Toward Solarpunk!

TLDR: Solorpunk is a philosophy of radical hope. A Utopian idea that we can and will make a better world where we treat each other well and we work with the natural world. But also...Solarpunk is an aesthetic that mixes the natural with the furutistic, the slick with the green, and the cludgy with the effective. But also... and this may be a minority opinion... solarpunk is about doing rather than posting. On this page I'll outline some of my thoughts on solarpunk, throw in some links, maybe post some photos of what I am doing. Maybe journal a little.

The Manifesto version:

• Solarpunk philosophy - In reaction to the bleakness of the first half of the 21st century a newish utopian philosophy is developing. In reaction to climate catastrophe, the growing inequity in income and capital ownership, and the resurrection of fascism, Solarpunk is stepping into the zeitgeist. At this point it's philosophy and political theory are, to be kind, immature. Degrowth communism seems to be taking an early lead, but since that school just seems to be anti-human, neo-malthusian nihilism, I'm hoping for a more positivist, anarchist, and frankly, less navel gazing than a lot of left movements. My hope is that Solarpunk becomes a big tent, activist movement more focused on 'doing solarpunk' than on ideological purity, politics, and the endless nitpicking infighting of leftism. Being 'right' will not save us from ecological collapse. Ideological purity will not stop the rise of facism. Only broad based direct action to restructure our economy and society on a basis of ecologically considerate economics, economic equity, individual liberty, and a more common ownership of capital is going to help us escape the billionaire-bought democracy trap.
• Solarpunk seems to be largely descended from Murray Bookchin, at least this is where all the references point. His novel Ecotopia doesn't really stand up to the test of time. He flirts with the need for violence to maintain the ecotopia, but steers clear of actually saying so directly. His gender portrayal reads like the Men write Women subreddit. And his treatment of. effectively, bloodsport, seems a little odd and fairly reductive of human nature. All that said, his social ecology seems the best of the Green Anarchist Schools. Deep Ecology seems to be grounded in a religious preference for wild nature over humanity (it's esentially Malthusian which is a warning bell for me). Biocentrism which holds that Malaria mosquitoes are morally equivalent to people is completely unsatifying to me. I'm not antrocentric, but I am definitely sapiocentric. I think that is an aesthetic choice but, to me, the moral one.
• But none of that matters really. Because Solarpunk is really about what can we, as individuals and as an activist community, do to make the world more livable, more just, more survivable and more joyful. I think it is this utopian connection to joyfulness that is solarpunk's most attractive quality, and the practical nature of doing the work we can do now, while building towards more and better that is what can make it work.

More as things move along.