For apartment dwellers, people with HOA restrictions, etc
What easy steps can we take to live solarpunk?
- go vegan
- buy second hand
- reapir things you own that broke
- switch to some sort of green electricity
- small scale indoor gardening of som herbs, tomatoes or other similar plants easily grown on a balcony or within the kitchen
- political action like local protests or even better get elected
- volunteer work in some sort of progressive charity
- organize a tenenant union or become active in the hoa
There is plenty more, the key is to make the world better and not try to make it perfect. A lot of usefull action is community driven and in those roles you can have a much much bigger impact then by just changing your own way of life.
Something simple I had done was that I invested in USB powered grow lights for my indoor plants, as the apartment I had a few years ago was in the worst position for getting light. If you have a good window, feel free to set up something small for now, some herbs or even flowers for just adding a bit of nature into your life. People mentioned the different options for composting, which I agree with as well. The idea of setting up portable solar panels if you can afford them, for little stuff is a good idea too. It is really up to you, what you feel you can do and start with! A big part also is that solarpunk isn’t just at home, it also is in the community.
Ride a bike :)
I had an idea I wanted to share, in my town we have food coops, which is small group of people who band together to get local produce from farmers, with a focus on it being sustainable too so I‘ve seen they even go with bikes to get it. Though you have to contribute in work too, but it‘s probably better than the stuff in supermarkets environmentally.
I heard about this and thought about joining but been too shy so far, maybe this will finally push me to go apply.
Find ways to reduce your energy consumption:
- Buy higher quality clothes, ideally less imported.
- If you can, plant vegetables and stuff that you can eat or shop at local farmer’s markets.
- Reduce water use
- Cut back on things that use plastics in abundance