Links Roundup
The interwebs had so many interesting things to read this week! Here’s a links roundup of a few.
Hope and Solarpunk
Following hot on the heels of last week’s discussion of naïveté in solarpunk, Ariel wants to address the idea of hope head-on in this post.
Hope is an affect (aka feeling that drives action) that I’ve been thinking about for a while, ever since I was a graduate student. “Hope” is a word that gives people warm fuzzy feelings when they read it or use it, but I’m not sure that it’s very well understood or theorized in this day and age. Because most people equate the concept of hope with that of naïve positivity and intentional ignorance of “reality”.
Solarpunk Naiveté?
In this post, Christina ponders the opposition that solarpunks face, both offline and online. Solarpunk opts for optimism—and action—over despair, but sometimes she wonders if we are just being naïve.
Carbon offsets - karma or indulgence?
Carbon offsets are a bit of a joke to most people who are involved in environmental organization and activism. They tend to be lumped into the same category as medieval Catholic indulgences - “buy this special ticket to wipe away your environmental sins” - and are widely regarded as ineffective virtue-signalling…..Yet, carbon offsets were set up initially with the best of intentions. And it is still possible, today, to purchase carbon offsets that do actually contribute to combating climate change.
…For solarpunks, the ability to hold two conflicting concepts in one’s mind is extremely necessary in this case, in order to walk the tension that is life in late capitalism: understanding that the program can be used for good or for evil and is currently being used for both, necessitating a deeper, more thorough look through what exactly constitutes a particular carbon offset program.
Some Sights From Lutherstadt Wittenberg and the Elbe River
Solarpunk … orthodontics?
In a solarpunk world, many people are going to need dental surgery. Many people are going to need orthodontic interventions. It’s just a fact. But what can we do now to make sure that the dentists and orthodontists of the future actually work to make their patients’ lives better, not just their teeth?
Review of The Boy and the Heron
Working on Better Endings
Solarpunks and companion animals
Using the language of “ownership” to describe humans’ relationship to their companion animal(s) assumes a subject-object relationship, or a hierarchical binary that positions all human animals as superior to non-human animals.
Instead of the baggage-laden term of “owner,” then, I propose solarpunks start to use “kahu” instead.
Review of Four Lost Cities
I (Ariel) recently listed to the audiobook version of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz. I honestly think that it’s a book that every solarpunk (especially those of you into city planning and urbanism) should read! It’s free to read over on our Patreon; I’d really like you to go take a look!
Some Thoughts On the Work of Peace
Fantasy, feminism, and philosophy
Ariel picked up some fantasy books lately, and she has some Thoughts about feminism and philosophy as it comes out in fantasy narratives. Join her for a little dive into the history of science and just a dash of literary analysis. (It’s not just a dash. Sorry not sorry).
Review of The Mountain in the Sea
I recently read Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea and enjoyed it so much, I decide to write a review of it. That’s up at our Patreon right now and available for everyone to read. I’d love it if you’d check it out.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/book-review-in-93689277
Potato Blight
This year was the best of times and the worst of times for growing potatoes where I live in Northern Germany…
Infrastructures of Violence
Solarpunk isn’t new to debates about violence, its pros and cons, whether it is a true reflection of the movement’s values or antithetical to its ethical commitments. I figured I’d give my own two cents’ worth here; I know I might be retreading old ground, but given this season’s focus on housing in particular and the built environment generally, I wanted to address this topic specifically.
Dear Solarpunk Presents… Is It Solarpunk When Billionaires Decide to Build a Solarpunk City?
Solarpunk is people! - notes on a generic visual identity
Solarpunk has a contested visual identity - or rather, it doesn’t have one at all, compared to cyberpunk’s cohesive vision of Brutalist buildings. That’s a problem, but one worth exploring, Ariel writes.
Introducing Season 4
Climate change is a mental health issue
The recent essays and articles that I read for my thesis had a fascinating overlap: they were talking about climate, but they were also talking about mental health. Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety are a natural corollary of experiencing the climate changing. And this is something solarpunk can and should address now.
Mashing Solarpunk and Cyberpunk to Wage War Against War in The Creator
The Creator is a moving spectacle. And it felt new. Which is not easy to do, as anyone who has sat down to try to write sci–fi could tell you. Sci–fi is so far beyond the first flush of its youth, unless you're really good, that just about any story you come up with has been written several times before. Despite the clunkier aspects of the plot, whoever wrote The Creator is really good. This sci–fi movie broke ground.