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I was talking to my dad about renewable energy and he was like “the only problem with solar farms is they take up so much space.”
And it made me think about a city and how much sun exposure all the rooftops in a city get and…why not just make the city it’s own solar farm by putting solar panels on every rooftop?
Solarpunk Aesthetic Week: Worldbuilding Thoughts Part Two, Electric Boogaloo
(Worldbuilding is my strong suit, I will definitely have a lot of these!)
In a solarpunk future, people should be able to rely less on money to get what they need! But if currency remains a thing then my leftist dad told me about a concept called global minimum wage (I think) where everyone gets an unconditional steady income, of say.. 20$ an hour per 12 hours of the day becoming 240$ per day. If we're not doing much with money, can't hurt to give lots of it to everyone, yeah?
Besides that, I was thinking about carbon-neutral skyscrapers. Our current method of steel and fiberglass is woefully inefficient in that regard, but in terms of space, building upwards is incredibly efficient. Ideally we would strike a balance with carbon-neutral, long-lasting materials that are good and sturdy!
Oh, and clear solar panels to be put in windows? Imagine stained glass religious reliefs generating power, whole 'glass' buildings becoming beacons of energetic output, self-sufficient houses full of light..
Languages! Languages in the air, signs in so many different alphabets, songs and laughter and family said in so many words but still understood and respected.
Sign language would be commonplace! Mischievous students signing to each other after their mentor told them to hush, parents signing over their sleeping baby, divers speaking merrily to each other while tens of feet down in the deep and expressing their awe for nature. Hearing-impaired folk would be able to move through society with ease and understanding.
BRAILLE LABELS. On stuff in stores, on signs, textured curbs to catch a cane.. but really on stuff especially. You know how hard it is to shop while blind? Everything is identical. It's awful.
Community decisions are decided by council, and anyone who wishes to join the council meetings can. Even children! Especially children. Their voices are heard and respected, because they live in our communities too.
If someone is truly acting harmful and cruel to others, and does hurt people, at majority community vote they are removed from greater society and put in a rehabilitation commune with therapists and social workers to assist them on the right path. With love, not hate and mistreatment.
Has anyone heard of dementia villages? A whole village for those elderly suffering with dementia, constructed for the purpose of their autonomy. Communes would not necessarily become as such and they may not be as necessary- for we all would love and care for each other, especially those infirm- but settlements would be constructed in a similar fashion for ease of navigation, with lots of signage to help point people where, and perhaps dedicated guides if necessary.
That concludes this group of thoughts! Here's a reminder to drink some water and eat something today if you haven't already. Happy Solarpunk Aesthetic Week!
the most efficient way to store energy is in the form of accrued water supply in arid regions without well access...runner up being organic sugar-based bio-batteries that are proven to be 10x better than Lithium-ion. Through the use of filtered water dehumidifiers powered by excess solar energy operating in conditions over 20% humidity like down trade wind from sea air, usually near sea level, one can store water in arid regions without well or power access, buying worthless wasteland and converting it into productive cash crops. Whew that was a mouthful!
how about just picture a castle on a hill in the desert surrounded by farms that somehow have water. No trees can survive there so there is no risk of wildfire. The castle is covered with solar panels, and vertical wind turbines, and contains sugar batteries for electricity in the dead calm of night. Inside the castle there are vast stores of atmospheric dehumidifiers, creating liquid water from ambient humidity via an energy intensive process powered by excess solar energy during the bright desert days.
Solarpunk jewelry idea
Stained glass jewelry that is made of solar panels. You can use it to charge your phone and other devices, and if you end up with more energy than you need, you can store it in a small battery and then sell it back to the grid.
When I imagine a solarpunk world, I keep thinking: it would be like art camp.
When I was in high school, I went to three summer art camps--one focused on writing, and two that had multiple art forms. We would take classes in our main discipline in the morning, and then in the afternoon, we could take West African drumming and dance, capoeira, musical theater, photography, playwriting, Javanese gamelan, cartooning…
I loved workshopping poems in the morning and trying new things in the afternoon. I loved being surrounded with creative people. I loved feeling alive and engaged.
This is what I want in a solarpunk world: the time and energy and opportunity to learn and explore, to experiment with different interests, to play, without a high level of commitment or pressure or competition. I want to go beyond the binary that capitalism forces on us, where you can either try to make a living as a creative, which involves a ton of hustling and long hours and usually not much money, or you can try to fit creative things into your spare time, when you’re already exhausted from working and commuting and general life maintenance.
I want more choices. I want art (and math, and science) to be things that people can spend their whole lives exploring. Things we don’t have to give up after high school or college because “real life” gets in the way. I want shorter working hours, better public transit, universal basic income, affordable childcare, universal healthcare, and a culture that encourages people to experiment.
Colorful, fun, eco-friendly fashion inspired by nature: Gudrun Sjoden.
I’ve been collecting GS items for the past few years, ever since I discovered them and fell in love with THE COLORS and THE PATTERNS. Their use of color is just unparalleled.
Their clothing is expensive, but it’s incredibly good quality, and also super-comfortable (and most of their dresses and tunics have pockets!). I recognize that it’s not accessible to many people, which sucks. At the same time, it just costs a lot to make good-quality clothing that’s at least somewhat sustainably-produced. (In a solarpunk future, there would be a universal basic income and living wages, so that everyone could actually afford to buy sustainably-made, high-quality, long-lasting products rather than artificially cheap goods that destroy the environment...)
As for sizing, they carry up to XXL/22-24 in some items, and XL/18-20 in others, and many items are oversized. (I wear an XXL in most of their clothing, but can fit into an XL in certain items). Which is better than many retailers, but still nowhere near inclusive enough. (Also, in a solarpunk future, everything comes in all the sizes! Or at least in a much broader size range than most stores do today, like at least up to size 30/32, and with options for custom sizing for anyone who falls outside that range.)
All images from my Gudrun Sjoden Pinterest board.
In solarpunk world, there would be public restrooms everywhere. It would be so much easier for people to be out and about in the public sphere.
I know that Europe is already much better at this than the US. A few years ago, my now-husband and I took a trip to Iceland and France, and it was pretty amazing how many public restrooms there were.
Here in Boston, there are a few, but not nearly enough. Especially downtown in the evening, when all the lunchtime places have closed. There have been so many times when I stayed downtown after work to go to a protest, then ended up having to buy something to use the bathroom at Burger King because it was one of the few places still open…
Genuinely unironically believe that if you want to write really good solarpunk you should read theory.
Read Kropotkin, read Marx, read Bookchin, try to get to grips with economics and theories of alternative political organisation.
Even hotter take: this applies to most speculative fiction worldbuilding. Do your homework!
