#solarpunk presents

3.5 "Birdwatching as a Gateway to Environmental Activism: A Conversation With Prof. Cin-Ty Lee" is now public! Join Christina and Prof. Lee to chat about birds, birdwatching, and the ways in which that can lead to environmental activism in your community.

Birdwatchers. They’re both easy to envy (They know so much!) and laugh at (What nerds!). Yet birdwatching is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to connect with nature. Yes, as we discuss with Cin-Ty Lee, professor of geology at Rice University in Texas and author of the Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax and Pewees, you could go buy all the books and gear and then book trips…

Although the battle lines have shifted down through the years from heliocentrism to evolution (and let’s not get started on the age of the Earth), it feels like there’s a fundamental conflict between science and religion, especially with respect to the Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam. I (Christina), the host of this podcast episode, as a scientist and atheist who tends to assume all scientists are atheists—because how could they not be?—am definitely guilty of thinking this.

Yet, there is a long tradition of curiosity, inquiry, and, yes, science within the Abrahamic religions and no shortage of devout scientists working hard to this day to understand the workings of the world and cosmos. I decided that it was time to confront my assumptions by talking to one of my religious colleagues. Thank you in advance to Dr Norm Nelson—an oceanographer whose Christianity is a core part of his life—for discussing whether or not there is a conflict between science and Christianity, and where the roots of that conflict might lie.

Solarpunks, we’re on YouTube!

Well… sort of. We have our two latest episodes up, and we’re going to make a concerted effort to get older episodes uploaded over the next couple of months, so that you can listen to us in video form, if you so choose!

Like, subscribe, comment, ring the bell, follow …. (Whatever it is that YouTube influencers say. We’re sort of new to this…)

As the changing climate increasingly disrupts our ways of life, we have three choices: do nothing, attempt to stop or even reverse climate change, and/or figure out how to withstand it. Option one is a terrible idea and the ship has (mostly) sailed on option two. But option three is how we learn to live—and maybe even thrive—in our changing world. Part of this is figuring out how to convey the information that climate researchers have gathered to the people—like farmers, water managers, and urban planners—who need to make decisions now—about things like what crops to plant, where to get water for everyone and how to allocate it, and where to plant trees—for both the near and slightly distant future. In this episode, we’re talking to Professor Lisa Dilling, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, about building networks of people through which information about regional climate predictions can flow to people and information about the needs, predicaments, and questions of people can flow to climate researchers.

You can follow Lisa Dilling on Twitter at @LisaD144, and the Western Water Assessment program at University of Colorado here: @WWAnews or visit their website at https://wwa.colorado.edu/

Connect with Solarpunk Magazine at solarpunkmagazine.com and on Twitter @solarpunklitmag

Connect with Solarpunk Presents Podcast on Twitter @SolarpunkP, Mastodon @[email protected], or at our blog https://solarpunkpresents.com/

Connect with Ariel at her blog, on Twitter at @arielletje, and on Mastodon @[email protected]

Hey all, just a reminder that we have a YouTube channel, and that we're uploading our season one episodes biweekly so they can be found at our very own Acast feed.

Solarpunks, we’re on YouTube!

Well… sort of. We have our two latest episodes up, and we’re going to make a concerted effort to get older episodes uploaded over the next couple of months, so that you can listen to us in video form, if you so choose!

Like, subscribe, comment, ring the bell, follow …. (Whatever it is that YouTube influencers say. We’re sort of new to this…)

In today’s episode, Ariel chats with Heather MacKenzie, Executive Director of Solar Alberta, about transitioning to renewable energy deep in the heart of oil and gas country - in a just and sustainable way. Join us to learn about the history of the Solar Alberta organization, from its grassroots beginnings in neighbourhood solar projects, to dealing with (government-funded!) trolls online, all the way up to being the leading non-profit solar organization in Alberta and providing worker upskilling in a unique market.

You can go to https://solaralberta.ca to learn more, or connect with and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Connect with Solarpunk Magazine at solarpunkmagazine.com and on Twitter @solarpunklitmag

Connect with Solarpunk Presents Podcast on Twitter @SolarpunkP, Mastodon @[email protected], or at our blog https://solarpunkpresents.com/

Connect with Ariel at her blog, on Twitter at @arielletje, and on Mastodon @[email protected]

To kick off Season 2 of Solarpunk Presents, Ariel and I (Christina) laced up our boxing gloves and had a friendly debate about the best place to try to live solarpunk lives: in the city or in the countryside. Is the solarpunk life all about peaceful living in harmony with your neighbors, your garden, and your chickens away from the thrum of the city, or is it all about taking up less space (by living in an apartment), helping out in the community garden, and riding the bus?

Here are links to some of the literature we discussed:

Ariel's note: this is a constructed debate, and not necessarily reflective of the opinions of all solarpunks everywhere, but a debate that Christina and I see fairly often in solarpunk spaces, so we wanted to duke it out in a fun and engaging way to provoke thought.

Connect with Solarpunk Presents Podcast on Twitter @SolarpunkP, Mastodon @[email protected], or at our blog https://solarpunkpresents.com/

Connect with Ariel at her blog, on Twitter at @arielletje, and on Mastodon @[email protected]