this blog to offer many detailed glimpses into the structure of this network, looking into specific cities and corridors to determine the best ways to operate. Through this plan I’m hoping to tie together transportation analysis on the local and national scales, by identifying how even local commuter routes play a part in a cohesive national network. Is this a daunting task? Yes. But I’ve been working on this since I was eleven years old and I don’t plan on stopping now.

Hey, hey, hey guys.

What got you into farmcore, homesteading, solarpunk, etc?

I’ve seen some discussions that seem to imply that many of us are here for different reasons than I thought or that there are lots of people who don’t understand each other in these circles. I know I don’t have that many followers but I’ll reblog this a couple of times just to try and get it around.

MANGA Farming Make Use Of Old Manga Comic Books