#new futures

[sims3morgans]

[solarpunks]

Time to Rise – Cli-Fi and the Responsibility of New Visions – By Jim O’Donnell

It is my feeling that the focus on the dystopian not the utopian in our cultural storytelling is a result of artistic (and above all political!) faint-heartedness. I think many writers are intimidated when it comes to imagining our way out of the mess we’ve created.  But it is also true that imagining a better future is just plain hard. Utopias are simply more difficult than dystopias.

And yet change is afoot.

I recently stumbled on the genre known as Solarpunk after Rose Alexandre-Leach, an editor at Green Writers Press in Vermont pointed the way. While Cli-Fi is arguably the realistic present, Solarpunk or some genre like it might represent the realistic future.

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The Solarpunk genre in general seems to ask: how can we leverage a massive restructuring of our energy supplies to arrive at a fairer economy and society?

Because, after all, to survive the climate crisis, we will have to create a more equitable society.Yet there are some very problematic challenges inherent in the genre. While Solarpunk claims to create a place for everyone it doesn’t. Non-utopian ways of thinking are simply not tolerated in the Solarpunk I’ve read. There is a certain fascism of ideals. Other ways of thinking and being are often shunned, undercutting many of the ideals ostensibly inherent in the genre. We need to be cautious with our ideals. Utopias can easily become fascist hellholes.

There is also a potentially problematic genre blending that goes right along with the barrier-breaking nature of Solarpunk. I have no problem with genre blending in general. There are far too many silly barriers to be busted. But it seems to me that Solarpunk borders on fantasy at times and I wonder if that is useful. There are often elven, Tolkien-like imagery, magic and even dragons. In some stories the dragons and the magic return once humans begin treating the Earth with the respect she deserves. In others the tropes of fantasy are used to represent something that has yet to be developed. Magic is the state of being we should aim for, we are being told.

(via Time to Rise – Cli-Fi and the Responsibility of New Visions – By Jim O’Donnell | Modern Literature.org)

Well worth reading the whole article. Some interesting points made. 

The squeamishness around “Magic as state of being” is unfortunate, as the dissolving of genre hierarchies between science fiction and fantasy demonstrates the suppressed links between previously differentiated modes of grasping the world.

However, the authors concern around a quiet fascism in the genre (in group/out group dynamics in the existing published fiction) is not without antecedents in other long form criticism of the genre and here on tumblr and it is well worth reflecting on if you are a solarpunk writer.

Dr Rhys Williams in his LARB piece has previously asked the question when talking about the fascism of utopia “this particular strain of utopian imagination tends toward a misty occlusion rather than visibly foregrounding and overcoming the racial inequalities that structure our present. When we ask who is burning the fuel and who is being burned”

This is why we like to focus in the optimism of the future, not the utopia: We're solarpunks because the only other options are denial or despair

[tinababeh]

❤️‍🔥

[megawhitething]

Marije Vogelzang: Tap Water and Food for Thought - ELEPHANT

Marije Vogelzang is a Dutch designer focused on eating and the way that we form habits and rituals around this vital component of life. She also works as a food industry consultant and became the head of the Food Non Food department at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2014.

[shijuthomas]

Why learning more may not always be the answer

Why learning more may not always be the answer

Learning more and doing more doesn’t always give us the kind of results we want. Often what holds us back is not the lack of knowledge or skill, but the unconscious beliefs we have about ourselves – about who we are, and about what we can do.

I share my thoughts on breaking free from your unconscious beliefs here>

https://z10consulting.wistia.com/medias/ybxib6i2a6?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&v…

View On WordPress

[nhlabornews]

NH Health Protection Program, aka NH Medicaid Expansion, Moves Forward After Key Vote

Yesterday, the New Hampshire House of Representatives Finance Committee, by a bipartisan 18-8 margin, approved HB 1696, which would reauthorize the New Hampshire Health Protection Program through December 2018.

“It is clear that our bipartisan New Hampshire Health Protection Program is getting results for our people and businesses and boosting our economy, while also strengthening our efforts to combat the heroin and opioid crisis and help save lives. The House Finance Committee’s vote is another step forward, and I will continue to work with members of both parties to reauthorize this critical program,” state Governor Maggie Hassan.

“We applaud the House Finance Committee vote in favor of reauthorizing the New Hampshire Health Protection Program,” said Zandra Rice-Hawkins, Executive Director of Granite State Progress. “The legislators who cast a vote in favor of the legislation are taking a much needed step forward to ensure that the nearly 48,000 Granite Staters currently on the program can continue to have affordable access to preventative and primary care in New Hampshire.”

“At the same time, we ask those few politicians who voted against New Hampshire families to recall the stories of hardworking small business owners who can’t afford health care coverage, and of mothers who are thankful to finally be able to see a doctor about health concerns so that they can be there for their children for years to come, and to reconsider whose side they stand on,” added Rice-Hawkins.

New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute Executive Director Jeff McLynch applauded the committee’s decision.

“Today’s vote by the House Finance Committee represents another positive step toward reauthorizing the program for two more years and continuing a successful, unique, and bipartisan approach to promoting health security and fostering economic growth.”

“Many of the Granite Staters who take part in the Health Protection Program work in jobs that are low-paid, but that help keep the New Hampshire economy moving. They provide care to children and to the elderly, build roads and bridges, and staff restaurants and hotels in communities across the state,” added McLynch.

Reauthorizing the NHHPP will also help address the growing opioid addiction problem plaguing our state.

“The program would continue health insurance coverage for nearly 48,000 Granite Staters. Approximately 6,700 of those individuals will likely access treatment services for substance use disorders,” said Linda Saunders Paquette, Executive Director of New Futures. “The New Hampshire Health Protection Program is the single-most important tool NH has to address its drug and alcohol crisis.”

“New Hampshire had the third highest rate of drug induced deaths per capita (100,000 residents) in the United States in 2014. According to an October 2015 poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire, Granite Staters view the opioid crisis as the number one issue facing our state, added Saunders Paquette.

“New Futures’ advocates will be the first to tell you that access to treatment and recovery services are critical to someone physiologically snared by heroin. On behalf of our constituents, New Futures applauds the House Finance Committee for supporting a practical and bipartisan response to our drug and alcohol epidemic,” concluded Saunders Paquette.

NH Health Protection Program, aka NH Medicaid Expansion, Moves Forward After Key Vote was originally published on NH Labor News

[solarpunks]

Imagine driving a car that never requires paying at the pump. Imagine tastier fruits and vegetables from a local farmer you know. Imagine biking or walking on paths to shortcut through traffic and easy access to plentiful public transit. This is the clean energy future. And it’s within our grasp. We can have locally made energy from the wind and the sun that ensures our air is clean and our water is healthy. We can have locally grown, tastier food; a traffic-free commute and a happy surprise when we open our energy bills — the choice is ours to make for a clean energy future.

“Here are the latest market-tested words for selling climate action.” Grist, November 24th, 2015, excerpted from Let’s Talk Climate: Messages that Motivate Americans[pdf]

Surprise surprise, the best-scoring argument on climate, at least for Americans, is one that seizes the future, gives people hope, and makes it feel achievable. We’ve been saying this for years. 

Dig into the above links. There’s lots of useful advice on framing arguments in terms that the average less-informed person could get into. Maybe it’ll come in handy when you want to get the city council to sign off on your community garden, bike lanes, carbon taxes, solar microgrid, or magnificent temple to the human spirit.