r/solarpunk

▲ 1.0k r/solarpunk+3 crossposts

Why Egyptian farmers are growing crops under solar panels. The additional shade reduces evaporation and stress on the plants, all while generating clean electricity.

grist.org
u/DonManuel — 6 hours ago

How to curb capitalist realism?

Capitalist realism: the belief capitalism is the only viable system, or at least the only one compatible with modern human rights. You don't believe that here, right?

I think we'd need to create a living example of post-capitalist society e.g by reforming some country; most people don't fight for unproven futures. We mustn't lull anyone into believing the reward will be either perfect or instant, or they'd cherrypick any homelessness or corruption on our part as "proof" our system doesn't work even if they have it too.

I don't consider capitalism either the best possible system nor some supernatural evil; either would be reductive, and I don't have to downplay the vast good that has come from capitalism to imagine an even better way. While I know the bad parts of capitalism, framing them as capitalism-specific would stop us from solving them assuming they transcend any one -ism.

reddit.com
u/Tnynfox — 4 hours ago

OG Solar Punk · Bob Barker 🛥️⚓️🐠

Bob Barker, host of the Price is Right was one of the OG's of solarpunks. His passion for animal rights, service in the Navy, and upbringing as a member of the Sioux tribe, Bob was 1/8 Sioux and spent most of his childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, contributed to his passion for activism. He cut a $5M check to purchase a high-speed anti-poaching vessel named the M/Y Bob Barker for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The original vessel made international headlines by setting the world record for the longest maritime pursuit in history. The Bob Barker relentlessly chased the Interpol-wanted poaching ship Thunder for 110 days across 11,000 nautical miles of icy seas eventually cornering the poachers.

u/NFTokin — 1 hour ago
▲ 19 r/solarpunk+1 crossposts

AgitÁgueda, Portugal : Where the Streets Come Alive With Art

OC : https://www.instagram.com/p/Da0C6dnDHZ2/

"de Luís de Camões Street - This is where you will find the iconic installation of the colorful umbrellas, an urban artwork that is part of the ÁgitAgueda Art Festival and that, every year, transforms the streets of the city into a unique scenery. Beyond the hanging hats, you'll find colorful benches, murals, and various art installations scattered throughout downtown.

Take the opportunity to stroll through the historic center, cross the bridges over the Agueda River, discover other urban works of art hidden in the streets and stop at one of the esplanades to appreciate the peaceful environment of the city.

Close by there is also Pateira de Fermentelos (Ois da Ribeira zone) - just a few minutes from the center of Águeda, you can find the largest natural lagoon on the Iberian Peninsula. It is a perfect place to walk by the water, watch birds, have a picnic or simply enjoy the tranquility of nature. The imasis da Ribeira area offers walkways, green areas and beautiful views of the mountain."

u/21Kuranashi — 3 hours ago

Ground mounted solar and the effect on environment

Hello all,

I’ve been frequently running into an opinion that solar fields or utility scale ground mounted solar is bad for the environment.

Supposedly it generates heat, that would be otherwise absorbed by the flora, etc.

I’m having trouble to find counter-arguments for people that raise these points.

For instance one thing that this point of view omits is that every energy source has a heat loss during the process. Nuclear generates large amounts of energy but also generates a lot of heat that dissipates through the cooling, like every steam-based energy generation method.

As a glider pilot I know that big solar arrays indeed sometimes create thermals that probably add to the heating of the atmosphere but how does it compare to the other generation methods and what are the other parts of this equation, that outweigh it?

Somehow I intuitively feel like solar is all things accounted for still much better for the environment, but I wonder if anyone has went down this rabbit hole of trying to compile all studies from different fields of expertise that would prove it?

reddit.com
u/Overstim9000 — 10 hours ago
▲ 112 r/solarpunk

You just need to reclaim the railways and ports and the country is yours

Just be like "hello usa we wanna do a general strike on all logistics plz pass a new infrastructure bill and build us new apartment units and courtyard blocks or something".

Y'all westerners treat the usa like an impenetrable fortress. The real power lies in the people who actually operate everything. I know people in the military who are only in it for money. Hell I wanted to be national guard once.

The Iran war is unpopular. Americans dont wanna be influenced by Israel, and the military has lost much of its morale. Theres also the incoming ai bubble pop that will totally wreck our economy.

You have three kinds of services, workers, healers, teachers. ​utilize them. Build a new society. Listen, in like, around within 50 or so days there should be some stuff coming out on ufos, the ufos part aren't as important as the psionics afterlife parts. So your government is sitting on proof of an afterlife and psychic shit they figured out during the cold war but its been kept such a secret that the usa dosent even know what the usa is doing half the time.

Anyways, when that comes I know people will flood me with questions and my answer is "read the Ra material with elevated belief" because what's scout to come should be ontologically shocking. And I'm not saying this to troll anyone. Its just that ive been burdened to know a lot about this so its basically just a fact of life for me. Sorry I cant recreate anything in a lab until i have a "space" thats sacred to me which requires a reconnection with a long lost soulmate i dont remember.

Anyhow, look guys. Very soon there will be a new knowledge for you all. And this will lift the veil for the lots of you. And youll be forced to deal with it all. A lot of us have known this stuff. My best statement is "we live in a simulation and the material world is an illusion mediated by blips in underlying fields we have no ontological explanation for" it really appears we live in a simulation.

You may ask "what do I do with this information. And I say, spread it, the more people know, the more that collective veil lifts and we can become engineers of the reality we are in". Because its true.

Listen. For the past 6 years ive been able to summon ufos with ce5 meditation. "OK film them" they never let me "of course you'd say that, you can't prove it" youre right I cannot. But regardless. Because ive been the one talking to them I know its all true.

I know a day will come soon. I know a mass activation of "sleeper agents" aka souls from other stars incarnate here will awaken soon. Just as in a random 2023 day a guy called David grusch testified to congress.

So, I'll say this, very soon youll need to unify the human race. And the human race will know of unity consciousness (your autonomy is fine DW) this will in turn result in a global communist revolution. A stateless, classless, moneyless society, where the people own their own productive means.

u/StarboundAllisten — 20 hours ago

How does one make Solarpunk their career?

Okay so, I have been an avid enjoyer of the aesthetic for nearly 3 years now, I literally put my interest in it and how it relates to my identity in all my college apps and it got me into all of the universities I applied to as well as certain fellowships ! I really believe in it and I want to make it a reality, with the world crumbling I believe it’s the perfect time for change.

Now that I’m done with high school, I was planning to major (or double major) in mechanical engineering and biotech (I really want to study the intersection of engineering and biology that’s not just in medicine). Then after that it’s kind of blank in my mind. I know I could work for clean energy orgs or even make biomaterials but it doesn’t really scratch the itch in my brain.

I’m also working on a climate tech project but I don’t know if starting a start up is what I need to execute my vision, but it seems like the most probable outcome because I don’t know any fields except medicine and research that combines biotech and engineering, and while it’s an amazing field it’s not exactly what I want to do.

So how do I make it my career?

reddit.com
▲ 139 r/solarpunk

Grateful for this Sub

Hello all, sorry for the random post from a new account, but I made it to seek out optimism subs after a panic attack, and the algorithm brought me here. As scary as the future still looks, reading all your posts and comments really helped me fight my anxiety, so thank you and keep it up! See you on the frontlines of the solar punk future.

reddit.com
▲ 272 r/solarpunk

Solar farm plans keep landing on 1,200 acre strip mines instead of good farmland, and counting every scar like that worldwide turned up enough ruined ground to cover the whole planet's electricity by mid century

ecoportal.net
u/Practical_Insect — 1 day ago

What happened to just chilling under a tree and reading a book?

More to the point, where the hell do i find a spot like that locally. Theres so few green spaces that aren't just small parks filled with dog crap that half the owners don't pick up, that my only options for anything like this require me to drive to where everyone else goes for walks and stuff.

I just want a whimsical spot under a tree on a hill to chil out and read or daydream.

I suppose I'm venting more than anything, but genuinely, if anyone knows any good spots in the midlands of the UK that satisfies whimsy and is no more than a mile or two from somewhere to park, comment the what 3 words location.

I dont mind reading in cafes if I must, but the vibe has to be right, and most places, especially coffee chains like Starbucks and Costa, dont pass the vibe check.

reddit.com
▲ 3.2k r/solarpunk+3 crossposts

Neighbor's gorgeous lawn free yard

I have been admiring this neighbor's landscaping for a while. It is especially impressive because the previous owner had artificial grass here. I live in New England.

u/End-FossilFuels-2471 — 2 days ago

Clickbaity title: Solarpunk visions should feature way less biodiversity, worse ecological relationships, grim climate conditions, super complex social developments (lots of punk) and a really well thought out use of tech.

As a solarpunk at heart I've come to believe solarpunk visions should be less optimistic than they are in general.

  1. We cannot begin by assuming fully healthy, stable and diverse ecosystems in the future. That is no longer the case. To mention just a few issues: we've lost more than 90% of biodiversity in Latin American tropical forests, the Amazon rainforest is no untouched lung; today’s worldwide soils are heavily depleted, and growing crops without fertilizers in compacted land—contaminated with heavy metals, microplastics, or salinized—is vastly different from how indigenous populations used to do it. Biodiversity is fractured and heading toward (arguably unstoppable at this point) significant systemic collapses. This is not the resilient nature we are used to, nor will it be for decades to come. Today, we have transgressed 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries. These issues will not be "solved" or reversed at this stage, even with a massive coordinated effort today. I say all this to emphasize that, to a certain extent, the future is already set, and it is not gentle. In a solarpunk vision, nature is in a critical, fragile state, and humans must care for it with deep mindfulness.

  2. This leads me to ecocide: imagine extreme climate storms that destroy in a single afternoon what took a community 5 years to cultivate or build will be daily reality in the climate change-impacted world we are heading toward today. The die has already been cast. This doesn't mean we can't have a beautiful future, but it does mean we will have to learn to navigate immense adversity. We can respond to this kind of tragedy and not just survive, but thrive, but it will not be all pretty. This needs to be reflected in our future visions.

  3. There are massive social and design challenges in this technological implementation: local governance, community assemblies, and the management of shared resources (the commons) are slow, bureaucratic, and trigger heated disputes over scarce resources like water or land. We have lots of mouths to feed and we are not even doing that right now. Economic contraction is not comfortable. Infrastructure isn't built out of thin air using "clean biomaterials"; solar panels require silicon, lithium, copper, and rare earths. Without massive, corporate, extractivist mining reliant on modern slavery, where do they come from? A solarpunk vision could showcase urban mining (dismantling old landfills to recover metals) and technology manufacturing built for a 100-year lifespan, completely repairable and modular. However, there is still an inherent tension in the energy transition, not to mention that the transition itself is another huge hurdle, far less simple than just swapping out fossil fuels. The sun doesn't shine at night, and the wind doesn't always blow. A solarpunk society lives at the rhythm of the climate. Daily life adapts: heavy industrial production or data processing takes place during peak solar hours, and electricity is rationed. It is... austere, but beautiful. The community makes it beautiful. People fall in love, laugh and tell stories.

  4. Don't get me started on war, geopolitics, power games and structural historic trauma.

To me, it's about the challenge of designing a desirable, near-future reality. It's like what cyberpunk did, but solution-oriented and hands on, cause time is precious. We must imagine and act. This time is unprecedented and so is this potential. Do you feel it?

Sorry, I post this is mainly to see what others think about it. Kind of superficial, I know, but I didn't want to post a super long text.

Comic by Quino.

Leave you with this very solarpunk-esque translation of Ojos color Sol by Calle 13:

In war they trade kisses, the fighting is through,

Today the cows cluck, and the chickens go moo.

The earthworms and fishes reel in all the hooks,

We fly through the ocean and sail the sky's brooks.

Flowers bloom in the sand, the desert rain breaks,

Now dreams become real as we dream wide awake.

And that dream is secure, and so it takes flight,

And innocence no longer hides from the light.

The shortage of food is a delicious prize,

Because our bellies are full of butterflies.

The galaxy shows us its hidden frontiers,

And on Earth, it feels like true life now appears.

In military schools, it is healing they spread,

And bankers now give away houses and bread.

u/walterwapo — 22 hours ago
▲ 1.8k r/solarpunk+1 crossposts

If you had to choose solar panels over farmland or over parking lots, which makes more sense?

u/DesignerChip2497 — 2 days ago
▲ 49 r/solarpunk+4 crossposts

Understanding the hidden energy layer of wealth inequality

Hello everyone,

Just sharing our latest piece on how wealth inequality will affect all the classes when we move to other side of the Hubbert's curve. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

How do we act on this trend as a solar punk community.

climaterubik.com
u/climate_rubik — 1 day ago

Reticulum Mesh Networking is Solarpunk

We spend a lot of time here talking about the aesthetics and social aspects of Solarpunk which I love, but I would like to submit some infrastructure for your consideration.

Reticulum is a networking protocol that was designed for complete autonomy. It doesn't rely on an ISP, satellites, cell towers, or anyone besides you and your neighbors with some $30 hardware. It can form mesh networks with WiFi routers, LoRa radios, ethernet connections, bluetooth, even serial cables and packet radios. And it can seamlessly connect all of those disparate devices into one network.

It rethinks what we really need to have a functioning community network - no it's not capable of gigabit speeds, in fact much of what it does is measured in bytes. But this is the part that feels really "solar" to me - doing more with less.

The autonomy, DIY adaptability, and built in cryptography with privacy at its core are decidedly "punk".

If this intriguing to you the manifesto, Zen of Reticulum (linked), written by the creator of Reticulum is a fun read.

r/reticulum has all kinds of cool projects added on a routine basis, and happens to be one of those corners of reddit that stills feels like "old reddit".

reticulum.network
u/bill_lite — 2 days ago
▲ 102 r/solarpunk+1 crossposts

Make Big Tech Build Their Own Power & Water To Save The World - Or Ban New AI Data Centers

We’re letting tech giants drain our local power grids and aquifers so they can build massive AI warehouses that ruin neighborhoods and spike our utility bills.

Instead of letting them bleed us dry, let's pass a law: No new AI data center can break ground unless it is 100% self-sufficient in its own green power and water generation.

If they have billions to spend on GPUs and RAM, then they clearly have the money to fund the tech that could save us.

For Energy: Force them to invent or invest heavily in off-grid, hyper-efficient power. Once the R&D is paid for by tech billionaires, cheap micro-grid power trickles down to our homes, ending utility monopolies forever.

For Water: Force them to pioneer atmospheric water generation and large-scale dehumidification instead of draining municipal supplies and drying out local aquifers. That tech could eventually save places like Lake Mead by producing massive amounts of water to feed it, and gives every household independent clean water which puts less strain on municipal and natural resources.

The catch?: This tech doesn’t quite exist at scale yet—which means no new data centers get built anytime soon, and when they finally do, they actually have to pay a toll that benefits humanity instead of destroying it.

Let's leverage our present to save our future - both humanity's and the world's!

reddit.com
u/karateman43 — 3 days ago