#are books environmentally friendly

[lastoneout]

I'd like to think in the hypothetical post-scarcity/capitalism utopia there would still be people who want to make movies and there would thus also still be people like me, who want to open theaters where you can go and watch them.

[whats-in-a-sentence]

One area has been reducing the use of volatile organic solvents and replacing them with ionic liquids (see figure 18.13).

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[sueclancy]

Flying pigs and being human.

Knowing how you feel, what you think and being able to talk clearly about it is an important skill to cultivate. This is true for everyone and especially true for anyone trying to do anything creative. Creativity comes from a regular habit of observing the world and listening to yourself to your own thoughts and feelings. Creativity comes from trusting your own voice. Creativity comes from…

[how-wecanhelp]

All our books together for 4 bucks 🥳

4th year anniversary!!! Get it now.

[delicatelysublimeforester]

Celebrating National Comic Book Day: The Green Legacy of Comics and Education

[pebblegalaxy]

15 Must-Read Environmental Books: A Comprehensive Guide to Sustainability and Conservation Literature #SenseandSustainabilityBlogHop @MindRustic @sukaina1422

15 Essential Books on Environmental Sustainability and Protection: A Comprehensive Guide Introduction: In an era where environmental concerns are at the forefront of global discussions, literature plays a crucial role in educating, inspiring, and mobilizing people towards sustainable practices and environmental protection. This article explores 15 seminal works that have shaped our…

[jonathannsmith0706]

Choosing the Right Courier Service for Your Business: Key Considerations ?

Selecting the right courier service for your business is a critical decision that can impact efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction. In the bustling business landscape of the United Kingdom, several factors should be considered when choosing a courier service.

First and foremost, consider the reputation and reliability of the courier company. Look for a London based courier company with a proven track record of timely deliveries and secure handling of packages. Online reviews and testimonials can provide valuable insights into the experiences of other businesses.

Efficiency is paramount in the world of courier services. Opt for a company that offers an overnight courier service, ensuring that your packages reach their destination promptly. Whether it’s a crucial document or a time-sensitive shipment, an overnight courier can be a game-changer for your business.

In an era where environmental responsibility is a priority, choosing an environmentally friendly courier service is a strategic move. Seek out a courier company london that embraces green practices, such as using electric vehicles or other eco-friendly modes of transportation.

International shipping needs should also be factored in when selecting a courier service. A reliable company should offer international courier services, international airport taxi services, and seamless international taxi bookings

, catering to your global business requirements.

Moreover, the flexibility of services provided by the courier company is essential. Motorbike couriers can navigate through traffic and deliver small packages swiftly, offering a practical solution for urgent deliveries in busy urban areas.

By carefully considering these key factors, businesses can choose a courier service in London that aligns with their specific needs, ensuring smooth operations, customer satisfaction, and a positive impact on the environment.

[great-book-review]

"Why Did Buffy's Fur Go Flat?" - A Whisker-Twitching Tale of Environmental Discovery

Delve into the enchanting world crafted by Erin Hill and Dr. Russ Hill in "Why Did Buffy's Fur Go Flat?" as they weave a heartwarming narrative that not only captivates young minds but also imparts crucial lessons about our interconnectedness with the environment.

Summary: The journey commences with a foreword that serves as a clarion call to the importance of instilling environmental consciousness in the younger generation. As we venture into the lives of Jade and her feline companion, Buffy, perched on the rocky cliffs, the authors set the stage for an exploration into the delicate dance between environmental health and personal well-being.

Jade's ordinary life takes an unexpected turn when Buffy's once luxuriously fluffy fur loses its vibrancy. The tale unfolds as Jade embarks on a mission to uncover the mystery behind Buffy's ailing health. Through a series of whimsical encounters, the authors seamlessly integrate environmental concepts such as pollution, the food chain, and the significance of clean water into the narrative.

Characters: Jade and Buffy emerge as delightful protagonists, with Jade's curiosity and Buffy's endearing fluffiness serving as anchors for young readers. The characters are thoughtfully crafted to resonate with the target audience, effectively guiding them through the exploration of environmental themes.

Plot and Story Background: The plot unfolds with a perfect blend of adventure and education, creating a symbiotic relationship between storytelling and imparting knowledge. The central mystery of Buffy's fur serves as a gateway to discussions about pollution and its impact on the ecosystem. The story acts as a valuable tool for parents and educators, initiating conversations about environmental responsibility in a manner that is both engaging and accessible.

Details about the Authors: Erin Hill's extensive background in teaching language arts, math, and science, coupled with Dr. Russ Hill's experience in podiatric medicine and pre-medical science, enriches the narrative. Their collaboration ensures a well-rounded book that resonates with its intended audience, combining storytelling prowess with scientific insights.

Illustrations: The collaboration with illustrator Sky Kezmoh breathes life into the narrative. The whimsical illustrations complement the storytelling, providing young readers with a visual feast that enhances their overall reading experience. Sky's personal touches, drawn from her own feline friend, add a layer of authenticity to the illustrations.

Educational Value: One of the book's strengths lies in its seamless integration of educational elements. The authors navigate complex environmental topics with clarity, making them accessible to young minds. The book becomes a gateway for fostering a sense of environmental stewardship in the next generation.

Editing Quality: The book stands out for its impeccable editing. Not a single typo or grammatical hiccup mars the flow of the narrative, showcasing the authors' commitment to delivering a polished and professional product.

In Conclusion: "Why Did Buffy's Fur Go Flat?" stands as a testament to the potential of children's literature to educate and inspire. The harmonious blend of storytelling, endearing characters, and valuable environmental lessons makes it a commendable addition to the genre. It not only entertains but also plants the seeds of eco-consciousness in young hearts.

[jasonaaronpro]

S2 #3 - Pop Culture, Eco-Fashion, and Legendary Lens: Unveiling the Stories Behind Indiana's Icons

🎉 Episode 3 is LIVE! Dive into Indiana Comic Convention, discover Lux & Ivy's sustainable fashion at Sustain Art & Music Festival, and meet iconic photographer Scott Romer! Don't miss this thrilling episode! 🌟📸👗🎶 #Episode3 #ComicCon #SustainableFashion #P

Get ready for an action-packed Episode 3 of IN the Loop TV Show, where we’ll explore the thrilling realms of pop culture, sustainable fashion, and the captivating world of a legendary photographer! Join us as we delve into the vibrant world of the Indiana Comic Convention, showcasing the finest in comics, cosplay, and everything geeky. Get an insider look at the panels, meet your favorite…

[friendlyneighborhoodshark]

"How to Life" Masterlist

Cleaning and Tidying

Make your bed in the morning. It takes seconds, and it's worth it.

Reset to zero each morning.

Use the UFYH 20/10 system for clearing your shit.

Have a 'drop-zone' box where you dump anything and everything. At the beginning/end of the day, clear it out and put that shit away.

Automate your chores. Have a cleaning schedule and assign 15mins daily to do whatever cleaning tasks are set for that day. Set a timer and do it once the timer is up, finish the task you're on and leave it for the day.

Fold your clothes straight out of the tumble dryer (if you use one), whilst they're still warm. This minimises creases and eliminates the need for ironing.

Clean your footwear regularly and you'll feel like a champ.

Organisation and Productivity

Learn from Eisenhower's Importance/Urgency matrix.

Try out the two-minute rule and the Pomodoro technique.

Use. A. Planner. (Or Google Calendar, if that's more your thing.)

Try bullet journalling.

Keep a notebook/journal/commonplace book to dump your brain contents in on the regular.

Set morning alarms at two-minute intervals rather than five, and stick your alarm on the other side of the room. It's brutal, but it works.

Set three main goals each day, with one of them being your #1 priority. Don't overload your to-do list or you'll hit overload paralysis and procrastinate.

If you're in a slump, however, don't be afraid to put things like "shower" on your to do list - that may be a big enough goal in itself, and that's okay.

Have a physical inbox - a tray, a folder, whatever. If you get a piece of paper, stick it in there and sort through it at the end of the week.

Consider utilising the GTD System, or a variation of it.

Try timeboxing.

Have a morning routine, and guard that quiet time ferociously.

Have a folder for all your important documents and letters, organised by topic (e.g. medical, bank, university, work, identification). At the front of this folder, have a sheet of paper with all the key information written on it, such as your GP's details, your passport details, driving licence details, bank account number, insurance number(s), and so on.

Schedule working time and down time alike, in the balance that works for you.

Money

Have. A. God. Damn. Budget.

Use a money tracker like toshl, mint, or splitwise. Enter all expenses asap! (You will forget, otherwise.)

Have a 'money date' each week, where you sort through your finances from the past seven days and then add it to a spreadsheet. This will help you identify your spending patterns and whether your budget is actually working or not.

Pack your own frickin' lunch like a grown-up and stop buying so many takeaway coffees. Keep snacks in your bag.

Food and Cooking

Know how to cook the basics: a starch, a protein, a vegetable, and a sauce.

Simple, one-pot meals ("a grain, a green, and a bean") are a godsend.

Batch cook and freeze. Make your own 'microwave meals'.

Buy dried goods to save money - rice and beans are a pittance.

Consider Meatless Mondays; it's healthier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly.

Learn which fruits and vegetables are cheapest at your store, and build a standard weekly menu around those. (Also remember that frozen vegetables are cheap and healthy.)

Learn seasoning combinations. Different seasoning, even with the exact same ingredients, can make a dish seem completely new.

Misc

Have a stock email-writing format.

Want to start running, but find it boring? Try Zombies, Run!.

Keep a goddamn first aid kit and learn how to use it.

Update your CV regularly.

Keep a selection of stamps and standard envelopes for unexpected posting needs. (It happens more regularly than you would think!)

[reasonsforhope]

"At HarperCollins, a lot of attention and thought is given to deciding exactly what combinations of margin measurements, font, and layout feel most appropriate for the genre, and writing style.

But in a case of do-your-part environmentalism, designers at the publishing house have now standardized a series of subtle and imperceptible alterations to normal font style, layouts, and ink that have so far removed the need for 245 million book pages, totaling 5,618 trees.

Telling the story in Fast Company, representatives from HarperCollins, one of the four largest publishing houses in the world, explained that the idea first arose in Zondervan Bibles, HarperCollins’ Christian publishing division. Being that the Bible is 2,500 pages or sometimes more, saving ink and pages was not just an environmental consideration, but one of production costs.

A new typeface called NIV Comfort Print allowed Zondervan to shave 350 pages off of every Bible, which by 2017 had amounted to 100 million pages, and which, as Fast Company points out, would be four times higher than the Empire State Building if stacked.

The production and design teams then wondered how much they could save if they applied the same concepts to other genres like romance and fiction. Aside from the invention of the eBook, publishing hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years, and the challenge was a totally novel one for the teams—to alter all their preconceived ideas and try and find a font and typeface that resulted in fewer pages without being harder to read.

They eventually standardized 14 different combinations their tests determined were the most environmentally friendly, and which delivered an unchanged reading experience.

But the challenge didn’t stop there. Printed books, one might not know, are printed in large sheets which are then folded into sections of sixteen pages, meaning that Leah Carlson-Stanisic, associate director of design at HarperCollins, has to calculate the savings of space, words, and ultimately pages with the help of her team to fall in multiples of sixteen.

Nevertheless, they have been successful with it so far, and in the recent print run of one popular book, 1 million pages (or a number near 1 million that coincides with the 16 times tables) were saved.

“We want to make sure our big titles, by prominent authors, are using these eco-fonts,” Carlson-Stanisic said. “It adds up a little bit at a time, saving more and more trees.”"

-via Good News Network, April 4, 2024

--

Note: Great! Waiting to see this on the rest of their books and at the other big publishers!

Actually, though, it's worth noting that this may not come quickly to the other large publishers, because Harper Collins almost certainly owns that font - meaning that other publishers would have to pay HarperCollins in order to use it, on an ongoing basis.

More on publishing shit and more realistic solutions here below the cut!

What I'm hoping for and think is more likely is that this will inspire the development of open source eco-friendly fonts, which would be free for anyone to use. That would make it far more likely other publishers would adopt eco-friendly fonts.

I'm also hoping it would inspire other publishers to create similar eco-friendly fonts of their own.

Ideally, there would be a whole new landscape of (hopefully mostly open source) eco-friendly fonts. And/or to see calculations of the eco-friendliness of popular existing fonts, compared to each other.

If we could have a publicly accessible list of calculations for different fonts, including fonts designed to maximize eco-friendliness, I really do think that it would affect which fonts publishers choose to use. Here's why:

Most people in publishing are on the left (notoriously, actually) and really do care about the environment

People in publishing are plenty aware of these issues re: paper and trees, I promise

Shorter books means smaller production costs - and possibly smaller shipping costs as well, over time! So it would save them money too.

Eco-friendly fonts could also be combined with other measures for greater effect, such as bamboo paper (already in use for a lot of projects where page color/quality is more flexible) and thinner paper (aka paper with a lower weight) that uses less trees.

Don't expect books to all move to just one or two different fonts, though. Publishers and typesetters and font designers will innovate to create more options instead, though it will take longer. This is because different books really do use different fonts for various different reasons - one new font to rule them all isn't really a solution here.

"Every book is in the same font" may sound like a "whatever" deal to a lot of people, but as someone who works in publishing - trust me, it would actually make your reading experience worse, even if you could never quite put your finger on why.

[beachreg]

⊹₊⟡⋆ beachreg's show recs!!

Here's a list of shows/cartoons I watch while regressed to various ages!! Most of these are from the 90s or so since I'm not a fan of a lot of newer stuff!!

I've included their age ratings, years on air and a quick summary I found for each!! I hope you enjoy and maybe find something new to watch!! :D

⟡ = cartoons & ☆ = other shows!!

☆ Reading Rainbow (1999) — Levar Burton introduces young viewers to illustrated readings of children's literature and explores their related subjects.

⟡ Captain Planet and The Planeteers (TV-Y7, 1990-96) — A quintet of teenagers work together to encourage environmentally responsible behavior and can summon a superhero to deal with ecological disasters.

☆ The Crocodile Hunter (TV-G, 1996-2004) — Steve and wife Terri educate and entertain on the subject of Australia's all too often dangerous wildlife.

⟡ Gargoyles (TV-Y7, 1994-97) — A clan of heroic night creatures pledge to protect modern New York City as they did in Scotland one thousand years earlier.

☆ Between the Lions (TV-Y, 1999-2011) — Live action and animation blend together in this educational fantasy about a family of lions running a library filled with adventurous and musical books.

⟡ Pocoyo (TV-Y, 2005-Present) — Pocoyo, the curious toddler dressed all in blue, joins Pato the yellow duck, Elly the pink elephant, Loula the dog, Sleepy Bird and many others in learning new things and having fun.

⟡ Tiny Toons Adventures (TV-G, 1990-95) — The wacky adventures of the new young hip generation of Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters, most of them descendants of the original classic toon cast.

☆ Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (TV-Y, 1968-2001) — Fred Rogers explores various topics for young viewers through presentations and music, both in his world and in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

☆ Bill Nye the Science Guy (TV-Y, 1993-98) —Scientist/comedian Bill Nye explores various aspects of science for young viewers.

⟡ Wonder Pets! (TV-Y, 2006-16) — A turtle, a guinea pig and duckling save the day by using teamwork.

⟡ Dinosaur Train (TV-Y, 2009-23) — Friendly dinosaurs climb aboard a train to visit different times throughout the prehistoric age, learning about dinosaurs and having fun adventures.

☆ The Joy of Painting (TV-G, 1983-2024) — In this half-hour program, artist Bob Ross paints a beautiful oil painting on canvas.

⟡ VeggieTales (TV-Y, 1993-2015) — Bob the Tomato, Larry The Cucumber, and their friends teach Christian and Bible-based lessons in a fun way.

⟡ The Magic School Bus (TV-Y, 1994-97) — An eccentric teacher takes her class on wondrous educational field trips with the help of a magic school bus.

⟡ The Berenstain Bears (TV-Y, 1985-2004) — Inspired by the book series written by Stan and Jan Berenstain, join the Berenstain Bears family as they figure out life together. With friendly neighbors and close friends, the journey is never boring.

⟡ Courage the Cowardly Dog (TV-Y7, 1999-2002) — The offbeat adventures of Courage, a cowardly dog who must overcome his own fears to heroically defend his unknowing farmer owners from all kinds of dangers, paranormal events and menaces that appear around their land.

☆ The Wiggles (TV-Y, 1993-2022) — Learn how to sing and dance with Australia's fab four of fun, The Wiggles. Joined by their friends, Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog, the group go on all sorts of adventures.

⟡ Little Bear (TV-Y, 1995-2003) — A grizzly cub has many misadventures with his friends.

☆ Are You Afraid of The Dark? (TV-14, 1990-2000) — A group of teenagers meet in the woods and tell scary stories.

divider credits: @/strangergraphics!!

[notherpuppet]

Tagged by @az-roser this was fun! Thanks!

LAST SONG: Feel Special by TWICE

FAVORITE COLOR: Red ♥️💋🌹🍷❌🥀🍒💄🩸

CURRENTLY WATCHING: kpop music videos and video essays about solving the housing crisis in the USA. LOL I have to balance my brain

LAST MOVIE: I rewatched Final Destination 2, ahh that series is SO good but I’m literally hyperventilating the whole time i watch it! It’s great

CURRENTLY READING: Hazbin fanworks from Japan (thank you to the artists and Google translate). Many works are sold out, but I’ll link the artists under the cut.

All of Meguru Hinoharu’s work (My favorite is Kamisama no Uruko aka The Dragon’s Betrothed)

Also The Smithsonian magazine, it’s a great magazine 🥰

SWEET, SPICY OR SAVORY: All, every single day. But I am most enchanted by sweetness 🍫

RELATIONSHIP: not for me! 💚🤍🩶🖤

CURRENT OBSESSION: Hazbin Hotel ofc. Also TWICE, Beyonce, and Pokémon

LAST GOOGLED: “reusable mop” LOL I’m very eager to change the way I clean my floors. I’m trying to find the cheat code to a trifecta of convenience, environmentally-friendliness, and effectiveness. But I may just have to continue the classic way 🥴 isn’t life an exciting adventure? 🧼

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: “Morning After” part 4/4 and the concept for a new AU!? (Genderbent, human)

Hazbin mangaka whose works I am reading. Many are sold out, 18+, and/or freakayyy. So investigate with discretion. Twitter profiles of artists linked

- Marriage in Blue by Mr_Poorness

- Goodbye Ol’ Pal!! by kmsuzu

- Bomb Born Bon!! by kagimaruchisuke

- Stay Tuned by yomunow

- As You Wish, Voxy by ruriruko25

- Hello Bambi by yamiji84dp

- Miracle S*x Toy by usanoxp

- tmain04’s books

- some huskerdust fan books but neither have profiles I can find 😵‍💫

I bought all these on toranoana

[ckret2]

Ages ago I made a post about what Ford thinks about Bill (in a billford context), and I've had an infodump on what Bill thinks about Ford floating on discord for months, and an ask finally prompted me to post it, so here ya go:

If asked why he likes Ford, Bill himself claims that Ford overthinks everything, but in such fun, interesting ways, and Bill likes the way Ford thinks about things.

But really, Bill overthinks everything too; it's just he overthinks social things. He's always calculating how to persuade, control, manipulate people. He never has a conversation that isn't a chess game, it's exhausting and he won't even admit it's exhausting. When's the last time his top priorities weren't either "how do I convince some sucker to make a portal" or "ugggh I'm so SICK of the PORTAL I'm gonna THROW A PARTY and NOT THINK AT ALL"

Whereas Ford is guy who'd hear someone say something incorrect and bluntly go "no you're wrong" and accidentally offend the hell out of them because he's SO excited to share this fantastic information they don't know. The social world DOES NOT EXIST for him until he's reminded of it.

And so he's free to turn all his brainpower instead to. Like. The environmental impact of barf fairies on fern fertilizer or whatever.

Bill knows Everything™ but he's gotten tired of doing anything with that knowledge. They're all discrete points of information to him. He doesn't have time to muse over things, he's got an inventor to manipulate at 11pm and then a party to get to at midnight. He's never once in his life thought about the impact of barf fairies on the local flora. But he does happen to know the plants in that part of the woods are more acid-resistant and wow is that why???? He's never even thought to think about that before. Thousand year mystery that Bill didn't even notice has been solved.

(On the other hand "Ford doesn't think to think about the intricacies of social interaction" is also part of what makes him so easy to manipulate, he's so much more inclined to just accept at face value a friendly offer of assistance on a big academic project. Sure Bill's helping for the sake of scientific advancement in and of itself, why wouldn't he?)

Bill wants to just, fling random facts at Ford and see if he can think up connections between them. Go nerd boy go nerd boy go

"... So there you have it Ford, that's the problem you'll have to overcome with adapting alien machinery to human fuel sources, now I wanna hear YOUR thoughts on how to overcome that problem." "Well—" talks in an uninterrupted stream that by thirty minutes in has drifted over to the history of kerosene production, which he read an interesting book about between semesters in college— "... I've gotten off topic, haven't I?" "No no, I think you're on to something. This is how brainstorming works, free association of concepts. Keep going."

Ford in the morning: "... oh no I didn't let my muse get a word in edgewise for the rest of the dream, i didn't bore him did I?" Bill: "damn, I never noticed the patent process for hurricane lamps was so contentious. There's little dramas everywhere"

When things are going well, their relationship is,

Ford: "I just wanna hear Bill teach me things about the multiverse forever."

Bill: "I just wanna hear Ford think deeply on any topic that crosses his mind forever."

Both of them when they're in peak harmony: excitedly jabbering at each other at 200 words per minute about the stupidest topic you've ever heard, but you'd need a phd in at least two fields to comprehend it

That's love!!!

Ford, having historically been socially shamed: "... am I being weird?"

Bill: "💕❤️💓yeah❣️💖❤️‍🔥"

Sometimes I think about Bill watching Ford in his sleep and being in awe at this human-shaped genius: you with your beautiful electric mind, packed into this soft flawed uneven body. one would never know it from the outside—but you're in there. This genius with a mind like a galaxy. ... and he's like, growing hair and stuff. wild.

[balioc]

During my first semester of college, I was very...isolated.

As in: On average, I probably had two non-class-discussion conversations per week with other humans. One with my parents over the phone, and one casual two-minutes-at-most chat with another student as we passed by one another. Apart from that, I didn't engage. I didn't talk to my roommates, I didn't talk to people in the dining halls, I didn't have anything to do with parties or student groups or whatever. I certainly didn't have friends. I went to my classes, and did my homework, and apart from that I read books or played single-player video games or surfed the internet.

It wasn't foisted upon me. I chose that lifestyle, or at least I gravitated to it instinctively. There were friendly people around, there were certainly all sorts of student groups eager to recruit anyone they could, I could have at least tried being sociable with my roommates if I'd wanted. But I was standoffish, and proud, and determined to be psychically self-sufficient.

(The story has a happy ending, for those who care. At the beginning of the next semester, I randomly found a social group to which I was very well-suited, literally by seeing them through a window on a snowy night like something out of a Dickens novel; that group provided the core of a circle of friends that has stayed with me to this day, including my wife of many years. But this is all besides the point.)

During the months of isolation, I was definitely a bit mad, and I knew it. My thoughts ran in strange grooves, as thoughts will when you chew on them endlessly in solitude, and I adapted my mind and my habits to a world in which other humans really existed only as environmental features rather than as agents-in-a-meaningful-sense.

Was I lonely?

I definitely wouldn't have said so, at the time. In part because I wouldn't have wanted to say it. It would have felt like a humiliation, to say (even to myself) that I wanted intimacy that I didn't have. But I think I actually wouldn't say even now that I was lonely, as such. I didn't ache for the connections I didn't have. That part of my psyche was, at worst, numb. I was peculiar, and if I'd continued down that path I would no doubt have become extremely and perhaps irreversibly peculiar (in a different way from all the ways in which I am currently peculiar), but - I didn't invest mental energy in wanting the situation to be otherwise.

I don't know whether other people find themselves feeling similarly about similar situations. It seems plausible, at least.

[spielen-verrueckt]

Content of SOLARPUNX

Since I haven't made any real longposts on what the plans are for SOLARPUNX/SPX, I'll talk about it here. This is for anyone wondering what this project is and the type of story it's going to be

So, what is SOLARPUNX?

SOLARPUNX is going to be a webcomic (and printed comic book if possible) about a young übermensch and his sidekick robot friend that can change shapes, as well another friend from outside of his city.

The setting seems utopian and friendly at first, seeming like a perfect world powered by solar power with superheroes that protect the city. However, the dark truths are hidden away from public view, and no one except people with special privileges are allowed to leave the city, which is covered by a dome.

the Übermensch are special cyborgs commissioned by the military made for the purposes of defending the city and country as a whole. They have powers like super strength, enhanced survivability, and enhanced speed. The powers aren't as fantastical as the ones in cyborg009 though, like for example Joe's superspeed/time warp or Great Britain's shapeshifting are totally impossible here.

Our protagonist is Sam Shikajima, one of the "scrapped" übermensch. He resorted to being a scientist instead of a hero because he was forced out of the position due to a mental disability. However, he was still given the privilege to enter the surface in order to conduct further scientific research. Specifically, he's a marine biologist, which is why he always wears swimwear.

Elephant in the room: is it solarpunk?

Some might recognize that the name is a spoof on the solarpunk genre. And it kind of is. But does the comic fall into the genre of solarpunk in spite of the name?

Well, yes and no. I would imagine that fans of solarpunk would actually be strongly against my work because aspects of it contradict the philosophy of the movement.

According to the solarpunk manifesto, solarpunk is both a genre of fiction and a mindset of wanting it to become reality. Solarpunk enthusiasts dream of a world of sustainable technology, mostly solar-power, and a world that imagines nature and man living in harmony. It specifically says the key attributes of what makes solarpunk solarpunk according to the manifesto is:

The promotion of sustainable energy and social justice

About counterculture

Anti-nihilism, unlike cyberpunk 

Distinctly NOT dystopian or apocolyptic

Utopian 

Before I state the differences, let me list the similarities. SOLARPUNX, like solarpunk, is pro social justice. A massive theme is anti-colonialism, and the comic has several LGBT characters and people of color, if that matters to anyone. I am also a strong believer in environmentalism and sustainable energy, and the setting of the city-dome is very stereotypically solarpunk, with solar panels and nature bustling alongside futuristic-looking buildings. 

But that’s where things start to differ. The setting and themes of SOLARPUNX is highly dystopian, and the story makes commentary on fascism and eco-fascism. SOLARPUNX as a story could be seen as a criticism against the solarpunk philosophy. 

Even though the innards of the city-dome look like a beautiful bustling sustainable dystopia, everyone that lives there lives a great lie. The bustling metropolis is only delegated to the city, and nowhere else. Outside of the city is known as the surface, where dreams go to die. It’s a total wasteland, with broken-down buildings, dead trees everywhere, and little fauna. The earth of SOLARPUNX is post-apocolyptic, with the earth already being destroyed by environmental destruction by humans of the past, which is why most animals are extinct and so much land is barren and destroyed. To avoid spoiling anything, the government is doing something very evil on the surface and is hiding it from the “public”. The people of the country essentially live in a 1987-like evil fascist dystopia. 

The themes of SOLARPUNX touch on nihilism. The name of “übermensch” for the cyborg soldiers is a double-entendre. Übermensch here is an obvious reference to the name for the ideal aryan model for humans by the nazis, but the name originally come from Nietzsche’s writing that describes a person who has transcended lowly human desires and values. Aspects of this transcendence are reflected in the main character through the story. 

Nietzsche's writing is often misunderstood as nihilistic, and based on what i’ve said about the story it may also be read as nihilistic. But, it’s not. In fact, SOLARPUNX is hopeful in spite of the pain. The world of the story really isn’t much different than ours. There is death, poverty, colonialism, genocide, and environmental destruction all around us, and yet we prosper. It’s not something that should be ignored and we need to get over, but we have to fight against. SOLARPUNX seeks to challenge power and broken systems. The world might be shit, but it’s not worth wallowing or killing yourself over. 

It is really about addressing the rise of ecofascism and greenwashing, and how that can be tools for colonialism and genocide. The solarpunk aesthetic has been most often used for greenwashing, and it's honestly what I think of when I think of the genre. I’ve never read any solarpunk work and I've only seen it as an aesthetic in advertisements and graphic design, which seems ironic and antithetical to the cause that the genre/art movement wants to promote. There are also no notable solarpunk tv shows, books or movies I can even name aside from mayyybe the canceled 2015 astro boy reboot and the 2003 version of the franchise could also be vaguely seen as solarpunk-esque, and of course some studio ghibli stuff which was cited as an inspiration for the genre. (there’s also Supa Team 4 made by triggerfish, although I don’t think it was intended as a solarpunk work. Then again, most of the stuff labeled as ‘solarpunk’ isn’t.) 

So is SOLARPUNX truly solarpunk? I would imagine probably not, because it’s not utopian. It’s depressing, but it’s not un-hopeful. The story believes in the same things that solarpunk does, but in a more subverted way. I don’t hate solarpunk, but I just saw an opportunity to take influence from the idea to make something out of it. think of it as putting punk in solarpunk.

I have no idea what the solarpunk community will think of our work, we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t even know what I will think of it, I’ve never made comics before or written anything before, this is all new and exciting. I’m an artist that will learn an grow over the process of my creation, and I hope anyone reading will be open to seeing what I will make.