#rural solarpunk

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

We're (finally) uploading season two to YouTube, so people can stream it there if that is how they prefer to interact with their podcasts. We're planning to upload an episode of S2 every second Monday (on the off-weeks between new episodes). Check it out!

[alpaca-clouds]

Rural Living vs Capitalism

Something I find rather funny is this one thing that somehow left wing and right wing people will agree on: They kinda hate farmers and their protests and them wanting living wages - just for different reasons. Like, sure, there is a certain group of right wing traditionalists who idealize farmers, but pretty much everyone else just is angry with them in one way or another.

Among left wingers I usually make myself unpopular by looking at farmer protests and go: "Yeah, well, actually they are right?" Because most of the times the protesting farmers are the smaller and middle sized farms, who get fucked over by the big coorporate farms. And that is an issue. It is among the issues they are protesting about.

And this is a general thing when it comes to the rural communities.

See, a lot of times left wing people tend to be rather suspicious of rural folks, having this idea that everyone in rural areas is super conservative - not to say racist, misogynist and queerphobic. And... Like, we know that statistically speaking a lot more people with "conservative" ideas (if not outright rightwing) live in the rural areas, which has to do with folks in those areas generally being older. And if younger families move into rural areas, they often are better off and hence statistically also more likely to be right-leaning at the very least.

However, the fact is that nobody gets quite as fucked over by capitalism as people in the rural areas are - both farmers and people just living there. And there are always people living in rural areas for the other reason people might move there: The fact that living in rural areas is on the surface a lot cheaper. Homes are cheaper there at the very least.

But that is where it starts. Because rural folks get fucked over in so many way. Generally there is the fact that a lot of other stuff is more expensive in the rural areas. Often amenities might be more expensive. You want fast internet? Lol good luck finding someone offering it. The internet cables lying in your village are probably like 15 years old. You remember ISDN? You wanna go shopping? Well, you gotta drive 30-60 minutes to the next supermarket. Need new clothes? Well, it is a two hour drive now. Also, the supermarket might be more expensive than the one in the city. You cannot drive a car for some reason? Well, we have a bus that comes two times a day, if you miss it, you are fucked. The next train station is like an hour away. Mostly because for "small" rural communities it is just not payign under capitalism to put all those things into the villages. A big supermarket? Does not make enough money there. Fast internet? Costs too much to put down there. The same with everything else. And thus... Because capitalist companies want to make a profit, a lot of stuff is not available in rural areas. In the worst cases this leads to food deserts - large areas where no supermarkets and ways to get food (other than fast food joints) are avaialble.

Oh, and schools? At times the next school might be more than an hour away as well.

And if you are a farmer? Well, if you are a small farmer you are fucked as well. Because no way in hell are you able to work your farm as efficiently as a coorporate farm management company is able to, who underpay the farmers working for them. Those companies can afford for giant automated systems, too, that take care of a lot of the stuff. Things that a lot of smaller farmers just cannot pay for or need to go into dept for.

So, in so many ways... Yeah, people in rural areas get fucked over again and again. Both people living there - and the farmers. And... Well, yeah. Of course because in the rural areas people tend to be a lot more conservative - but in the end they might be fucked over more than anyone else by capitalism. And due to the lack of basically everything around them, they often lack access to the information of how and why they are fucked over.

Which is not to say, that there are not left wing organizations active in rural areas. And some people there start to see how they get fucked over.

But I just wished for left wing people to also realize that this really is a big issue. And have some sympathy for those people.

[solar-sunnyside-up]

hey! sorry to bother you, but is there anything a teen without transportation in a rural area can do on their own? im pretty isolated, and theres barely anything around me.

Hey ya sprout 🌱

**A disclaimer Punk comes with some risk socially. Particularly if your in a rural area this risk goes up bc people Know You and also typically these spaces have a different vibe to alt ppl in general. Some activities are more or less risky and I'll try and do my best to give you a range of stuff from the whole spectrum! Of course this is a generalization of rural areas. Some palaces will be more cool then others depending in so many factors I couldn't go into here**

Rural solarpunk

Your gunna been to pick a topic, sorry babe. In order to not burn yourself out and in order to feel like you have an impact your gunna have to pick a cause to chip away at but I'll give you ideas! And remember just bc your focusing on one thing doesn't mean your ignoring or not helping others. Everything is interconnected and any help, helps all!

So let's give you some ideas to focus on:

Libraries- as a teen in particular you'll have access to a library at school, but depending on how big your town is you might have a public one as well. Become their biggest supporter! They are a great safe space, even conservative ones are still a good place to go for archiving/loitering purposes. They give you spaces to print stuff, to build clubs and community.

Archiving- if you cannot leave your house due to access you can always do stuff online and hear me out, i know when we do stuff online it feels like half points. Like we arent doing anything. I feel that with this blog, it feels so passive no matter how hard you work youll feel lesser. But Archiving is vital to humans! Think of the anthropologists wholl thank you down the road! Plus it does actually give you a way to have a physical representative of work your doing. Dvds, pirating media and archiving them to drives, collecting vinyls/tapes/cds!

DIY- To fight against fast fashion (although that barely exists in the towns I've been in tbh) and to stick out** you could make your own patches, battlejackets, gloves, etc.. They are statement pieces you can wear whenever your in town/at school/social spaces that ppl know what you stand for and who you are. Depending on who/where you are this might be risky so take what you can bare ok? You don't have to wear these items too you can just make them for later on!

Little libraries/little pantries- in a rural space you have more Gruella tactics you can take if you do them in random abandoned spaces. You could build a waterproof little pantry and stock it and leave info somewhere about it for ppl to drop off/pick up items. Stock it with mittens! With canned goods! With books! You might be able to do a space like this at school/library depending in how cool your town is too!

Zines- You could look into making a zine and even if it's digital you could have the QR code for download in places (stickers on lamp posts, flyers in school bathrooms, hidden in a churches pamphlet stacks >.>) making a zine is a cool task that is time consuming and informative and fun!

Vandalism- like I said you can often print off stuff at Libraries, or usually you can find a place to print stuff off near or at post offices depending on how modern your rural space is. if you have your own printer this will reduce your risk by quite a bit though! Create/find stickers or posters you want to toss across town or even school. I'd recommend starting off with some stickers and see how their handled, dipping your toes is important with these kinda things. If your really feeling it, and you know some abandoned places Moss Graffiti is also a good option! I've know ppl who have converted old abandoned stored to skate parks (I honestly have no idea how they built the ramps out of concrete but damn!! Good job guys!)

Also I'll leave you with 2 book recommendations as well-

Moxie - a RIOT GRRRL story about a girl who gets so fed up with her conservative town she makes a feminist zine and distributes it via girl bathrooms (even having a basically me too stickers and encouraging ppl to put it on boys lockers who have assaulted them). I know there's a movie, didn't seem to capture the same vibe tho so book!

Braiding Sweetgrass - this focuses a lot on reconnecting and adding story to nature around us and having science along side spirituality

[cognitivejustice]

Rural China goes solarpunk

Viewed from a distance, Lianxing looks more like a solar energy farm than a rural village of 457 households. There are solar photovoltaic panels on almost all its rooftops and in every courtyard.

For generations, residents of the village in Wuyuan county, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, depended on straw, firewood and coal for cooking and heating. But they have now abandoned those fuels, which often made their homes dirty, 40-year-old villager Shi Baohong said.

The new power generation facilities have also brought villagers a consistent stream of income with little effort. Shi earns almost 10,000 yuan ($1,400) a year from his solar PV panels and said there is still enough space between them to plant herbs and other cash crops in his courtyard of more than 300 square meters.

As China forges ahead with energy transition and rural vitalization, Lianxing and its almost 1,400 residents are a microcosm of the synergy that can be generated when the two campaigns are promoted simultaneously.

Local authorities said the distributed solar PV system in Lianxing went into operation in 2017, three years after villagers moved into new homes fitted with solar panels. Households in the village now make an average of 8,000 yuan a year from selling solar energy to the grid.

Villagers did not have to pay for the new houses or power generation facilities thanks to a land-use rights transfer project. After their resettlement, the land previously covered by the villagers' old, dilapidated houses was turned into more than 130 hectares of farmland.

"Villagers didn't pay even a single penny. It was a house-for-house deal, and that's not half bad," the village's Party chief, Li Chou, said.

All the costs for the new houses and solar panels were covered by the company that invested in a large-scale agricultural development project.

In Donglian village, in Gansu's Gaotai county, many families can earn 1,000 yuan a year without having to make any investment or do maintenance work. They lease their rooftops to a company for distributed solar PV development.

source

[starrysolarpunk]

To all ruralpunks out there,

It's frustrating to not have a way to get involved with your local community. We don't typically have things like public libraries, community centers, farmer's markets, etc.

Something that's worked for me is getting involved with my local church. There is a church in every town here in the South, that is the one thing you can rely on aside from a post office. I'm not a Christian and never will be, but in my community the church is the center of getting involved and holds all sorts of events like soup kitchens, community yard sales, etc.

I go to a United Methodist Church, which is lgbtq affirming. I've heard episcopalians are too. I never feel pressured to do communion or convert. I go there to sing and help out people in my community, and people are respectful of that.

Use your discretion in finding a church to go to. Not all will have the same kind of environment mine does, but places like this exist out there and are helpful resources for those of us who do not have the same options as city folk.

[solarpunkbusiness]

Very interesting new and different business models and business ideas for rural markets in global North.

Millennial Farmers: The New Fashion Pioneers

One of the most exciting aspects of this movement is the connection between millennial farmers and the fashion industry. Here are some real-life examples.

• Regenerative agriculture for textiles in which millennial farmers are increasingly adopting practices focused on improving soil health, conserving water and sequestering carbon. Some farms are now growing cotton, flax and other fibers using regenerative techniques. These materials are used in fashion and represent a significant shift away from traditional, resource-intensive farming.

• The use of organic and eco-friendly dyes in textile production is on the rise. Many millennial farmers are experimenting with plant-based dyes — such as indigo — and incorporating them into fashion. These natural dyes not only reduce the environmental impact but also create unique, earthy colors.

• Farms that raise animals for wool, leather and other textiles are taking a more ethical approach. By ensuring the welfare of the animals, these farmers are producing high-quality, sustainable materials for fashion brands that prioritize animal welfare.

• Millennial farmers are embracing the direct-to-consumer model, much like they do with farm produce. They sell fibers and materials directly to fashion brands, cutting out intermediaries and ensuring transparency in the supply chain. This connection appeals to fashion brands that want to know where their materials come from.

• Millennial farmers are also choosing to wear and support sustainable fashion brands that align with their values. It’s a way of living the principles of slow living not just in farming but in every aspect of their lives.

[ahedderick]

Weather

Welp, I did my winter bed-update just in time. There are snowflakes drifting in the air outside!

Last evening Husband was checking the weather, and decided we'd better move the apples and potatoes from cool storage in the woodshed up to the attic. The attic stays cold in the winter, but never dips below freezing, so it's perfect for storing root veg and apples. The only drawback is lugging them up there. It took us a couple of trips lugging 5 gallon buckets, boxes, and wire baskets, but we got them all in. The attic also gets quite hot in the summer, which (I hope) means that if there were any mold spores from last year's potatoes hanging around, they'd be killed off by heat.

We have So Many potatoes and apples. I made two pies yesterday.

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Tried to run a climate café in my village today, but nobody showed up. Feeling discouraged but I’m going to keep trying. Guess I’ll eat all the snacks I baked myself…

[crazysolaranarchist]

Hedges and how to lay 'em.

(weird first post, I found these photos on my phone and wanted to write something. Sorry if my formatting repulses you- I'm new around these parts, my grammar will be bad coz tired. This guide is only to spark the imagination, please consult a variety of sources before carrying out a task such as this)

Hedges. Not the planted rows Buxus or Leylandii that many in Western Europe have become accustomed to as the staple boundary, I'm talking about the old fashioned, stock boundary hedge.

Tools and equipment

PPE, including waterproof clothing and acceptable footwear.

A billhook or hatchet

A pruning saw

Welding gauntlets

First of all we need to lay some basic principles out. Angiosperm trees can heal themselves quite well in funny ways that make them grow in strange ways, case in point 👇

(Credit: Gardener's path)

As long as layer of various plant based plumbing, xylem and phloem, remains a it can survive an injury such as this one 👇 that I made,

(Sorry the photo is crap, my phone camera isn't great).

Why did I do this? Am I a sick, twisted motherfucker who likes to torture trees? No. Well sometimes on a Saturday evening with consent from all parties, but this my friends is the starting move to laying a hedge. (Note, this should be done when the sap isn't flowing, my preference is January to February, but can be carried out from October to March in the northern hemisphere).

Individual trees on a bank in a row are referred to as pleachers. These require a 45 (ish) degree cut to be made three quarters of the way through the stem. It should then be bent over👇

(Credit: Devon rural skills hub)

This pleacher, if not the first, can be woven into the rest, wear gloves for the love of God almighty. This is an intricate job, a neat hedge should have very little lean and brush should preferably be concentrated in gaps. Cutting the pleacher will leave a pointed wedge of wood at the base of the stem, called a spar, this can impale someone if not cut off so please do.

This is the completed hedge, which is laid in the Glamorgan style.

The trees that make up the hedge will grow into a thick, tall, living barrier.

Hedges must be relaid over generations, and soon enough I'll have a video detailing how to plant a hedgerow.

History

Hedgerows were invented by John Hedge and his husband Hugh Row in 1755...oh no that's my rural history fanfic. Hedges were actually invented by, well actually we don't know. I've heard it said that they've cropped up in the fertile crescent and ancient Rome. My personal theory is that they are a Neolithic or earlier invention which resulted from a failed coppicing attempt (coppicing post coming to a Tumblr blog near you) the individual who happened to do it may have discovered that the tree was still alive and thus the possibilities of tree shaping were extended to barriers.

Now, as an ancom who decries attempts to stifle the rights of the proletariat, I would be remiss in informing you of one important part of hedge history: the enclosure of the commons. Common land formerly was land for people to graze stock, pannage pigs, forage, hunt and collect firewood. The inclosure act of 1773 allowed private landowners to close common off from the commoners thus creating starvation. And it was all done with hedges, eco-friendly opression of the working class! Yaaaaay!

The importance of hedgerows.

Hang on, you may think to yourself, eco-friendly? How is savaging trees eco-friendly? Good question, dear reader. For a number of reasons;

The regrowth of trees means no loss of fruit or flowers in the long run, thus providing food resources to animals.

Shelter is provided to herps, inverts, nesting birds and small mammals through a diverse branch structure.

The general damp and dim conditions provides a safe haven for bryophytes and fungi.

The hedgebank is a bread and butter to the burrowing animal. Foxes, badgers and rabbits all frequently use hedgebank as the entrance to their dens, setts and warrens.

They act as wildlife corridors for animals to travel from habitat to habitat, thereby helping to combat habitat fragmentation.

Hedgerows in Wales have declined 50% since the second world war and the push to mechanise agriculture. 60% of our current hedgerows are in a substandard condition.

There is a human benefit too, and it isn't just the confinement of livestock.

My maternal family are South Welsh rural folk: foresters, shepherds and the like. My paternal family are Romanichal, who lived a nomadic life in former days. Both have one thing in common: life without the hedgerow that provided fruit and meat would have been a damn site much harder than what it already was.

Therefore I advocate the hedge not only to preserve wildlife but also to provide ample wild fruits (though I wouldn't recommend crab apples to eat, other trees like bullaces and medlars are excellent) and meat for the poorer rural working class, the ever increasing rural homeless population and whomever else needs it.

DISCLAIMER!!!!

I haven't covered everything here, so if you don't look up any other sources you'll probably bugger up somewhere. Please do your homework and make sure you don't injure yourself, or potentially harm nature.

[zeestarfishalien]

Legit! Also those fancy Lithium batteries that go in electric cars?

THOSE FUCKERS ARE A BITGG TO GET RID OF. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!?! HIGHLY TOXIC and we want MORE OF THEM????

A: there is a perfectly reasonable option to fund and improve upon that would use existing structures and not drain on power grids and it’s called Hydrogen Cars. Okay?

B: MORE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE GET RID OF AS MUCH OF THE CAR INDUSTRY AS WE CAN

Side note: it will be highly difficult to get rid of all of it bc of large rural areas BUT we can cut it back by SOOOO much but NUOOOOO that doesn’t make the multi-million and multi-billionaires the same insane amount of money that cars do.

Cars that are increasingly more expensive, less accessible to work on from home, and made of cheaper and cheaper parts.

Legit my dad and some of his coworkers changed the brake pads on some lady’s vehicle (something they’ve all done before) and they couldn’t get it to work right bc the computer in her pickup needs to be reset which is something the common layman cannot do. I call BULLSHIT it’s stupid it’s garbage and I hate it

Best idea I've ever fucking heared.

[video ID: A tiktok with video footage of various trains and mellow music in the background a (male-sounding) voiceover and white text on the video say: "if the train doesn't make a profit, why should we keep it??" The voiceover continiues: "The train isn't making money, I don't see why we need to keep it" Oh I think you're right! let's get rid of the other thing that doesn't make any profit at all

During the last words the background fades from footage of trains to photos of cars on a highway with a spreadsheet of highway spending sorted by US state rolling over the screen - it's too fast to read anything but you can see that the numbers are high. It blends in white text that reads: Highways Don't make Profit Either

The voiceover continiues: guess we have to get rid of them! *the music changes to dramatic orchestra while the voiceover guy laughs like a cartoon villan*

New photos of large highways show up in increasing frequency in tune with the speed of the music. White text pops up that reads: Fund the Goddam trains instead of this bullshit

With the text still on screen the background fades to a video of a tire landfill with a huge dark cloud of smoke coming it.

A tiktok outro crediting @alanthefisher

End ID]

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

To kick off Season 2 of Solarpunk Presents, Ariel and I (Christina) laced up our boxing gloves and had a friendly debate about the best place to try to live solarpunk lives: in the city or in the countryside. Is the solarpunk life all about peaceful living in harmony with your neighbors, your garden, and your chickens away from the thrum of the city, or is it all about taking up less space (by living in an apartment), helping out in the community garden, and riding the bus?

Here are links to some of the literature we discussed:

Ariel's note: this is a constructed debate, and not necessarily reflective of the opinions of all solarpunks everywhere, but a debate that Christina and I see fairly often in solarpunk spaces, so we wanted to duke it out in a fun and engaging way to provoke thought.

Connect with Solarpunk Presents Podcast on Twitter @SolarpunkP, Mastodon @solarpunkpresents@climatejustice.rocks, or at our blog https://solarpunkpresents.com/

Connect with Ariel at her blog, on Twitter at @arielletje, and on Mastodon @arielkroon@wandering.shop

Connect with Christina at her blog, on Twitter @xtinadlr, and on Mastodon @xtinadlr@wandering.shop

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Did you know that cottagecore has been known to have ties to fascism and colonialism?

this was the link added in a separate ask, and it is a very good conversation so I'm putting at the top here!! https://www.tumblr.com/solarpunkcast/189377668416/time-to-stop-tagging-cottagecore-alongside Yes I am very aware of this problem. While I think it's a problem to fix, I don't think it's worth abandoning the entire thing. To be brief though if you can't read the linked think yourself, cottagecore, and trad like sub cultures always have ideas of colonialism, classism, ableism, racism, sexism baked into them. And in general just a very western perspective to things. So I totally understand why this is gross to ppl who are looking to escape those systems through solarpunk. These points are the most important part to this convo, I think these points should be on everyone's mind when interacting with almost any aesthetic. We as a solarpunk community aren't safe from Nazi shit. we aren't safe from our bigotry seeping in. And if anything I post is either tied to or supporting this you let me know I'll sort it out (with violence and arson where needed) I think cottagecore in particular is a … weird one. A lot of its bones of cottagecore are related to why ppl like Solarpunk. But not just that. It was born in a time of isolation, of the government abandoning it's citizens during a plague, of burn out over ungrateful and exploitive jobs. Ppl where rejecting the American Dream in mass, questioning the appeal of city and career. Instead they wanted so badly to make clothes for their friends, to read books on rainy days and make soup, to have control over their food supply. I know many ppl in solarpunk who started in that initial trend of cottagecore and then realized they didn't have to day dream about a cottage lifestyle that half of them couldn't even live bc of accessability. They could build it where they were. For me the reason is bc cottagecore is this gutteral reaction. There is something WRONG with society, and our natural instinct, particularly when burnt out and too tired to even dream of a better place, we think of running away. Run away from war, from environmental disaster, from the bigots on your doorstep that want you dead. Run. it's the only option!! But then they tend to create small social circles through crafts and recipes, jokes about coliving with friends in the city, and somewhere in there they realize ppl need each other. Slowly the mentality goes from a flight response to a "I'm going to just do what I want in the place I already live" and mutual aid and common spaces form almost on accident. But bc of the base appeal, just like homemaking circles, the community that doesn't examines things further tend to breed this  Colonialistic, ablest, sexist culture of farm life being the only answer. But I don't blame cottagecore for this if we don't give them any other options to remove the bigotry but keep the helpful, kind and sweet parts. I like to think about it like Riot grrrl, a group with good intents that didn't dissect just ENOUGH of the problem to remove the racism from their ideals. But there where still parts worth saving, parts worth reusing and refining and protecting. There were ppl in these circles that took it to the next step of equality, that handled that problem of solidarity and inclusion. But many stayed within the Riot grrl circles to refine this rather then abandon it in its entirety. I think it's worth letting cottage core go through the process of letting them know better is possible even within their aesthic niche. Just know I'm not turning my eye from this, I won't ever turn my eye from the truth. I know it's a festering wound that could kill off any good intent it had. I just think it should be given the chance to realize the overlap we have.

[syppys-den]

I would die for this robot ^^

Sol by Alisa Nikishin

[cognitivejustice]

Rural Rebellion is more than an exhibition – it’s an invitation to see rural areas as sources of inspiration for sustainable, collaborative, and regenerative living 

by focusing on rural renewal, Hesse and his team advocate for rural areas as vital spaces for societal progress, ecological sustainability, and a new architectural ethos | image © Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk

[solarpunkbusiness]

Local co-operatives — a common way of doing business in rural areas 100 years ago — still have some potential to create or preserve business and jobs in small communities, suggests a new report from the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities (ACSRC) at Augustana Campus. “There’s an untapped opportunity for different kinds of co-ops to play more meaningful economic roles in smaller communities,” says Clark Banack, director of the ACSRC and lead author of the report.

Case studies of each co-operative revealed that they’ve all helped keep money in their communities, boosted local jobs, added to the tax base and provided opportunities for business skills upgrading in leadership, management, accounting and negotiation, Banack notes.

“In these communities where people can see a successful co-op model, it shows what community collaboration can do and how resilience can be added into rural communities. Even by adding three or four jobs, that can mean more families moving into or staying in a community, which could keep a health clinic or a school open.”

[justalittlesolarpunk]

such a cool blog!! tell me though cause I’m curious, do you live in a big city, small city, suburbia, town, rural area etc? seeing some of your suggestions which have different levels of feasibility depending on this

I’ve actually lived all over! I grew up in a megacity, have spent the last few years living extremely rurally, and now have moved to a small city! Obviously all these different places have different advantages. I was much more able to join activist networks and take advantage of amenities in my first home, but when we moved to the countryside I could finally breathe cleaner air and start connecting to the seasons and learning the names of plants and animals. Now I live in a small city I’m trying to combine the best of both worlds, and I’m keen to get experience living in as many different types of places as possible in future, cost and other circumstances permitting.