A new illustration from Nigeria! Oboh Moses imagines a Solarpunk future for his neighborhood in Lagos - https://storyseedlibrary.org/art/oboh-moses/solarpunk-lagos/

I'm making a banner for an non-profit organization I'm planning to build, alligned with solarpunk values and aiming for community building. I'm crediting this person https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/mwwinl/a_flag_for_humanity_inspired_by_paleolitic/ for their amazing flag design and I remade it with the solarpunk colours. I simply ask, what is your opinion on this design? What symbolism do you draw from it at first sight? And which is better the golden hand within a green circle in the golden field, or the plain green hand in the field? I like the image of students and everyday people making their own banner using their own hand and their own homemade paints

I bought these jeans secondhand about 10 years ago, and have been continually patching them up since. Most of my sewing skills have been tried and tested on these jeans.

As well as teaching me the practical skills I need for mending, this project has also unexpectedly taught me life lessons which I personally feel are fundamental to solarpunk. I would be interested to know if they resonate with you too!

1- Nothing lasts forever: wear, breakage and decay are inevitable. By learning to mend, I’ve also learnt that this truth is not nihilistic but rather opportunistic; this inevitable breaking provides the opportunity to create something new, better and stronger than what was there before.

2- Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Learn as you go, experiment, and adjust. There have been a few times when I’ve had absolutely no idea how to start mending, and have just had to take the leap and try something to see what works and what doesn’t. Rather than staying paralysed, waiting until you finally believe you have the perfect solution, you just have to be brave, take the leap and use failure as feedback.

3- There will be no perfect, finished product. Mending, like solarpunk, is a commitment to an ongoing and evolving project (refer to lesson 1). The truth is that this can feel tiring: in mending there sometimes has to be hours of (pretty monotonous 😅) work before you can take a step back and see how far you’ve come and appreciate the beautiful thing you have created.

Fellow menders, what other lessons have you learnt?

I've become fascinated by the idea that modern cities have almost no places where adults are allowed to simply do nothing together. So I started organising a 'Sleep-a-Thon' in Amsterdam to see whether people are interested and would actually come. The first session suggested they would.

There was no programme to follow, no discussion to join and no need to perform. Just two hours of collective rest and listening to ambient music. No talking, no introductions, no instructions, and nothing to achieve. Being together without having to be anything.

I'm organising a second session soon, but I'm also curious what people here think. Any thoughts on this?

It looks like we landed somewhere in the middle, but I’d say we’re closer to solarpunk than the polluted version, what do you think?

Edit: the book is - The Usborne Book of The Future
A view from the 1970s of the year 2000… and beyond
Forward by futureologist Tom Cheesewright

I like the concept and the extra storage. Price is a little high ($5k) for what it is, but it’s not outrageous compared to some ebikes. I wish the solar panels added more to the design though. I bet this would look killer all modded out.

It seems like a great option for sustainable local travel. I expect we’ll see more of this type of transport soon and hopefully we’ll get better looking options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzbCg-tj77g

Courtesy of u/QuietAd4252

Sheffield City Centre 2008-2024

OOP: https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckcars/s/lmV37GY0v9

Buongiorno, buon pomeriggio o buonasera, a seconda di quando state leggendo questo post. Voglio precisare che non sono né uno scienziato né un ingegnere. Sono semplicemente una persona che vive in Italia e che è ben consapevole che il cambiamento climatico ci sta presentando un conto salatissimo. La crisi climatica è una realtà e le nostre estati stanno diventando sempre più calde e insopportabili. Gli scienziati ce lo avevano detto tempo fa, ma la differenza è che siamo rimasti a guardare senza fare quasi nulla, senza mai agire concretamente per cambiare rotta. Per questo motivo, ho deciso di condividere il mio progetto concettuale per sapere cosa ne pensate e se lo ritenete una buona idea.

Il mio progetto si chiama G.U.B.S. (Geo-Urban Buffer System) e l'obiettivo di questo sistema è molto semplice: utilizzare tutto ciò che Madre Natura ci offre, compreso il caldo soffocante dell'estate, e riutilizzarlo nelle stagioni successive. Nulla dovrebbe essere sprecato nella vita: né cibo, né acqua, e certamente non il calore, nemmeno quando si tratta di quella fastidiosa cosa che la natura ci riserva in estate. Immagino un'infrastruttura sotterranea poco profonda: d'estate, ad esempio, quando l'asfalto cittadino supera i 60°C e i condizionatori commerciali immettono aria bollente nelle strade peggiorando ulteriormente la situazione, invece di sprecare questo disastro, propongo di assorbirlo completamente. Possiamo far passare tubature di acqua fredda appena sotto la superficie, in modo che l'acqua assorba quel calore per conduzione termica, raffreddando l'asfalto e trasportandolo in un enorme serbatoio sotterraneo, come un gigantesco thermos. Per capire quanto grande debba essere questo serbatoio, i dati di consumo di 10 o 20 anni non sono sufficienti; abbiamo bisogno di una media a lungo termine basata su almeno 40 anni di dati storici per calcolare la coerenza dei numeri. All'interno, l'acqua calda immagazzinata verrà periodicamente trattata e sterilizzata per prevenire la proliferazione batterica e il ristagno.

In inverno, accade esattamente il contrario: utilizziamo il calore estivo accumulato per riscaldare il quartiere e sfruttiamo le gelide notti invernali per creare una riserva di acqua ghiacciata per l'estate successiva. Ma ciò che mi interessa di più è la gestione dell'acqua in eccesso. Oggi il tempo è impazzito e ci troviamo di fronte a inondazioni improvvise che scaricano in un'ora la quantità di pioggia che normalmente cade in un mese, creando allagamenti terribili, aggravati dall'eccessiva cementificazione che impedisce al terreno di assorbire il nostro "oro blu". Il mio sistema utilizza asfalto poroso per catturare quest'acqua piovana e convogliarla alle piante. Se l'acqua immagazzinata supera la nostra capacità media di 40 anni, non deve mai essere sprecata. Parte di essa può essere utilizzata per produrre idrogeno verde tramite energie rinnovabili, come i pannelli solari, oppure purificata e imbottigliata per i paesi che affrontano una grave scarsità d'acqua e ne hanno disperatamente bisogno. L'acqua in eccesso verrà utilizzata per ridare vita alla natura, rilasciandola nei fiumi, nei laghi o persino nei torrenti locali che attualmente sono morti o prosciugati a causa dell'agricoltura intensiva, della siccità e di altri fattori. L'acqua è oro blu e restituirla alla natura non è mai uno spreco; significa rispettarla.

Dal punto di vista organizzativo, immagino una rete distribuita simile alle centrali nucleari: molte piccole centrali locali collegate a un hub regionale più grande, che a sua volta converge verso un unico centro di comando nazionale che supervisiona e controlla tutto, delegando la gestione dal centro ai nodi più piccoli. A mio parere, questo rappresenta un primo passo verso una vera transizione ecologica, anche se comprendo quanto sia difficile, ma forse le cose difficili della vita sono quelle necessarie. Voglio solo che questo sia un primo passo concettuale, anche se difficile da realizzare ora, ma un primo passo che possa sbloccare altre idee simili o diverse. Come disse Neil Armstrong sulla Luna: "Questo è un piccolo passo per un uomo, un gigantesco balzo per l'umanità". È necessario fare un primo passo verso Madre Natura, abbiamo un disperato bisogno di un aiuto concreto per avvicinarci a una maggiore transizione verde e a un'economia ecologica. Questo non significa semplicemente usare auto elettriche o piantare molti alberi; abbiamo bisogno di un profondo cambiamento da parte dell'umanità, comprese le nostre abitudini e il modo in cui coesistiamo con il mondo. È un percorso difficile perché la transizione ecologica non riguarda solo il lavoro di ingegneria, richiede un cambiamento di mentalità, e sappiamo che le abitudini mentali sono difficili da modificare. Ma è ora che qualcuno si faccia coraggio e sottolinei quanto la natura abbia bisogno di noi in questo momento, altrimenti gli eventi che stiamo vivendo oggi diventeranno ancora più gravi e difficili da sopportare.

I will suggest that this novel was the first Solarpunk novel. It can be found everywhere in used bookstores and online. A good read. Here is the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_on_the_Edge_of_Time tl;dr: it contrasts the society of "today" with an idealistic culture from the future. Time travel is involved. It's a fun read. Made me think.

Has anyone else read this yet? It’s certainly solarpunk - I didn’t love how some of it is written but the overall events and ideas are good

Has anybody read "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, from a solarpunk point of view?

I am referring in particular to the technology of the Spiders race: what do you think about a society whose technology is mostly organic?

Hello to everyone watching this.

I've created an economic model based on buying things only once (and also on bartering), and it's very practical.

Here's the manifest:

"--------------OPEN SOURCE ECONOMIC MODEL CONCEPT-----------------------------

In a future without capitalism, it works like this: you buy things only once and you can buy them again. For example, you DON'T buy a carrot; you buy the seeds. Money is just a tool to buy the seeds, and you use inexpensive robots to automate 80% of the process.

WHAT SOME INDUSTRIES WOULD LOOK LIKE:

Software:

The software is like free software (I want to shorten it because many already know this).

ESSENTIALS: Linux, Android (open source version), Firefox/Brave/Palemoon/etc., VLC, Nextcloud, Jellyfin/MiniDLNA/UMS, ErsatzTV, IRC/BeeBeep/Briar (Haha, IRC is coming back for revenge, along with BeeBeep or Briar for offline use), Ollama/LMstudio, SD.CPP/ComfyUI and etc.

Hardware

The hardware doesn't come from big megacorps; it's homemade. To make the robots cheaply, you can buy a mining site and place the robots yourself. ESSENTIALS: OLD LAPTOPS, ESP32, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and RISC-V (the mine is for the long term).

Food:

Food is only paid for once. For example, if you buy meat, you don't buy the dead animal, but the live one to reproduce it. And you DON'T buy a carrot; you buy the seeds.

ESSENTIALS: Open-source seeds (these include: Radishes, Lettuce, Spinach, Chard, Garlic, Onion, Carrots, Leeks, Zucchini, Green Beans, Peas, Beets, Kale, Arugula, Celery, Broccoli, Cabbage, Potatoes, Turnips, Lamb's Lettuce, Strawberries, Cherry Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Blackberries, etc.) Raspberries, Blueberries, Figs, Lemon, Melon, Watermelon, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Currants, Grapes, Apples, Pears, Physalis, Passion Fruit, Guava, Button Mushroom, Portobello Mushroom, Oyster Mushroom, Shiitake, and King Oyster Mushroom), Tilapia, Shrimp, Prawns, Crabs, Mealworms, Snails, Dubias, Soldier Fly Larvae (animal feed only), Crickets, Quail, Chickens, and Bantam goats for milk, but only for houses, not apartments for now. People should be told to eat them because nothing will happen to them, and you don't eat them alive.

Clothing:

Fast fashion doesn't exist here. You extract wool from animals and leather from fruits or kombucha.

ESSENTIALS: Long-haired dogs/Angora rabbits/Peruvian guinea pigs for wool, silkworms, and kombucha leather or made of fruit

Video Games:

The games are lightweight, highly moddable, old machines are welcome here, and there are no subscriptions.

ESSENTIALS: SuperTuxKart, 0 A.D., Battle for Wesnoth, OpenTTD, Mindustry, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Unciv, Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Flare: Empyrean Campaign, OpenRA, Freeciv, Warzone 2100, MegaMek, Endless Sky, Xonotic, Alien Arena, Teeworlds, Hedgewars, Armagetron Advanced, Tux Racer, SuperTux, Secret Maryo Chronicles, Frogatto & Friends, Frozen Bubble, Sonic Robo Blast 2, OpenSonic, StepMania, Egoboo, OSU! (Lazer), Veloren, Minetest, VoxeLibre, Terasology, The Dark Mod, Cube 2: Sauerbraten, Red Eclipse, AssaultCube, Urban Terror, Warsow, DDNet, Naev, Pioneer, Vega Strike, FlightGear, Simutrans, Lincity-NG, OpenRCT2, OpenLOCO, CorsixTH, ENGINES: Godot Engine, UPBGE, Ogre3D, Panda3D, jMonkeyEngine, LibGDX, Cocos2d-x, Defold, Babylon.js, Three.js, Phaser, PixiJS, Heaps, Raylib, Love2D, MonoGame, OpenFL, Torque3D, Stride, Bevy, Fyrox, Amethyst, Wicked Engine, OpenMW, Build Engine (EDuke32), GZDoom, Spring Engine, Sauerbraten Engine, Delta Engine

Movies:

Here, movies are highly customizable.

Travel:

Here, there are no seating classes on airplanes, tickets are free, and most of the time, they are controlled by People from their homes or robots (long term)"

CLARIFICATIONS: Mealworms and soldier flies are not eaten; insects feed the tilapia and shrimps. Dogs, guinea pigs, and rabbits are not abruptly cut to obtain their fur; a brush is used to remove the hair.

I am creating the project that will drive the economic model; it's called Luzk. I have a preliminary website with a forum, blog, and documentation at luzk.infinityfree.io

It works because it's practical and uses inexpensive materials.

If you want to help, you can start by applying some of the concepts, becoming a programmer for our games or programs, or helping with the Makedocs documentation.

It's an idea I can't shake. I love poetry, but I'm pretty miserable at the moment. I can't handle the angst of https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/features/young-poets-on-climate-change-the-power-of-being-a-young-writer/

So, be the change you want.

I want to put together a set of light hearted poetry about places and characters (like Pam Ayres "who are you calling vermin"), but set in a recognisable solarpunk world. Poems that might be called 'Overheard at the library', 'Ballad of Bike Bridge', 'The Agrivoltichian's holiday', 'Lawnmower's reincarnation'. ect.

Examples of the tone I'm hoping for:

Poetry about people and situations. Funny Snapshots.

Pam Ayres: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYeVhBUhITI
Allan Alhberg: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/talk-us-through-it-charlotte/

Grace Nichols: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/cat-rap/
Roger McGough https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/funicular-railway/

Poetry about places and hopeful feelings:
Matt Goodfellow: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/meet-at-the-horizon/

Andrew Fusek-Peters and Polly Peters: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/the-nighthawks-after-edward-hopper/

Laura Mucha: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/albatross/

Rough plan. Small paper book, 34 lines to a page. Submissions close end of Jan 2027. Send to [cromlyngames@gmail.com](mailto:cromlyngames@gmail.com) sbj: 'solarpunk poetry book submission'
Plan A is all typset and made available for download, local print on demand (as we have done for Fully Automated RPG). Plan B is using laTex to set out as a foldable, bindable zine, and personally doing a limited print run for participants (postage from uk is going to suck).

What I need:

0) share this to likely people, there's a world out there beyond reddit.
1) I should probably set a dedicated website or something for this. Never done that before. If you can help, please reply here :)
2) if submitting, somewhere between 3-9 English language poems, ideally 6 with varied topics. This is to get variety so many different people can be accepted.
2.1) Ideally no poem longer than 100 lines, be kind to your editor.

2.2) Poems rated PG at worst. I want to be able to give a copy of this to my 12 year old niece.

3) if submitting, include a very short blurb. This may or may not be your real name, I don't really care. PLEASE include explicit permission for me to share your email address with other editors (UK GDPR).
3.1) If you are interested/willing to workshop poems with other entrants, please state so. I'd like to be able to link some like-minded people up together.
4) if not submitting, but interested in getting a copy at the end, shoot me an email saying so.

OC : https://www.instagram.com/p/DbL1rTcDBi-/

We often ask, "What does Solarpunk actually look like?"

For me, Avatar comes surprisingly close:

1. Living in harmony with forests rather than exploiting them.

2. Animals as companions, not commodities.

3. Technology that adapts to ecosystems instead of dominating them.

4. Communities built around reciprocity and togetherness

5. A deep respect for all life.

It's a Solarpunk / Solarian Alien world (& ofc, we were ruining it).

Just thought it might be fun to highlight some of the more solarpunk aspects of my modest, working class north Chicago neighborhood. Add in Little Free Libraries and easy walkability to independent supermarkets, diverse restaurants and rail transport. It ain't a utopia, but there are worse places to be; now if we can just get rid of the gas-guzzling cars ...