Solarpunk is plants on buildings : memes

[-] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 62 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Only loosely related, but why do people's idea of solarpunk aesthetics feel completely divorced from any punk-ness.

Gimme patched together, beautifully mended clothes and once broken possessions, gimme stickerbombed custom open source hardware, gimme a hodgepodge of recycled items used as planters for an herb garden, gimme things that feel deeply human. Not gleaming polished metal and glass, like 70's futurist magazine cover but with more plants.

There should be some texture and humanity in solarpunk aesthetics. It has to be punk.

[-] yuri@pawb.social 33 points 2 weeks ago

using -punk as a suffix is almost always misleading. like steampunk was almost immediately diluted into mismatched victorian garb and random gears that couldn’t possibly serve any purpose. equally not punk.

[-] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 18 points 2 weeks ago

I once had a friend tell me that steampunk is what happens when goths discover the color brown and I've never been able to get over that.

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago

That's an awesome way to put it, honestly

[-] monotremata@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 weeks ago

"Just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk..."🎶

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago

Gears have a place in steampunk. A society that runs primarily on steam power is going to have a lot of gears. And the victorian garb comes from the narrow era between steam power and electricity, so it's not surprising that it's come to be integral to the aesthetic.

It certainly can be done badly. A shallow rendition of steampunk might have useless gears everywhere that aren't connected to anything. An AI generated steampunk aesthetic might look like that, because it doesn't understand mechanics and the uses of gears. Cheap etsy costume pieces might look like this because the seller only cares about making a buck. Bullshit pinterest inspo might look like this because the creators only care about reach and engagement.

But that doesn't make the -punk suffix misleading, it just means they're doing steampunk poorly.

Ghibli's Laputa is steampunk. Howl's Moving Castle has some steampunk elements. Those are pretty well done in my opinion.

Nausica is close to solarpunk, but it's more like windpunk which I don't know if has been coined yet.

[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Cyberpunk generally has a high focus on the punk aspect. I.E, anti-authoritarian, personal freedom, anti-hierarchy.

Steampunk has punk at the end purely because it's a riff on the word Cyberpunk, not because it retains any inherent anti-authoritarian punk-ness. It's more so just a label shorthand for an aesthetic and rough technological level. Dieselpunk does the same thing, using punk not to signify actual punk ideals, but instead uses it as shorthand for 'aesthetic'.

Solarpunk retains the punk aspect of Cyberpunk, but instead of dystopia, imagines a more utopic vision of punks succeeding against the corporations/governments/hierarchies, which is achieved through community building, a DIY ethos, prefiguration, and an appropriate use of technology.

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago

I don't know, a lot of steampunk seems to have that dystopian aspect where the bad guys are oppressive rulers and the good guys are the rabble. I don't see how that isn't punk.

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[-] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I swear, i can't find good steampunk anymore, all the images i find when i search for inspiration when i draw are just bullshit with no-purpose gears glued on everthing 😭

[-] kossa@feddit.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

It's hard when the fetish gets too niche. Like, I want steampunk, but with fantasy. Give me those dwarves who build railways and have guns, give me the elves who feature some crazy, idk, steam-powered tanks, but with flowery inlays or such.

[-] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 3 points 2 weeks ago

Straight up impossible

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[-] Alcyonaria@piefed.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

It had a good run on diy forums until reddit grabbed it after thinkgeek started selling "merch"

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[-] StillAlive@piefed.world 3 points 1 week ago

You should watch Furiosa then. There's a solarpunk community in it.

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[-] terranoid@lemmy.cafe 51 points 2 weeks ago

There is sometimes a very unfortunate mix of people who can't stand social interaction or being around other people, hate to have bosses or be told what to do, yet they think they'd somehow thrive in a communist environment or any other environment which is heavily centered on empowering their local community.

[-] OwOarchist@pawb.social 36 points 2 weeks ago

If your communist environment can't accommodate loners who don't like being bossed around, it's no communist environment I want to be part of.

[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 2 weeks ago

It might be where I live and the types of places I volunteer, but the coordinators have all been super chill and let people assign themselves to do whatever they want to do out of tasks x, y, and z. Not like a shift at a job even though there are clearly people in charge

[-] Tiresia@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

There is an unfortunate mix of people who want to be left to their own devices and who hate authority who somehow think they would thrive in an anti-authoritarian envrionment where people help each other have the tools for self-sufficient autonomy.

Huh, I wonder who the person who merely likes Solarpunk for the aesthetics is in this thread...

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[-] Juniperus@infosec.pub 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I really do enjoy the Solar Punk aesthetic and the optimism it represents, but when I try to bring people to the reality of things like "we still need solar panel and battery factories" people seem to get upset.

Just to say, I see the reality of what Solar Punk could be and I want to take the practical steps needed. And to be clear, my goal is to make sure that the workers own the solar panel factory, not capitalist investors. I think the solar punk aesthetic, whatever version of it we all decide on, will naturally emerge if we can achieve that.

[-] Sly2@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

I think ppl forget that the steps to clean energy are merely bridge technologies. You don't get to industrial age to solarpunk future without some "unclean" steps in between.

[-] content_educator_94 8 points 2 weeks ago

"No don't break those poor eggs! That's not how you make an omelette 😔"

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[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 17 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It is definitely a lot more than that but I still think buildings should have plants on them, ideally. I think sometimes people get so annoyed with all the superficial posts about this that they get irrationally opposed to the idea which actually has many benefits.

[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Presumably, actual 'solarpunk' would involve...

Actual, practical steps an average person or small community can do, to meaningfully reduce their reliance on environmentally destructive processes.

Maybe you could also extend this out into things larger organizstions could so, but the 'punk' part to me kind of implies it should be bottom up focused, not top down.

So... guerilla gardening, how to set up a solar batterypack + panels in your apartment, how to cook and can with foods so as to reduce reliance on a JIT logistics system... maybe how to run practical electronics on very low power budgets... maybe how to patch your own clothes, maintain boots/shoes, how to statt to try to set up.some kind of communal work / chore sharing or labor time based proton currency system or something...

Anti consumerism is obviously a theme here.

Its basically the same thing as being a ... sane version of a prepper, just without the insane right wing chuddery or crunchy granola woowoo mysticism attached, prepping where the plan is bug-IN, not bug-OUT.

Its about being hardy, being able to disengage from the 'built to break' economy, from ultimately ethically dubious power and water systems, that are now also getting to be much more practically dubious as well... in a way where you actually maintain a comparable standard of living... and doing that in a way that is way more realistic about 'other people exist and they will be necesssary for my own survival'.

...Any aesthetic that is crafted visually first is just a fashion trend, an art style.

A real, durable aesthetic results from, is accidentally created by... some kind of set of circumstances and/or specific practical goal.

... thats all I long way of explaining why I often get annoyed by the seeming 'cultural tourist posts.'

They're superficial, and pointless without actionable plans.

It isn't very punk to only sit around and do a whimsical world building excercise.

Punks also do shit, and change things.

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago

It's not "crafted visually first."

Growing moss or sod on your roof helps regulate the temperature indoors, which is good for the environment.

Growing plants on the façade does the same thing. And both of these practices increase space that can be used for plants that capture carbon, purify the air, and lower surrounding temperatures. In addition to increasing space for crops, or pollinator gardens.

Unless you think a solarpunk society needs to eliminate cities, then plants on buildings is an integral idea not just to the aesthetic but also functionally.

And even in villages, it's a good idea.

[-] libre_warrior@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 weeks ago

Im more into soilpunk. Permaculture, frugile tech.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Community implies people and you’ve already lost me.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ah yes, Tyler Durden's Project Mayhem induced fascist "solarpunk":

In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.

All aesthetic, all hierarchy, no community.

[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Thats... hyper anarcho primitivism, taken significantly beyond general anarcho primitivism, not fascism.

Its... accelerationist anti-civilizational hyper-individualism, something like that.

Even anarcho primitivism/ists would say we should return to pre-industrial, tribal societal forms.... this goes even further beyond that and rejects even tribes as social units and units capable.of at least some specialized production... its like a cariacature of anarcho primitivism.

Tyler is the urge to destroy and to feel alive by constantly facing death... given a suave and calculating and attractive embodiment.

You may note how that description you quoted involves... no artificial hierarchy at all, no state, total free for all. It thus definitionally cannot be fascist, fascism requires a state, defined and maligned enemies, jingoism... there are maybe some elements of fascism here, but not many.

Though, his means of achieving this outcome is essentially a semi-fascist cult.

Its also not really about the aesthetic. The leather clothes bit is because leather is durable, civilization has collapsed so you'll have to make your own clothes.

No aesthetic (beyond pure utilitarianism), no hierarchy, no community.

[-] terranoid@lemmy.cafe 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'd argue it's all aesthetic under the guise of utilitarianism. It's the mall ninja version of survivalism, a bunch of dudes wearing leather causing mischief, beating their chest thinking they can just go feral.

They're beating each other up causing permanent damage to each other, fantasizing about climbing high rises and doing tons of shit that is basically antithetical to survival.

[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They want to feel alive by always being near potential death. Because modern life is so unfulfilling, they want to create a world that basically cannot possibly be unfulfilling - managing to exist in it at all is a remarkable accomplishment.

They also accept death. Only in death do they have a name. Death is part of what they want, they want it to be always near, and when it actually strikes, this is an essentially holy event.

Thats not an aesthetic. An aesthetic is something you can take off, and put on a different one.

This is an ideology.

Utilitarianism is part of the ideology, but its ancillary, just a logical way of playing the game they want to play with death.

Taken at face value, the goal isn't to be mischievious reprobates... that is the means chosen to achieve the ends.

The end they are working toward actually is the destruction of civilization.

Remember how the movie ends?

They blow up a bunch of buildings with a bunch of computers that have a ton of important bank records... in the 90s, you didnt have 'the cloud', having extensive offsite backups and physically distinct fallback clusters wasn't unheard of, but it was much more rare than it is nowadays, less robust.

And, there are apparently Mayhem cells in many different cities around the country, possibly international.

If you interpret the story as... those buildings really did get blown up... that is a pretty credible step toward punching a hole in the finance system that underpins modern civilization.

What I'm trying to say is that I think they're actually serious, they're not cosplaying. Like, the Unabomber would be proud, maybe.

Its like if Aum Shinrikyo had happened in the US, in the 90s, with a different kind of cult ideology, but... these people are carrying out acts, toward a definable end goal, even if the means seem poorly thought out or unlikely to work.

They're not primarily trying to survive. The whole point is that... the world they're from, surviving is pointless, offers nothing real, the experiences are mundane and hollow.

The whole point is to change the world to make survival itself more challenging, more unforgiving, thus each moment of it is more rewarding, more stimulating, more satisfying. Doesn't matter that there might be overall less of those moments, what matters is the less numerous moments mean more, feel like more.

Its really a kind of hedonism, actually. A masochistic and also de facto sadistic hedonism, a great reverence for struggle and pain and loss, that they want to be able to drown in and not be able to escape from.

... You have to assume that basically most of the story is just fully hallucinated, for it to only be cosplaying. If half of the shit described and depicted actually does happen, and it very much seems to because it happens to other characters and affects the world... yeah, the people following Tyler/Jack are literally willing to kill him to continue the plan if he reneges on it himself.

Even if Tyler/Jack dies, those other guys don't, and they're true believers, fanatics.

[-] fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

No healthcare

[-] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I want one of those cheap Chinese electric minivans with at least one solar panel too many on the roof.

I want to pack water and drive through the dessert running on solar and stopping for a few days to recharge.

I don't really know what solar punk is.

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[-] foxymochakitten@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

I do think the aesthetic can be a good jumping-on point for folks. It sucks that a lot of people don't really want to take it farther than that, though. And when people see the desaturated forest-tone aesthetic and it doesn't align with their taste, they may be turned away - but that's why my goal is to showcase a flashy, decora-kei version of Solarpunk aesthetics with my own fashion

[-] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

So if cyberpunk is "high tech, low life" is Solarpunk "high UV, low life"?

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[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Now it's also that fungus that eats ionising radiation at chernobyl. On buildings

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[-] Ilixtze@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Looking from the outside and thinking of solar punk in terms of writing i have a question. If cyberpunk is a literary genre with a loose philosophy and aesthetics and solarpunk is a literary genre with loose philosophy and aesthetics: can a solarpunk novel or story be negative? Can there be a solar punk horror story or a solar punk thriller?

[-] hash@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 weeks ago

Definitely yes. I mean Murder in the Tool Library is a solarpunk murder mystery.

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[-] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 3 points 2 weeks ago

I'd argue that both Black Panther films fall within solarpunk (at least when it comes to Wakanda--which, yes, I know that it is also afrofuturism, but there's clear overlap at times). And both films deal with "negative" elements: isolationism in service of creating a paradise and monopolizing the technology that makes such a paradise possible are themes in both of the films and which could be further explored in other solarpunk fiction.

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solarpunk memes