…but I think I’d probably be miserable there.
I’m violently allergic to pollen, am terrified of bees, wasps, and grasshoppers, and generally despise bugs and dirt. My ideal world would see everything paved in marble. No cars, (obviously) with a quiet, sustainable, walkable communiy, but green, as beautiful as it is, causes me a great deal of pain.
It’s there any place for me in a solarpunk world?
Everything paved in marble would not be quiet. Sounds would reverberate for days ~shutters
I’ve toyed with the idea that a established solar punk world would build down into the earth, rather than up into the sky. Humans can’t occupy 100% of the Earth and there will be a need to not only protect but create a thriving environment for the other creatures we share this planet with, most of which live above ground.
Even if the above scenario doesn’t happen, technology will keep evolving either way. Plenty of things to do inside buildings with enhanced AR/VR functionality. Lots of ideas there!
There are different ways to participate in creating a solarpunk society, like working to plan, develop, or live in communities that are mostly powered by solar energy, incorporate adequate greenspaces to bolster residents’ mental health, fundraising for community gardens, etc.
Here’s a neat article that was posted to the mander instance on an area in California where one mostly-solar community has already been built, and two more are in development: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/23/06/18/206226/californias-first-solar-powered-microgrid-neighborhood-has-a-giant-community-battery
It’s not gonna be easy, but maybe working in a urban vertical farm? No dirt, pollen or (most) bugs allowed inside.
Walkable cities are very much a goal, so if you can stand them now, you’d probably be able to survive them even if the most ambitious solarpunk ideals were made manifest.
It’s probably important to note that those ideals are just that - goals we strive for and proposed solutions for existing problems. But realistically we’ll be lucky if we can keep the planet marginally habitable and prevent some extinctions. There’s not much risk of suddenly being transported to a setting from a solarpunk novel.
And there’ll still be apartment buildings and office jobs even in some Ecotopia-type truly solarpunk society
Edit to add: there are also plenty of ways to contribute to a more solarpunk world without getting anywhere near a farm or forest. I fix up ewaste laptops and refinish furniture and give them away to my neighbors. That’s tangential at best to sustainable ecology or rewilding or the other things you might think of as solarpunk, but it reduces waste and it helps build community, and it can all be done indoors.
Welcome to the solarpunk sailors. No pollen outside ports and insects are for those who stay behind.
I must say that I am a bit (just a bit) sick of the solarpunk staple images of “it is a city but it is sunny and there are plants”. I am a hard tech enthusiast, I do enjoy artificial settings and clean air, I think that painting enclosed spaces as gray and dimly light by monochromatic neon is as biased as depicting a city that’s always sunny.
I want to live in a clean, sterilized, controlled environment, which does not have to be sad, which does not have to be unsustainable or oppressive, that’s a matter of personal preference. I don’t have allergies so I enjoy a hike in the forest or a picnic under the cherry blossom, but I’d prefer to have my indoors free from bugs, dust and pollen.
To me solarpunk is not about ecology, that’s about a utopian future. One where you can choose to live closer to nature, like many current city dwellers would love, but these world are so much more than that!
