Welcome to r/solarpunk! This thread is here to give you a quick overview of what solarpunk is, some concepts that conflict with solarpunk, and how you can get involved. If you want a deeper dive, head over to our wiki for more information and recommendations for further reading!
What is Solarpunk?
Solarpunk is an aesthetic and a literary genre that has grown out of existing social movements. Fundamentally, solarpunk is about imagining possible good futures and working to create them: just as the earth is made up of different biomes, there is not one definitive solarpunk future. A solarpunk future is one where we’ve leveraged technology to care for all humans, to restore and tend the ecosystems around us. Solarpunk also aims to undermine the systems currently in place that endanger the future we are working to create.
Solarpunk is collectivist: it’s about working together for the common good. Solarpunk is polyphonic: one cannot speak for other Solarpunks, only be in dialogue and in chorus with them. While Solarpunk seems utopic, it is grounded in reality and it is not without struggle. Solarpunk aesthetics change depending on how far you look in the future.
Conflicting Concepts
- Capitalism is an economic system in which individuals seek profit by selling their goods and services in a market where prices are dictated by supply and demand. It is the prevailing economic system in most countries today. Capitalism conflicts with solarpunk because it incentivizes individuals to extract more than they contribute, at the expense of other people and the planet. Additionally, profit motives lead to overproduction and planned obsolescence, which waste resources. While transitions toward sustainability can occur within the present capitalist economy, it’s largely considered incompatible in the long term with a society in which resources are consumed and replenished responsibly. This is because capitalism is a zero sum system: stripping resources from the global South in order to power the Imperial Core creates and reinforces marginalization. Within the Core, corporations and businesses underpaying workers (including outsourcing) is how shareholders and management are able to rake in such huge bonuses. If you want to learn more about how capitalism drives climate change, this article by Jonathan T. Park is a great introduction. If you would like to learn more about how capitalism drives social inequity, this brief interview with Angela Davis goes into more detail about the connections.
- Ecofascism blames climate change on overpopulation, and asserts that population control is the best path to prevent further climate change. Ecofascism goes hand-in-hand with eugenics, which in turn is based in racism, ableism, and classism. If you believe that reducing the population is necessary, a group of people must be selected to have their population reduced, which is by definition eugenics. There is no place for ecofascism in solarpunk, because there is no place for racism, ableism, or classism in solarpunk. If you want to learn more about ecofascism and its history, this article by Black Geographers founder Francisca Rockey is a great starting point.
- Greenwashing is a marketing strategy companies use to make customers think their product is more environmentally friendly than it actually is. This marketing tactic profits on people’s desire to protect the environment without the company putting in the money and effort to make meaningful improvements. When you see something being marketed as green, make sure to investigate the details, and think about what is not being said. If you’d like to learn more, this article by Lydia Noyes details what greenwashing is, why it’s a problem, and how to identify it in products. If you want to evaluate systems and services rather than products, check out sustainability accounting tools like sustainability scorecards.
- Anarcho-primitivism is a movement towards anarchist, pre-industrial (and often pre-agricultural) ways of living. Anarcho-primitivism asserts that social injustice was initiated or exacerbated by agriculture, and later by industrialization. Anarcho-primitivism is the least controversial of these conflicting concepts, but often drives debates between those who embrace technology as a tool for solving social and environmental problems and those who embrace traditional or existing tools. Because of the variety in style and technological development found within solarpunk, anarcho-primitivism represents an extreme end of a spectrum on which the dividing line is a frequent subject of friendly debate. Common critiques of anarcho-primitivism center around misanthropy against humanity as a whole, romanticization of indigenous culture, and ableism. Additionally, solarpunk is conceived as being high-tech where sensible, while anarcho-primitivism demands low-tech or no tech. There may be some aesthetic overlap between the two, depending on your favorite flavor of solarpunk, but solarpunk is not primitivist. If you want to learn more about anarcho-primitivism, the Anarchist Library has an entry about its formation and modern implications.
Get Involved
Many of the following suggestions came from a post made by u/briar_bun. Read the original post here!
Level One
- Vote. Remind other people to vote.
- Always join an available union.
- Never cross a picket line. Do not support businesses that have striking employees.
- Carry a sharpie to deface fascist propaganda you find.
- Stop buying fast fashion/buy second hand.
- Research how your local area sorts recyclables.
- Challenge yourself to cut down your trash output.
- Reduce your meat consumption, or go vegetarian/vegan/flexitarian (or just consider meat-free meats sometimes, Impossible Beef is usually only slightly more expensive than normally priced beef).
- If your city doesn't have recycling/composting, write them about it.
- Donate goods to a thrift store instead of throwing them out. Check the wishlists of local nonprofits, for instance animal rescues often need towels and blankets.
- See if there's a textile recycling facility around for anything ripped/not worth donating. Alternatively, if it’s made out of 100% cotton that part of the clothing can be composted.
- Wash your clothes less: it not only saves water, but also makes your clothes live longer. Many clothes can also be washed using cold water instead of warm water, most clothes that require hot water can be adequately cleaned with warm water.
- Switch from cows milk to non-dairy milk (but be wary of almond milk, it's bad for bees). Consider making your own plant-based milks.
- Research your local zoo, how they treat animals and who they donate to. Consider getting a zoo membership. It's good self care to walk around the zoo, and zoos always need the money. Botanical gardens are another good option.
- Switch to more sustainable or compostable products where you can (toothbrushes, cat litter, laundry detergent, etc). If in the US, look for products that are from local/indie makers, coops, or Certified B corporations.
- Avoid businesses like Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A, Kelloggs, Nestle, etc. Consider trying an app like Buycott.
- Research your local land's Indigenous People.
- Delete your Facebook.
- Visit your favorite park/beach/roadway and pick up trash as you walk.
- See if your area has a Fix-It-Fair or Repair Cafe, places where people skilled in repair volunteer their services for free and people bring in broken items.
- Visit your local farmers market.
- Check where your company sources products and suggest sustainable alternatives.
- Talk to your coworkers, neighbors, and family about solarpunk values and how we can work together.
- Leave room for ecological grieving. We are all stressed by simply living in this time period. Let yourself feel those emotions and release them.
Level Two
- r/guerillagardening
- Look into repair skills, like soldering, masonry patch-ups, mechanics, sewing, darning, etc. Then you can prioritize repairing items over replacing them. Get your friends involved, learn to do things together, or swap out/trade/barter skills.
- r/visiblemending
- Phase out single-use items in your household, especially plastic-based ones (water bottles, straws, coffee cups, ziplocks, saran wrap etc).
- Consider cups or reusable pads for your menstrual cycle.
- Learn to mend items so you can keep your clothes and other items longer.
- Walk/bike/bus/train more. Do you need more bus stops or more bike lanes? Contact your local politicians.
- Compost! There are various ways to do this either outdoors or even indoors. If you have no use for compost, donate it to your nearest community garden or gardeners.
Level Three
- Donate to Indigenous Land Defenders and support them in-person when asked
- Leave notes in the grocery store for calls to action, like boycotting Kelloggs or buying a reusable Keurig cup.
- Try and organize a Fix-It-Fair or Repair Cafe. Start small, even just a sock darning party.
- See if your company can encourage walking/biking to work with things like adding bike lockers for security.
- Encourage your company to get free bus passes for employees.
- Consider (and research!) companies like Loop or Imperfect Foods to reduce food and packaging waste.
- Consider (and research!) specialty recycling companies like Ridwell
- If you have some kind of pension or 401(k), ask your manager if they can include options for ESG investments/options divested from fossil fuel companies.
- Switch from your bank to your local credit union.
- Look into your work's recycling and composting habits. Try to start a recycling program if there is none in place. Remember there is also e-waste recycling.
- Apply for jobs at businesses that have striking workers as a tactic to waste as much of the businesses time and resources as you can.
Level Four
- Get involved with your local city/town politics, as little as just tuning into the Zoom meetings. Show up to meetings, bring your friends. What are the needs of your local community that are not being adequately addressed? It can be helpful to write to your local politicians and share with them solutions to those problems that have successfully worked elsewhere.
- Volunteer at a senior center/soup kitchen/park/anywhere.
- Write to companies you do love, praise them for what they do well and ask them to do even better.
- Apply to be a poll worker
- Join a community garden if you don't have space of your own to grow
- Contact a Union Organizer if your workspace doesn't have a union
- Talk to your union about a Green Ban
- Organize a strike! You and your coworkers are worth it!
- Set aside money for bail if your friend wants to sabotage a power plant
- Join your local MakerSpace.
- Start dumpster diving and curb picking if you haven’t already. This can be combined nicely with wishlists from local nonprofits.
- Work with your local Food Not Bombs.
- There are more radical actions you can take and groups you can join, which are best not openly discussed on reddit, but make sure there’s a bail fund.
For Apartment Dwellers
- Join your tenants union. If you cannot find one, research making one.
- Send a professional email to your landlord about solar panels. Start a free "thrift store" in your laundry room. Make sure to clean it up regularly and throw out anything that's not worth taking home.
- Start a community board/Borrow Board for people to post things they want to borrow or other needs they have.
- Start a food drive in your laundry room with a big cardboard box.
- Put voting reminders on your mailbox wall for local, county, state, province, and federal elections with due dates
- Compost! There are multiple indoor composting methods available.
- Consider setting up a laundry line on your balcony or a drying rack inside if you have the space.
- Check your dumpsters often, especially if you’re in a nicer apartment complex.
For Homeowners
- Put up a bird feeder unless there are health issues, such as another outbreak of avian flu virus.
- Install solar panels, look into how to do a passive solar retrofit, look into getting thermal solar or a heat pump for heating your water. For cooler climates consider passive solar radiant floor heating, turning down the thermostat in winter and up in summer, and using more fans instead of AC. A kilowatt meter will tell you how much electricity appliances are actually using.
- Look into local/vernacular/traditional architecture for your region, there may be pre-industrial era hints for how to keep homes comfortable.
- Compost! Plant trees strategically to cool the house in summer, or to provide wind breaks in winter. Start a vegetable or native plant garden in any free space you have. Avoid planting invasive species.
- Replace your grass lawn with clover or native grasses, depending on your climate and location and what is native in your area.
- Start a Little Free Library.
- Install a microplastics filter in your washing machine
- Install energy/water efficient appliances/shower heads/toilets. Look into gray water systems.
- Check your home’s insulation! This can save a boatload of money and energy. Fiberglass loses R-value over time, so closed cell spray foam may be worth the investment. Seal up cracks, leaks, and holes in the building envelope.
- Replace all of the machines you own that burn fossil fuels with machines that don't (cars, stoves, heaters, etc).
- Hang up a laundry line. Dryers use huge amounts of energy.
- Go to town meetings and advocate for good policy/zoning reform (Unfortunately, your voice holds more weight than renters. Make sure you use that power!)
