feeling solar, punk?

🇨🇩🇸🇩🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✊🏼o()xxx[{:::::::::::::::::::::>

[foxehrobot]

Against Loneliness: What Tactical Urbanism Teaches Us About Hope

On Hannah Arendt, totalitarianism, and tactical urbanism.

"Tactical urbanism fights against loneliness, isolation, and ultimately totalitarianism because it is a practice of enacting real change in the world for its betterment, in community with others. Tactical urbanism is a bottom-up approach to improving our shared public space, things like planting guerilla gardens or building benches for bus stops."

"Tactical urbanism requires that we pay attention to the place around us and to the needs of our neighbors. And then it requires that we act on those observations. It requires a recognition of the ways that we are radically connected, not through the internet, but in our built environment. And it is a powerful demonstration of how we are able to affect change in the world, despite the quagmire and stagnation of our government, despite the impossible bureaucracies upon bureaucracies, despite the fracturing of public trust in one’s fellow human being."

[cheaphalloweencostume]

every day of my life i read someone being like “why doesn’t this story just solve the problem immediately and casually? they just drag it out and make it an issue” well. because that’s the Story

[forfuckssakejim]

Yeah quiet quitting is great and all but have you tried chaotic working?

Like. I remember back in my grocery store cashier days I did so much crazy shit.

When WIC (Women, infants, and children voucher program to help low income mothers/families with children) people were in my line I would pretty much know who they were. Before the cards they had to tell us upfront they were WIC and show us their vouchers for what they were allowed to get (it was awful some times. Like. 2 gallons of milk. $4 worth of vegetables etc etc). They’d always have items hanging back, waiting to see what the total was and if they would have to take it off the belt.

I began to place the fruits/vegetables a certain way on the register scale so that like 1/2lbs of grapes read as like .28lbs or something. Then act shocked when I said that they still had X amount of lbs left. They got all their fruit and vegetables.

I think it started to kinda? Catch on to the women? Because I would have the same moms in my line month after month. And even after they switched to the cards (they worked like food stamp cards?) I’d still do the same thing. They were able to get more produce for whatever shitty max amount Indiana gave them.

Anyways. Be chaotic. It’s more fun that way.

[bshmatthews]

[headspace-hotel]

In the future, children will think our ways are strange. "Why do old people always grow so much milkweed in their gardens?" they'll say. "Why do old people always write down when the first bees and butterflies show up? Why do old people hate lawn grass so much? Why do old people like to sit outside and watch bees?"

We will try to explain to them that when we were young, most people's yards were almost entirely short grass with barely any flowers at all, and it was so commonplace to spray poisons to kill insects and weeds that it was feared monarch butterflies and American bumblebees would soon go extinct. We will show them pictures of sidewalks, shops, and houses surrounded by empty grass without any flowers or vegetables and they will stare at them like we stared at pictures of grimy children working in coal mines

[headspace-hotel]

We will be feeding our grandchildren strawberries and raspberries we grew in our gardens, dragging them along to the farmers' markets for tomatoes and eggs and goats milk and pickles and pecans and salsa and sunflower seed butter and jars of honey, as they complain and drag their feet because Gramma always stands around talking to people for like an HOUR

and we will say "When I was YOUR age, fruits and vegetables came from a supermarket and they were bred to get shipped 1000 miles in a truck and sit on shelves for weeks, and they tasted so sour and watery it was like eating paper compared to these ones. It wasn't even legal in some places to grow your own food"

and they will roll their eyes like yeah yeah just because everything was miserable in the 20s doesn't mean I have to have a smile on my face standing in the hot sun while you listen to that one guy talk about his bees FOREVER

But they will go, because there might be baby goats.

[headspace-hotel]

Since I made this post, dozens and dozens of people have left tags telling me that it was the first thing today that made them want to continue living, that it was the first thing that made them consider that they might be okay years in the future, that they might grow old, that it was the first and only post of its kind they'd ever seen—the first post that boldly predicts a future where we make it.

And many other people have been just spitting, foaming at the mouth fucking FURIOUS. How dare I have the audacity to imagine a future where things get better?

Don't I know how BAD things are? Am I not aware of the TERROR and DEVASTATION of climate change and fascism and biodiversity loss? How dare someone be so bold, so callous, as to imagine something other than misery and suicide. How dare someone suggest it will get better. How dare a person propose that there is a future where we will be okay, in the face of so much terror. Hasn't she seen the abyss opening its jaws before us?

Well? What do you think?

Do you think I've seen the abyss?

[cuntyjugheadfromriverdale]

the idea that there is hope for the future is the only way we have this kind of future.

there were kids who stayed inside because of the black plague and went on to help cure it.

there were women who sat at home and cleaned the house and dreamt up a world where they could vote and have jobs.

there were kids in the mines who thought up a life outside of it. there were children who hid in annexes and wrote a diary where they prayed for a future without a terrible man in control

there were slaves who wanted freedom so badly and had hope that it would get better

there were gay people who hid in the corners of clubs and fought back for a future where they could walk down the street together

do you know what all of that has in common? they had hope that things would get better and they made that change. they looked at the world in its cruel ways and fought back.

so now, there are kids and teenagers and young adults and new adults who dream of a world so beautiful and the only amazon their grandchildren know is the rainforest

and it is in everything we do that we find this hope. wishing on dandelions, counting the stars, making our own clothes out of crochet or knit or sewing it, watching the sunset, going to the farmer’s market, feeding the birds, planting seeds.

step by step, we dream up, like our ancestors before us, a beautiful world

[headspace-hotel]

THE ONLY AMAZON OUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL KNOW IS THE RAINFOREST

[sevdrag]

You can have hope and fight. In fact, it’s the only way we will possibly succeed.

[kafkasapartment]

Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis). They do this fairly often, straddle reeds as a spot and catch fish and insects without having to fly.

[chaoticwriterpotatocreature]

@bowelfly BROTHER IGNATS WHAT ARE U DOING???? You're robes might get wet!! Please be careful

[bowelfly]

[boss-of-armadildos]

same energy

[apoemaday]

The plum you're going to eat next summer

by Gayle Brandeis

The plum you’re going to eat next summer doesn’t exist yet; its potential lives inside a tree you’ll never see in an orchard you’ll never see, will be touched by a certain number of water droplets before it reaches you, by certain angles of light, by a finite amount of bugs and dust motes and hands you’ll never know. The plum you are going to eat next summer will gather sugar, gather mass, will harden at its center so it can soften toward your mouth. The plum you’re going to eat next summer doesn’t know you exist. The plum you are going to eat next summer is growing just for you.

[hope-for-the-planet]

New EU rules to stop destruction of unsold clothes and shoes

The measures under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation will allow businesses to benefit from a more circular economy.

From the article:

The European Commission today (Feb 9) adopted new measures under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) to prevent the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear. The rules will help cut waste, reduce environmental damage and create a level playing field for companies embracing sustainable business models, allowing them to reap the benefits of a more circular economy. Every year in Europe, an estimated 4-9% of unsold textiles are destroyed before ever being worn. This waste generates around 5.6 million tons of CO2 emissions – almost equal to Sweden’s total net emissions in 2021. To help reduce this wasteful practice, the ESPR requires companies to disclose information on the unsold consumer products they discard as waste. It also introduces a ban on the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear.

[guooey]

Hehe :)

[melynnwaters]

the joyous giggler here at last to spread merry mirth ^_^

[littleguysdaily]

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[reportsofagrandfuture]

[solarpunkbiologist]

Help me create a (real life) Solarpunk city!

Hello SolarPunks, for a university project I'm working together with a government agency to build a new forest next to, and integrated into, a new city that's being built (I legally can't say where, but somewhere in the Netherlands). The site was previously farm land and production forest.

The goal is to have this new city live in synergy with nature. I'm planning on making this place as biodiverse as possible with relief and natural ponds using indigenous plants to promote insects and amphibians. There's plenty of trees for birds and bats. Wood piles for other critters and fungi to find shelter and food.

To integrate humans into this environment I was thinking about making a food forest where all the plant layers have some edible or medicinal indigenous plants with fruit/nut trees. Decking boards and stepping stones in ponds and marshy areas. As a community space I like the idea of a willow gazebo and a natural playground.

I'd like to keep some pieces of land restricted from humans by placing "fencing" made up of dead trees and branches and blackberry bushes so birds and other critters have some undisturbed nesting places.

Do you have any additional ideas? Please message me or comment it!! Be part of this little piece of Solarpunk city!!

[bumblebeeappletree]

Because I absolutely love joan_de_art’s sustainable city series I’mma share it in one post since I see the art scattered about.

[rubyglasses]

what a dream

[catanddragons]

The future we fight for will be hard won, but it will be worth it.

[solarpunkfool]

What if we win?

What if the children go to schools unafraid of tear gas and bullets?

What if the birds come back, and the bees are healed, and every species moves from endangered, to threatened, to thriving?

What if the rainforest ADVANCES?

What if every parking lot had solar panels? What if every structure had solar panels? What if we built climbing gyms and terraced gardens in the skeletons of old coal power plants?

What if you baked your neighbor bread, and they shared their home-grown blackberries?

What if every person who needed a home, had one? What if every person who needed healing was healed?

What if every body was treasured for what it was, not what it should be?

What if every trans child's parents attended their graduation, their wedding, their new-name-day?

What if every warehouse became a closed-circle repair station? Goods flowing out, and back, and out again? What if landfills started to SHRINK?

What if the water and air were clean? What if there was enough public transit that the cars dwindled, leaving the streets safe for kids on bikes, evening deer, midnight cats and foxes?

What if we win?

How would you win?

[tosety]

What if every medical need was met?

What if emotions were taken seriously?

What if every child has more than one supportive adult in their life?

We are making progress

Even though we've lost a little bit of progress in recent years we are still far better than when I was a child in the 80s

Have hope: we can do it!

[fluffygif]

Ducklings on some lily pads.

[dimension20memes]

Thought this was fitting for the current events

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

insane some people don't use ad blockers? babe why r u rawdogging the internet

[feeling-solar-punk]

I think it was Hank Green that was describing something about how over time we're probably going to develop social structures like "digital hygiene" to compensate for the worst parts of the internet because that seems to be how we deal with things like this. we invent hygiene to protect ourselves and we might again and adblockers will be a part of that culture I believe.