#solarpunk worldbuilding

[pandorasmage]

Mutja // Nayandra, the capital of Mitreka, bright as it is, still seeks better future, with firm grasp of its past in which its culture was built upon ˗ˏˋ✩ˎˊ˗ art by Antonio Reinhard Wisesa, source here.

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk in the Desert

Let me talk a bit more about Solarpunk this week. Especially about Solarpunk in different climates and areas. Because, let's face it: Most of Solarpunk art does depict either (sub)tropical foresty areas or at least temperate regions. It does not show any other climate extremes, which is kinda sad, because the world does not only exist in those lush green areas.

Of course, one of the big reasons is, that it kinda depicts the places it is from. For once South America had a big influence on Solarpunk, which is most oftenly associated with the lush rain forest of the amazonas. But also... White people kinda feel most at home in temperate regions.

But if either we woud establish a Solarpunk world - or you just wanted to write a Solarpunk stories... There would still be deserts.

And sure, we could talk about stopping desertification and such things. Something that is definitely important. But some desert should remain, because they are still a unique habitat. So, what does Solarpunk do with that - and how could people live in those areas?

Now, I have to underline again: Deserts are habitats for all sorts of flora and fauna. Animals live their, no matter how inhospitable to life they seem to be. Because of that they should be protected to some degree. Again: We should stop the spread of deserts into other habitats, but the desert in of itself is home to a lot of life, even if it might not seem that way.

As such it has also been a habitat to humans for a long while. No wonder. While humans did not originate in the deserts of Africa, those were darn close and of course some of the first humans went there and some managed to survive there. As such our species has actually a lot of experience when it comes to surviving in the desert.

Humans for the most part will not live in the middle of the desert, of course, but rather at the outskirts or maybe at an oasis of some sort. But of course even there people might need to deal with the elements. Like the heat, the sun, the cold nights (never forget: deserts are very cold at night), the generally dry climate.

Of course we could deal with the heat with ACs, but... ACs are not very good for the environment of course. But also: For most of human history, humans did not have ACs and humans have actually found a lot of ways to keep houses relatively cool through passive cooling system and by using building materials, that cool the insides and help the place well tempered.

But of course in modern times, we also could use heat pumps to move the temperate air around and keep the houses cool during the day and warm at night.

One big issue is the water. Of course, humans tend to go to places where there is water. Like an oasis or close to a lake or other body of water. But of course we do have an issue with the ground water declining for several reasons. So, what can we do?

Well, actually we have found intesting ways with harvesting the water from the air through all sorts of methods. For example by spanning wires, where the daw can collected during thr night. While it is not plentiful, it does work quite well.

But, of course, I cannot talk about solarpunk deserts without talking about photo voltaic and also wind energy.

There are those folks, who will propagade that it would be super practical to build like this giant, giant photo voltaic farm in the middle of the Sahara and then get all the energy from it. Which, technically... I mean, a lot would have to change, but yeah, there is a lot of energy there.

Even though... I am not a big fan of this idea. Because, again: Habitat. And animals cannot all live in those areas, where there is big, big photovoltaic. Still, some areas of the desert could be used as such to add to the general energy grids.

And, yes. There is also wind energy. Something a lot of people do not consider. But a lot of deserts have very windy areas, which could easily be used to generate energy. So... Yeah, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

[solarpunkmagazine]

Solarpunk Conference: Virtual Event on June 29, 2024

Hi, folks! This year’s Solarpunk Conference will take place virtually on June 29th, 2024. Here is a link to the website if you’re interested in listening to a variety of panels talk about all things solarpunk.

Solarpunk Magazine co-EIC Brianna Castagnozzi will speak on a panel about conflict within solarpunk stories. The panel will also feature podcast hosts and scholars Ariel Kroon and Christina De La Rocha and editors and writers Holly Schofield, Jack Nicholls, and Selena Middleton.

We hope to see you there!

(Note that Solarpunk Magazine is not affiliated with the conference; it is its own event).

[rimon-limon]

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!

[flowersandfutures-blog]

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. 

[iammovingtoanewblog]

Solarpunk things to consider

#4: How would education be structured in a solarpunk world?

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk Fiction and Conflict Pt. 1

You know what? This week I am gonna talk a bit about Solarpunk fiction. Something there is not yet a lot of. Again, the Solarpunk movement is fairly young and while there are a couple of older books and movies, that are kinda Solarpunk, and there is some fiction in the South American sphere, but so far there are only a handful of fiction books out there and a couple of anthologies.

If you enter any Solarpunk space, you will actually find a lot of discussion about how to tell Solarpunk storytelling and how to tell a Solarpunk story. And a lot of those discussions center around the question of "conflict".

This originates with the issue I spoke about before: People have problems imagining or understanding utopias. Because we barely are taught to imagine utopia. We are fairly well versed with dystopias, but utopia is barely getting tackled.

This issue leads to the main problems here: People cannot imagine conflicts within the utopia.

So, let me talk about this in three parts: Conflict between ideologies, conflict with nature, and conflict between people. First I will talk about today, the other two tomorrow and the day after.

Conflict of Ideologies

The most obvious conflict potential lies within two basic ideas: Establishing Utopia and Defending Utopia.

There are a lot of Solarpunk stories, that can be told based around the idea of Establishing Utopia. This is where you might actually link up Solarpunk and Cyberpunk. You can start out with a world that is like ours right now or even worse. And the protagonists are fighting to establish a Solarpunk world or at least a Solarpunk state. After all it seems unrealistic, that we will get to the Solarpunk state without some form of revolution or war. And while Solarpunk does strive towards a peaceful world, it still is something worth fighting for, I would argue.

But of course you can also have a scenario of Defending Utopia. Meaning: The world is already Solarpunk or at least the state or planet or whatever your story is set is. But there is a group, who does not like this Utopia. And make no mistake: There will always be people like this. People, who will talk about a mythological past and all of that. While I personally still absolutely believe that most people are good and only act in bad ways, because they live within a system that encourages this behavior... Some people will always exist that want more power for themselves, that want to discriminate against other people, that want to be rich or just... kill people. Whole stories can be told about characters trying to defend their Solarpunk utopia against people like that. This might be anything: A rebellious Nazi group within a Solarpunk world, or another state going all cold war on a Solarpunk state.

Obviously those conflicts have a very large scale and are probably the most classical kinds of conflicts, you can tell within the Solarpunk genre.

But those kinds of conflicts will realistically exist and the stories about these might be interesting to tell.

Tomorrow I will talk about environmental conflicts.

[alpaca-clouds]

Rambling about my own Solarpunk Worldbuilding

Alright. Let me talk for a moment about my own writing stuff as it relates to Solarpunk. Because, no, I do not only write fanfiction, I also do original writing. And I just wanted to share with you how I went about my worldbuilding for the Solarpunk stuff, given that both Solarpunk worlds I write start out with "our" world and go into the future/alternate history.

Before I ramble about it, I should say: The main differing factor is that one of the worlds involves magic and grows out of an urban fantasy setting - the other is a somewhat realistic, though idealized world without magic.

And yes, I know that there is discussion about whether a Solarpunk world can have magic, whether it makes it Lunarpunk and what not. But just roll with me.

The Magical Concept

For this concept I should say, that basically all my Urban Fantasy writing takes places within the same world, that I have christened "Manmade Myths". With the basical concept being that "Clap your hands if you believe" holds in fact true for the world. Aka: Everything that enough people believe in is real. That is true for magic, for vampires, and for gods.

Other than in most versions of the trope I have seen, I meanwhile build strongly on the fact that religion and mythology is not constant but is shifting. So what a god might be, might change over time. In some cases it will also change the relationship between gods. (YHW as a Canaanite God still had a wife for example.)

The gods for the most part are very aware of them existing only because humans believe in them. And that brings them into a pickle, because they are very much able to see climate change coming and other things through which humans destroy themselves. And if humans die out, the gods will die as well. And no god is almightly and can just snap their fingers and prevent it. More than that: The gods conflict over the question whether it is belief or worship that gives them their powers. If it is belief, humans cannot KNOW that they are real. Because as soon as you know you no longer believe!

However, Loki is very certain it is worship. Not the least because of his complicated history - but also because he found out that the uptick of fictionalized depiction of his in media has actually given him more power. In fact making him the most powerful god in his pantheon. So... Loki decides to shatter the veil, make the existence of magic and gods public knowledge - and bring back magic to the world.

And that... is basically what the Solarpunk world arrises from: Loki brings back magic. Through stuff that I am not going to go into further he makes our world much more magical than it currently is. And through this he also revives some of the natural guardian spirits, who had been killed through human activity. And those spirits? They won't have human bullshit about destroying the nature. So they fucking demand the humans do better. Hence... the rise of a magical Solarpunk world.

The Non-Magic Concept

Now, I am going to warn you: The non-magical concept does involve a lot more... strive, than the magical one. Because it obviously does not involve gods being able to force the humans to make adjustments. So... Humans need to fight for it themselves.

The worldbuilding here starts in the late 2020s with some revolutionary movements in Western Africa, where the collaps of a mine owned by European money leads the people to protest against those mines and the working conditions and - while they are on it - the entire neocolonial bullshit still going on. During those rebellions weapons are stolen and in fact the revolutionary groups manage to win and hold a local region, where they establish their own socialist government.

While the government is obviously not recognized by the world powers, the rebellion does inspire imitators with the movement first spreading throughout western and central Africa, but soon also spreading to other colonized regions.

This in the end inspires a group in France to try as well with stolen weapons and after some bloody street weapon they in fact manage to overtake parts of Paris.

This is the moment where the western governments no longer can ignore this growing movement and they react with widespread violence that escalates over three years, before finally ending in what amounts to another world war. And not to go into the finer details: France is won by the rebellion in total - and this is what leads to the old government to nuke Paris. Only that they have not quite calculated correctly what this does to the optics of the war. And the standing governemtns loose support, with only more revolutionary action happening.

So, in the end, it is 2039 that the war is won by the revolutionary forcers.

Technically there is still some old world forces holding out in some parts of the former USA, but by 2046 those last outholds have fallen as well.

In the end a lot of political action - but in the end it involves nearly breaking down the concept of national states, paying reparations for half a millennium of colonialization and slowly making movements towards a more just system. Which includes climate justice and action to prevent the worst fall out of climate change.

Most of my Solarpunk short stories take place in the non-magical world. But I also have this novel idea which would take place in the magical version.

So, yeah... we will see what I am doing with all of this.