All Night Libraries

Could be so cool to have all night sensory friendly libraries, with nice warm soft lighting, and cute comfy whimsical furniture, art and plants. Where people could just go and read all night, hang with friends and even sleep there in the available rest spaces like hammocks or a little capsule hotel in the library. Very lunarpunk. Would call mine the Moonlight Library

Walkable cities are nice, and I want them. I want sidewalks with that cool glow-in-the-dark pavement in them. I want busses and trains. I want the passenger trolly tracks plucked from under the roads and updated.

But I also want back roads to be paved more often. I want speed bumps around the poor neighborhoods where kids nearly get hit by people using us as a shortcut to speed through. I want the country to be more livable too, because people shouldn't be forced to move to the city just to survive.

I don't want street lights and advertisements lighting and blinding the skies!!! I want this-

Yes, we’ve breached 1.5 degrees (at least annually). That doesn’t mean the world is ending or the fight is over. It means we have to redouble our efforts. Every fraction of a degree matters for coral reefs, for low-lying islanders, for the ice caps, for our unborn descendants. Take some time to grieve, then roll up your sleeves and get back into the work.

LunarPunk 🌙

Lunarpunk is Solarpunk for the night dwellers. Similar philosophy and movement but with a darker, bioluminescent, celestial aesthetic. With a focus on Community, Sustainability, Reducing Light Pollution, growing Native Flora and creating a livable and thriving home for the night dwelling Fauna (nocturnal animals, insects, and people too), and obviously, don't forget the Punk.

Lunarpunk is a very new and slowly growing subgenre and community, please continue to add new ideas, add to the conversation of sustainability, do research in your own area about the local flora and fauna, what you can do to help reduce light pollution, even if it's just coming from your home, how to be more energy efficient, how to reduce waste, save money on electricity, see if you can switch your lights to LEDs, speak with your neighbors about switching as well.

Any little bit counts.

Worldbuilders: Listen to Disabled Folks

Let me talk about a thing, that I have brought up in the past, but that really keeps coming up whenever I consume media in fantasy and scifi: Folks really, really do not consider the needs of disabled people. And that sucks.

I will say it once again: A world in which all disabilities are cured either by magic or some scifi technology is inherently ableistic. Not all disabled people do want to be cured, especially given that "disability" is usually defined as "a body that functions differently from what is considered the norm of society". But here is the thing: "Different" is not inherently bad. And erasing bodies that are different easily leads to all other sorts of eugenics.

So, first take-away: Do not erase disabilities.

But that brings me to the second part: Consider what disabled people actually need and how they might use it.

One very typical example of this is, that in a lot of Scifi media you will find a variety of fancy SciFi wheelchairs. Those might hover or have all other sorts of special abilities. But... When you look at the design, they are actually super bad for folks reliant on a wheelchair.

Maybe the chair part is designed in a way that would actually be super uncomfortable for a disabled person to sit on. Maybe the way that it is being controlled would actually take away control from the disabled person. Stuff like that.

And stuff like that can be used for all sorts of technological or magical means used to help disabled people in those worlds. Often designed by ablebodied people to make a world in which other people's disability does not inconvenience abled people. And that... folks, that's not it.

All of this by the way goes extra for Solarpunk/Lunarpunk worlds. Because folks, if your world does not make room for disabled people, then it is not very Solarpunk to me.

Today's aesthetic is lunarpunk

Sealed up the greenhouse from earlier and added growlights. All running off the solarpanel.

Moon Gardens! What a cool idea, I’d never heard of one before!

Do you believe the future could be good?

If so, what makes you think so?

Art by @elektrakute on IG

Hard pill to swallow for the SHEIN Girlies

One of the hardest pills to swallow for regular people in regards to saving the planet seems to be that they just DO NOT want to go without any of the luxuries they have gotten used to

To those I will say: You cannot deny any longer that overconsumption is a major problem and cause of so much environmental pollution and destruction.

People always say 'oh but I'm just one person'. Yeah everyone is just one person until everyone thinks that way. People use it both to absolve themselves of any wrongdoing and to defend their apathy. It is the main logical fallacy that gets in the way of progress.

And again no, this is NOT aimed at anyone disadvantaged, in poverty or otherwise struggling, this is aimed at my fellow middle and upper class white people. Whom could so easily do the right thing but don't

We have to scale down and focus on Degrowth. I'm saying it politely now; start living more modestly now, while you still can, cause if you don't, then nature, climate breakdown and the collapse of society will force you to

GreenHorizon

Hope is the seed of progress

Went and quick did some sidewalk (crosswalk?) chalk art

I only had white chalk so my ideas went down so stars and moons (and one (1) planet with moons) it was.

I want to get colored chalk soon so I could do a four seasons for a four way!

Glow in the dark paint?? For my street?? Maybe even reflective?? I'm in love with this idea???????

hi! i love your blog :D do you have any advice to implement low waste and solarpunk aspects into everyday life with a tight budget? keep doing what you do!

Hi!

Thanks for asking - I’ve had this question before and it’s definitely a real problem. Organic, plastic free food is expensive. So is handmade durable clothing, and train fares these days. It can feel like only the rich can be solarpunks, which is pretty counterintuitive given its anticapitalist ideology. But! I’m here to tell you there’s lots you can do to bring solarpunk into your life in a cost-effective way.

To start with, lots of solarpunk spaces are free or cheap. Get a library card and you can borrow as many books and DVDs and other resources as you like. Look up to see if there’s a library of things in your neighbourhood, and join a buy nothing or stuff for free group online. Download TooGoodToGo, which lets you access food from local cafes and restaurants which would otherwise go to waste. See if there’s a repair cafe that operates near you - I managed to get a pair of trousers mended at one of these for free, and I had been thinking I would need to pay a tailor (which is fine if you can afford it! Skilled labour deserves fair wages!). In some places plant-based food is cheaper, so when it is, choose it. But in others it will cost more than animal products so you have to decide on a case by case basis whether saving money or a particular diet is more important to you.

There’s lots else you can do for minimal spending or that actually saves you money. Walking to work or school avoids the expenditure in the petrol for a drive or a bus fare. If you’re within walking distance and able to do so, I’d recommend it. Joining your local chapter of Extinction Rebellion, Friends of The Earth, Greenpeace, The A22 network or any other active climate group in your area is almost always free and just involves a small weekly time commitment. This will introduce you to activists and inform you about protests and public meetings you can attend.

If you have the time in your week and the physical ability, which I acknowledge many people don’t, you can also join some sort of volunteer group looking after a nature reserve or tending a community garden (which might also give you access to free or discounted food). Learning to forage is also a good skill as that really is free food!

Depending on where you are, a green electricity tariff *can* also be less expensive. If this is the case and you have control over your provider, it’s worth switching to it. Buying books and clothes secondhand will also be better for the environment and your bank balance. Teaching yourself about the climate and the natural world with podcasts, YouTube, online free articles and other resources is also free and the knowledge will help you keep solarpunk at the front of your mind. Read good news stories online whenever you can, to remind you that good things are happening already.

If you’re employed, you can also try to influence green policy at your workplace or in your trade union. If you’re at school or university, joining (or setting up!) the environmental society and/or lobbying for change at the SU are both good ideas and shouldn’t necessarily cost you anything. If you can - and I know this is inaccessible for a big swathe of the population - put a very small amount of money aside whenever possible, because the more you save the more you can afford to buy better products, donate to causes, help out the needy in your community, travel in a greener way, and other more expensive choices. It’s all about that dual power.

Hope this helps get you started!

Remember, even if it's not turned on, plugged in devices and appliances use electricity.

Some examples are Lamps, Fans, Heaters and Chargers.

Unplug what you're not using. Save some energy and money.