Hey Solarpunk Community! In Light Of Several Posts That Have Been Going Around, I Was Thinking It Would

BBC: Millions attend global climate strike

“A global climate strike is under way, with millions of people protesting for “an end to the age of fossil fuels and climate justice for everyone”.”

Me, waking you up at two am: hey, do you ever think about how we live in a culture of rejecting our local “wild places” in favor of fetishizing and romanticizing the distant and different?

There’s this overwhelming rhetoric we’re fed that the only nature worth protecting is Grand and Huge and most of all Somewhere Else.

Nobody thinks about the wetland behind their local Walmart that is in Desperate need of protection, or the little remnant prairie in a cemetery, because they’re too focused on the abstract and often flawed concept of “wilderness” somewhere else.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to travel to see something new and unique, but the way I hear people talk about our own backyard, the way the last remnants of what we have here are ignored or outright rejected, breaks my heart.

My professor has spent his entire career in the Midwest trying to protect wetlands from housing developments and new superstores, but he almsot always loses, not just because the developers have money, but the community doesn’t care enough to do anything about it.

Afterall, what’s a few old oak and birch trees in a little puddle of a swamp compared to miles of marsh in Scandinavia? What’s a grassy hill to a distant mountain range?

Well, to the duck, to the heron, to the bluebird, and to precious few people, I’d say it’s Everything.

I love to travel myself, and I know people probably don’t know that when they say “why is our wildlife/plant life etc. so lame” that they’re contributing to an attitude of rejecting what unique beauty we do have,

But

I hope one day people can see the wonder nearby and fight to protect it. I hope there’s something left to protect.

Anyway…..where do u keep your cups I want some water.

I'm kinda meh about roof gardens/ grass roofs bc they can accumulate a lot of weight and collapse/ cause leaks

But living walls? Mighty sexy

They provide natural insulation, which not only keeps the heat in during cold days, but keeps the heat out during hot ones. It's better planned and maintained than vines (depending on the plant ofc).

Flooding in urban areas can be reduced since the roots and the growing medium will hold in moisture. Air can be purified, and heat can be reduced because of evaporation.

I just love living walls

I really wanted to draw a comic about green turtles ;_; they’re facing so many hardships and are classified as endangered. I want this issue to get more attention.

Free Solarpunk Essay for your thoughts

There’s not many essays and findings in academia that are given away to anyone without special access, so since I just got a 100 on my Environmental Ethics Reflection Essay, I’m posting it here for solarpunks it might benefit to think about these ethics considerations. (hit read more for essay)

Keep reading

3-D printed bionic skin. It’s not science fiction.

follow @the-future-now

‘Skylines,’ New York, United States,

Lissoni Casal Ribeiro for Skyhive 2020 skycraper Challenge

Inspired by nature, the concept proposes a complete, self-sufficient ecosystem. the multi-use tower collects rainwater and gathers energy from the sun and the wind, transforming it from its tensioned cables into electricity to be used by inhabitants.

this book is worth more than a dozen restaurants that grow their own microgreens on the roof

This is truly incredible.

In all honesty, I’m assuming a 4-5% polling error in Trump’s favor. People have dismissed the “Shy” Trump voter. But, here’s the thing on that, I think someone in the burbs who wants to keep a reputation and all that and after everything that’s happened in the Trump Presidency (especially this past year), do you think they’d be going out and loudly declaring their love for Trump or even telling a pollster that? I think when these people get into the privacy of a voting booth (or the comfort of their own home for a mail in ballot), their ideology, partisanship, and/or reactionary tendencies will override and they’ll vote for Trump. They’ll save face at MacKaeylynanie’s Soccer practice (or zoom equivalent) and say they aren’t voting for Trump, because it’s embarrassing for them, but they’ll do it anyway.

So 4-5% in Trump’s favor. Enough to move Pennsylvania and Florida to Trump, but not Michigan or Wisconsin. And I think that’s really where we are. A coin flip. 

I think more people left of the American center need to do this. You need to mentally prepare yourself now on the very real possibility of a Trump win. I’m serious, I’m genuinely afraid for someone of y’all’s mental health if this breaks bad.