#solarpunk ideas

[greenhorizonblog]

Rough sketches for an idea of dual purpose covered bike and walkway, inspired by victorian and art nouveau architecture and decoration style. What do you think? :)

[solar-sunnyside-up]

[twiggybeing]

if we had cyberpunk style body augmentation shit I would ship of theseus myself as performance art piece

in a transgender way of course

[tenderanarchist]

“We Can Grow A Better World” backpatch, linocut on canvas, 13” x 9.5”, December 2022.

[mostlyghostly42]

there needs to be libraries for video games

like how libraries have computers for anyone to come in and use for free, you should be able to go in and play any game you can find on the shelves on a video game console available in the library for free

the consoles should also be powered by solar power n stuff as well

[roobiedo]

Made this for the Solarpunk Aesthetic Week server in a sudden creative fever, so I guess I'll post it here too hh

A relative of mine knows someone who teaches kids, so I'm gonna suggest this as an art project for them! The idea is that students could each make/decorate their own shelf, then put them together to form a hive, which could function as mini lockers in their classrooms. Then, by the end of the school year or something, they could either take their own little shelf home (or exchange them with their peers?), or recycle them into materials for the next class! Hopefully it'll teach them about pollinators too 🐝

Idk how doable this project is really, and its scary to imagine one of my silly designs could actually become something tangible irl. But even so, I'm still excited to try 🥰 (And if anyone else attempts this too, please let me know!!!)

[solarpunkani]

Am I legally allowed to say that

“Solarpunk started as an aesthetic/literary movement so stop getting pissy when you see a lot of aesthetic/literary stuff in the tags and convos people have about it.”

And

“Solarpunk has and continues to rapidly evolve to include much more than aesthetics and thats great and valid and awesome expanding our aesthetic ideals into tangible work we can do for a better future and better now is fantastic.”

And

“With that being said, you don’t have to diss on the people who post mostly aesthetic stuff, and you don’t have to try and act like solarpunk was Always a Political/Radical Action Movement and had no history as an aesthetic/literary genre in order for your actions to be Valid.”

Are all points that can and should coexist?

[paper-starz]

You know what would be REALLY cool?

if someone created a world with all the different punk genres (steampunk, dieselpunk, raypunk, etc) and just connected them all together in a single timeline.

I think that would be really cool. Like you see one character's childhood in the idk dieselpunk era, then their 20s in the atompunk era, cassette futurism in their 30s-40s, and so on.

Maybe theres a greater story happening in the background while this character is growing up.

[omniiac]

The Apocalypse is over, now it's time to start a solarpunk society. Which item are you choosing to help you do it?

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk Game Ideas: CRPGs

Here I go on with my ideas for Indie Solarpunk games, that are not some sort of building sim or farming sim - and of course I cannot do this without mentioning CRPGs.

Mind you, despite what you might think given that over the course of the last year I have barely played anything but a certain CRPG (BG3), CRPGs are actually not really a genre of game I am super into, even though some of my favorite games are CRPGs. But as a genre in general I usually like faster paced games a lot more. It is just that when I hyperfocus on something that usually is a result of me getting obsessed with a character from it - and that is more likely to happen with a CRPG than with a metroidvania.

But how to do a Solarpunk CRPG?

The Issue:

Look, there really are not any CRPGs right now that are in any way Solarpunk. And I would argue this goes again back to the issue that people struggle with telling stories within a Solarpunk setting, as they are too set in the idea that a) Solarpunk needs to be an utopian setting (or a setting that pretends to be utopian) and b) that utopian settings will not allow for any conflict whatsoever. Additionally there is of course also the issue that most CRPGs do involve violence in form of fighting, which is what a lot of people struggle with - even though some amazing indie games like Disco Elysium have shown very well, that you can do a CRPG without a combat system.

So, let's go over some ideas for Solarpunk CRPGs.

Idea #1: Off-Brand Princess Mononoke

If you follow me for any time, you might know that to me there is no movie or piece of media that is more Solarpunk than Princess Mononoke. And thankfully we can easily build a sort of CRPG around it, either with a similar historical setting or just a fullon fantasy setting. Because remember: Solarpunk does not need to be Science Fiction!

No matter whether you go with a historical setting or just a full-on fantasy setting, the idea is fairly easy: The player character has a magical problem and they need the help of some sort of spirits. As they travel to the place of the spirit, they find out that the spirits are in a war with some group of humans, that are encroaching of the home of the spirits, because they try to access some sort of ressources, driving the spirits nearly to extinction. The player would have the choice in the end which side to join - or whether they will try to broker peace between spirits and humans.

Bonus: You'd have several choices how to play the game - but it is not a clear cut "good" and "evil", especially when the humans might have good reasons to need the ressource.

Idea #2: A SciFi Conspiracy

This idea is very much for a somewhat shorter game. Think a bit more like "Shadowrun Returns". Something that has more like 15 to 20 minutes of a runtime.

We go with the idea I brought up in one of the other ideas before: We have a Solarpunk world, that runs on mainly anarchist principles, and there are some arguments going about over some of the security mechanisms. (Anarchy can after all not properly work, if some people have weapons and others don't have - but you cannot undo the existence of weapons.) Our main character is part of some security force, that mostly are just trained to deescalate situations, but are in some cases allowed to use force.

And when a group of pro-capitalists or maybe even actual fascists start a conspiracy to take over the government, and they already have some co-conspirators in all positions. And the main characters need to navigate this with a mixture of diplomacy and violence, with the player getting a fairly good influence on how this plays out.

Idea #3: A Natural Disaster

Let me take one approach, that is inspired by one of the most Solarpunk movies, that is not by Ghibli: Misaki no Mayogai. That movie takes place after the Tohoku earthquake and is very much about mutual aid in the community.

And here is the thing: No, CRPGs do not need to have combat. So this is an idea for a CRPG without combat. We have a natural disaster of some sort. Honestly it does not matter. An earthquake, a flood, a vulcano... Can be anything. It just did destroy a lot of stuff in a big area. And the game is very much about rebuilding after this disaster, about people helping each other through mutual aid, and then building something better from it. It could feature a society going full Solarpunk if you want to (like a positive post-apocalypse) or just something getting a bit better. Build back better and such.

And if you are interested in creative Solarpunk endeavors, I would love to invite you into the Solarpunk Creatives community! :)

[smell-the-dirt]

DIY newspaper pots: an illustrated guide

Cut a newspaper sheet into quarters, then fold each quarter in half.

Find a beer bottle or other cylinder (~2" in diameter) and wrap a folded quarter-sheet around it. Ensure the "hanging" portion of the wrapped sheet is longer than the radius of the bottle.

Fold the hanging portion over the end of the bottle to form the bottom of the pot.

Remove the formed pot from the bottle.

Roll the rim inward to help the pot maintain its shape. The weight of the soil should prevent the bottom of the pot from unfolding.

The end result is a biodegradable dirt-holder. This size is ideal for starting seeds.

[solar-sunnyside-up]

I'm really curious about what you think schooling would look like in a Solarpunk world/future!

Because the current public school system is broken af and the homeschool system isn't much better. I personally have looked into things like Sudbury schools and found good things and also issues. I've always been a proponent of the IDEA of Unschooling (which I understand to be, letting the child learn naturally through the world around them, learn reading through reading to them or teaching math and even basic chemistry through teaching them to cook, etc) but it seems like most parents use it as an excuse to not educate their kids...

I really think kids should learn practical things alongside the Academic stuff (three Rs, science, etc) but no system seems right...

Oooh boy! Have I thought about this one endlessly!

So background info that I have to frame where I'm coming from-

A- the current system is built for school>> factory worker pipeline

B) it also evolved from ppl working at factories and needing to put their kiddos somewhere while they worked their 9-5! Thus Sunday school evolved from something to teach basic literacy to a full time job for children (it's legit nearly 40 hour weeks for CHILDREN) so there's a lot of padded time to ensure they meet that quota

C) it's used of a massive scale it was NOT designed to be used at

Soooo!! Let's imagine a better one!

Personally, based on children's development I think schooling should be broken up into focused chunks and then obvi each kiddo should be able to work at their own pace within these chunks of time.

0-6 Motor and sensory skills- introduced to music/shapes/building, "helping" with community chores (laundry/windows/dishes/sweeping), basics of plants/gardens, learning about transportation and basic navigation.

7-10 Written- literacy (reading/printing/telling time/storytelling/etc), health (emotional+physical), basic cooking + tool usage, basics of history/geography, basics of all sciences, gardening more independently

11-13 social + advanced work -- advanced history/science/literacy/home eco/etc.. start working within the community in a vollunteer capacity, Starting to specialize in interests, focuses in philosophy/analysis/debate,

14-20 community and citizenship --greated focus in Philosophy/debate/analysis in addition to apprenticeships of testing out what they'd like to do with their lives

20+ whatever they wanna do! Personally I think our adulthood should start over from 0 here. Bc after you hit 20 your a baby adult, but like a 35yr old is nearly a teenager as should be treated as such! Finding themselves, building community, getting the swing of all that jazz.

Then the WAY this is taught would be with ppl close to the kiddos, neighbors and parents and community leaders would be in charge of these chunks. Much more like a tutor or professor style where each teacher specializes in both the thing their teaching but also the kiddos their raising.

[astronawta]

Game idea:

You run a train market that goes around selling items and completing quests for people at train stops that gives you items or coins to upgrade your train. There are garden compartments and machines to produce new things to sell. It's solar punk. You have to keep the train running so you can go sell your stuff. There are love interests and you can hire people to help you harvest and run the train.

[keruukat]

Well, while discord is shitting itself, why not share some of what I’ve been up to!

I’ve been getting back into crochet- it’s my third or fourth time trying to get into crochet and second time getting into crocheting with plarn (plastic yarn) made out of plastic grocery bags!

My end goal is to end up with a reusable tote bag made of the grocery bags. My first attempt didn’t go so well- I started it when I was into plarn crochet last time last year at college! I intended it to be a round bottom to a tote bag, a bit odd shaped bag but it’d work, you know?

Well, I didn’t follow a pattern because structure scares me, and it Showed. I ended up turning it into this! A small trinket bowl, while I made the rest of my limited bag stash from last year into more plarn.

Well, then I discovered the magic of granny squares and granny square tote bags! Structure still scared me but I figured fuck it we ball. I ended up with a great looking granny square (below)!

However, I SEVERELY underestimated the amount of plastic bags I’d need to make the tote. I’d need 13 granny squares, and this one took around 11 bags (unsure exactly how many because pre-existing plarn). Not including the handle/strap of the tote that would be… ~150 grocery bags! So I have my work cut out for me, lol.

This time around, however, I’ve made SIGNIFICANT progress with my process of making the plarn! I’ve learned what thickness of yarn feels sturdy and good to work with with the size hook I’m using (about the width of my thumb, to then chain into plarn to use with a P [11.5mm] hook.)

I’ve also figured out how to seamlessly tie the strands together, and in the process learned that there is a use for the short strips of plastic from the bag handles! So I’m using more of the bags, and have less waste, while making the yarn easier to work with for me!

Here’s the current carnage, one granny square with thicker yarn, one with thinner yarn (which I may or may not use the thinner one in my complete tote), some short strips I salvaged from bag handles, and bags ready to be cut into one long spiral to be chained into plarn! Some to be made into thinner yarn to finish the one granny square, but most into thicker yarn for a more sturdy result!

I still feel like there’s a lot of waste with my current process, but it’s far better than throwing the whole bag away.

If anyone wants, I can share my process to make bags into plarn!! That’ll have to be another day, though, it’s 2am now.

But yeah!! Reduce reuse recycle, and make art and useful things from free items around you. If anyone has any hobbies/crafts with a similar philosophy, let me know!!!! I love that shit.

[imflyingfish]

Brand new storage room/garage :] thanks to @vee-creatation once again funding it and also. Forcing me to stop procrastinating and actually build for once. Did me a solid. Plus she's in the photo :]

[piierrote]

Love Is Fallen Angels

A solarpunk cowboy western concept art project I've been working on based on the characters and world of my comic by the same name!

Additional work can be found on my website