Solarpunk: A genre and a movement...

solarpunk dc, the movement, draws inspiration from solarpunk, the artistic genre. It began as an optimistic counter-movement to cyberpunk’s dystopian futures where artists and writers imagined communities powered by renewable energy, lush with green spaces, and fueled by collective care rather than collapse.

Over the last decade, solarpunk has evolved into both an ethos and a call to action. Instead of simply envisioning a better world, people are now actively building it.

In Washington, D.C., a city known for politics, but also home to vibrant neighborhoods and green innovation, the solarpunk spirit is already in motion.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the five pillars of the solarpunk ethos and how they’re coming to life in our region. Then we’ll tell you about our upcoming pop-up event with Big Planet Comics, where you can experience the genre firsthand, complete with a solarpunk starter kit, tote bag giveaways, community convos, and tasty drinks + snacks…all in an intimate space. 📒🌿

Important article discussing why words don't influence people and what can be done instead Also check out Sarah's website https://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com/

I found a project that seems cool.

We are Pangaia, a small solarpunk farming community in the Amazon region of Peru. We aim to use permacultural traditions and methods to recover soil health on a farm that has been used for grazing cows and is completely degraded.

Many neighboring farms have been investing in fish farms or cattle, thus completely reshaping the land, destroying soil fertility and increasing CO2 as well as methane emissions.

We want to reverse this trend and empower small farming communities like ours to be part of the fight for climate justice.

In Pangaia, we value anti-oppression veganism and food justice as important pillars in the fight for social change. Our community has chosen the path of cooperation not only because of the overwhelming evidence for it but also because it brings out better qualities in ourselves. We are fortunate to be somewhat isolated from the claws of capitalist greed. This gives us the possibility of nurturing our altruism, solidarity and empathy, human qualities that are too neglected in patriarchal capitalist societies. Our community tries to place equal value on individual as well as our collective well-being. We are in a constant process of learning and unlearning, of setting aside old maps to draw them anew. It is not an easy path, but this time we know we have new stars to guide us, and lead humanity towards a shared future.

We are in the process of constituting a Cooperative of producers and consumers, as a way to implement solidary agriculture. Our aim is to produce for home consumption and for the consumers that are integrated in the cooperative.

Our dream is to contribute to the creation of a sustainable and fair food system, through the practice of permaculture and community supported agriculture. We are creating, seed by seed, a vibrant edible forest, in which a big variety of local species thrive on regenerated soil.

EDIT: They are on Mastodon: https://masto.es/@runa_pangaia

So the big thing with the balcony solar to me is it can be plugged into a standard outlet and it would work without sending electricity downstream to the system somehow. So it seemed to be smart like that. Let me know if I have a misunderstanding here. So I always felt like having batteries would be useful enough without solar as you could (at least in my area) take the hourly electric rate and charge it during non peak times and have it be used during peak hours. This in addition to getting through power outages. So im kinda wondering if there are balcony battery options that would allow for this. Plug it into an outlet and setup when not to charge and when to provide power. Anyone know if this is a thing?

Maybe not 100% on topic, but I think there will be people in here who value repairing things and keeping them going longer.

I have a front loading washing machine (clothes) where the inner metal drum that spins is no longer sitting in the right position inside the larger plastic watertight container. It was still being driven to turn, but was rubbing at some point and so struggling to spin, and vibrations were bad. I don't know how things are connected inside there but I'm imagining a bearing or two inside has failed. I don't see any sign of other damage to other parts like the motor or the springs.

Is that likely to be something reasonably easy to repair myself? I'm happy enough disconnecting and reconnecting the electrical connections, but would you need any specialist tools for the seals or big springs? Or maybe the whole watertight part is a single piece and not designed to be repaired inside?

Thanks for any advice or info. If i haven't described it well enough please ask questions...

Cheers!

“At such a critical stage, access to affordable, reliable electricity is paramount."

This is something we, as people, need to make clear that we support. Write people, share, and if you can, perhaps even donate.
A fundamental solarpunk ideal is that we can make a difference. That we can do things to make stuff better, no matter what billionaires or corporations or governments are trying to throw at us.

Well, here's a chance.
https://4indigenized.energy/

Last month I released my solarpunk ebook for some emergency hope. At last you can get your hands on the paperback. Discover Neon Riders on Barnes and Noble.

It is nice to look at if you can't speak German, just look at the awesome images.

I really wanted to share, because Agrivoltaic is such a good idea. He started the project because he did not want one of these foil green houses and also needed to do something against the energy crysis.

Oakland Critical Mass rolls through the First Friday street festival every month, where I do projection activism. These bicyclists inspired my solarpunk novel, Neon Riders.

You can find the ebook on this indie site and the paperback on Barnes and Noble.

The projected art is by Jordan Johnson

Inspirational documentary with ideas about how to become a part of your local economy

For the 250th anniversery of America (honestly, vomit) the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Natural Areas and Preserves is reconstructing the maps and transcribing surveyor notes from the 1800s to create an interactive map of Ohio's presettlememt habitats.

I'll be sure to post an update once the map is out.

publication croisée depuis : https://jlai.lu/post/23348432

Je publie ici aussi comme j'ai vu que mon précédent post y a été relayé.

Update suite à mon test avec une parabole, j'envisage de construire un cuiseur solaire selon ce schéma. La parabole linéaire fait 50cm de large et 1m40. Pour les réflecteurs j'ai prévu de découper des miroirs de 50cmx5cm. La parabole n'est donc pas courbe mais composée de facettes de 50cm (je n'ai pas dessiné les renforts transversaux, ni les miroirs.

Je prévois de construire la structure en agglo de récup, avec quelques pièces en contre-plaqué d e5 et10mm. Pour les pièces complexes, je l'ai ai découpées à la découpeuse laser de mon fablab et je m'en servirai de gabarit pour les refaire dans un bois plus épais avec une affleureuse et une fraise de copiage.

Je vais probablement doubler la transversale en haut pour plus de rigidité.

Les parties supérieures avec les trous sont prévues pour suspendre une marmite et à terme une plaque de cuisson, mon objectif est de voir si je peux faire une plancha solaire.

More and more people are getting motivated to get involved with in person activism. Which is great! But when you go out there and look for orgs to join, you don't want to get recruited by a cult or an authoritarian group looking for cannon fodder.

The guys at Flow Battery Research Collective have been designing a Redox Flow Battery development kit that you can build yourself using a 3d printer and a few tools. It's a desktop size flow battery that you can use to either do your own research, e.g. on different electrolytes or just to replicate their experimental findings.

Redox Flow Batteries have the potential to become grid scale or home electric energy storage solutions that are way better for the environment than current lithium based batteries. They can often scale power and capacity independently and allow for repairs.

The FBRC project wants to spread the knowledge on RFBs and help kickstart a global community that develops sustainable energy storage technology in an ope source fashion.

Beware that the project is still in its infancy and sourcing the materials can be a bit of a challenge. Be sure to ask around in the forums for help!