I just finished A Psalm for the Wild Built last week and was totally awed. I listened to it on Libby but it's one of those books that I know I'll go buy so I can re-read it and mark pages of my favorite passages.
Your post reminds me of how Valarie Kaur, speaking on social activism right now, says that "our dream has to be stronger than their nightmare."
Thanks for this call to imagination and the power it holds ✨
Thanks Katie! I also listened to the Chambers books and now I need to have them PHYSICALLY, too! I love it when something hits home so much that you just hold it in your hands. Books are so powerful
Omg totally solarpunk. Thank you, Thank you for this pieces of hope in a grim world I soooo needed it. There are others ! I Will immediately search the books mentioned, love the art . Will save this for comfort inspiration and writing promts.🙏🏻❤️🌱
Yes. I just discovered solarpunk, that my project of the last 8 years and my Substack of the last year was solarpunk. I'm spending this morning learning this new word, (what was wrong with 'nature-based' solutions anyway? - I'll find out). Showing off with words is what _solarpunk_ (right clicks for 'learn spelling' to get rid of the annoying red line) means to me, fortunately it means lots and lots of other good things and I'm looking forwards to reading much more about solarpunk! Just to leave you with some info rather than just my blabbering, the 'fab tree hab' in this enlightened post about Terraform ONE uses my favourite tree (willow) on its walls, the whole hab looks completely new as those are probably willow branches simply stuck in the ground to re-root (which they will). I will be interesting to see it in when it's had a few years of growth - it'll look amazing!
I have never heard this term Solarpunk and I LOVE it! Thanks so much for this share. This is absolutely the kind of future I would hope for. How sad that as a culture we tend to go towards the apocalyptic and dystopian. Thanks for the brain-shift!
I read A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy last January, and they're two of my all-time favourite books. I've been meaning to reread them again very soon. They're so full of hope and comfort for me.
I couldn't finish Parable of the Sower. I can see why people value Butler's work, but it triggered my anxiety and OCD really badly, unfortunately. I used to think I "should" try to keep myself more informed and prepared, but books like that feel similar to doomscrolling for me. I've found that I need the quieter, hope-filled stories in order to stay hopeful about the future.
I've had Chambers' other books on my list and might dive into them this year after rereading the Monk and Robot books. Thank you for sharing all of this, Alix. 🧡
I recently finished reading Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate Futures. She covers an incredibly broad range of topics in interviews with amazing people, plus poetry and these really cool photo illustrations of imagined futures. Very much worth checking out.
Years ago Whole Earth Catalogue collected alternate living spaces. My favorites were to build an underground geodesic Hobbit Dome with solar panals in top on the side of a jill in Malibu with an ocean view. Fire proof and wine cellar with mushrooms and earthworm cultivation. A simple life style with reflector solarpunk attitude prevails and organic vegetables, pure solar still rain water and solar heat shower provides the best life in an earthquake, fire storm world. My two cents worth of efforts that could also be used in New England. Buckminster Fuller had the right idea as did Tolkin's Hobbits and Pueblo, Native people that lived secure on sides of mountains. Air cars could and will happen We just haven't found the right propulsion that UFOs use to slip and slide in and out of space. Best futuristic design adaption was Disney's movie "The navigator." . Watch the movie. Reread "On the Beach" or review the movie. Forces can be kind.
I'm catching up on some older posts ... I just finished reading the wayfarer series last month! monk a robot were my intro. I loved loved LOVED both series ( I'f you can call a duology a series) and I'm not really a sci Fi girl.
This world we live in, in this time, is the one I dreamt of in the 1950s and 1960s - I just knew it existed somewhere. Seems it is a bit more challenging to find, but it's there. My dream now is a community of connection, beyond the current transactional one. I am grateful to have you as fellow travelers.
One of my current favorite "dream" sites is IBUKU ( https://ibuku.com )
I've felt a little on edge about the obsession with AI lately and how schools are introducing it to children without highlighting its climate impacts (my kids are in primary school) and encouraging critical thinking of its applications. Your piece has reminded me that we can still find climate-friendly ways for technology and look beyond the limitations of the ways we're being encouraged to look at technology currently. I feel like automation still feels hugely underutilised at the expense of AI, but that doesn't mean it will always be that way. Fiction and storytelling in the meantime can help expand those horizons. I've not come across Becky's series, but I've placed a reservation for the first book at my local library 😊
I just finished A Psalm for the Wild Built last week and was totally awed. I listened to it on Libby but it's one of those books that I know I'll go buy so I can re-read it and mark pages of my favorite passages.
Your post reminds me of how Valarie Kaur, speaking on social activism right now, says that "our dream has to be stronger than their nightmare."
Thanks for this call to imagination and the power it holds ✨
Thanks Katie! I also listened to the Chambers books and now I need to have them PHYSICALLY, too! I love it when something hits home so much that you just hold it in your hands. Books are so powerful
Omg totally solarpunk. Thank you, Thank you for this pieces of hope in a grim world I soooo needed it. There are others ! I Will immediately search the books mentioned, love the art . Will save this for comfort inspiration and writing promts.🙏🏻❤️🌱
I’m so glad it resonated! Hopecore for the win!
Yes. I just discovered solarpunk, that my project of the last 8 years and my Substack of the last year was solarpunk. I'm spending this morning learning this new word, (what was wrong with 'nature-based' solutions anyway? - I'll find out). Showing off with words is what _solarpunk_ (right clicks for 'learn spelling' to get rid of the annoying red line) means to me, fortunately it means lots and lots of other good things and I'm looking forwards to reading much more about solarpunk! Just to leave you with some info rather than just my blabbering, the 'fab tree hab' in this enlightened post about Terraform ONE uses my favourite tree (willow) on its walls, the whole hab looks completely new as those are probably willow branches simply stuck in the ground to re-root (which they will). I will be interesting to see it in when it's had a few years of growth - it'll look amazing!
I have never heard this term Solarpunk and I LOVE it! Thanks so much for this share. This is absolutely the kind of future I would hope for. How sad that as a culture we tend to go towards the apocalyptic and dystopian. Thanks for the brain-shift!
Isn’t it great? I love it, too. ✨✨☀️☀️☀️
I read A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy last January, and they're two of my all-time favourite books. I've been meaning to reread them again very soon. They're so full of hope and comfort for me.
I couldn't finish Parable of the Sower. I can see why people value Butler's work, but it triggered my anxiety and OCD really badly, unfortunately. I used to think I "should" try to keep myself more informed and prepared, but books like that feel similar to doomscrolling for me. I've found that I need the quieter, hope-filled stories in order to stay hopeful about the future.
I've had Chambers' other books on my list and might dive into them this year after rereading the Monk and Robot books. Thank you for sharing all of this, Alix. 🧡
I recently finished reading Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate Futures. She covers an incredibly broad range of topics in interviews with amazing people, plus poetry and these really cool photo illustrations of imagined futures. Very much worth checking out.
Ooh ooh! This sounds great
Years ago Whole Earth Catalogue collected alternate living spaces. My favorites were to build an underground geodesic Hobbit Dome with solar panals in top on the side of a jill in Malibu with an ocean view. Fire proof and wine cellar with mushrooms and earthworm cultivation. A simple life style with reflector solarpunk attitude prevails and organic vegetables, pure solar still rain water and solar heat shower provides the best life in an earthquake, fire storm world. My two cents worth of efforts that could also be used in New England. Buckminster Fuller had the right idea as did Tolkin's Hobbits and Pueblo, Native people that lived secure on sides of mountains. Air cars could and will happen We just haven't found the right propulsion that UFOs use to slip and slide in and out of space. Best futuristic design adaption was Disney's movie "The navigator." . Watch the movie. Reread "On the Beach" or review the movie. Forces can be kind.
flight of the navigator was a favorite of mine when I was little!
I'm catching up on some older posts ... I just finished reading the wayfarer series last month! monk a robot were my intro. I loved loved LOVED both series ( I'f you can call a duology a series) and I'm not really a sci Fi girl.
Same!! They felt so warm and human
This world we live in, in this time, is the one I dreamt of in the 1950s and 1960s - I just knew it existed somewhere. Seems it is a bit more challenging to find, but it's there. My dream now is a community of connection, beyond the current transactional one. I am grateful to have you as fellow travelers.
One of my current favorite "dream" sites is IBUKU ( https://ibuku.com )
Thanks Alix, for this imagination journey.
Ooh! Thanks for sharing Ibuku! Excited to dive into it ❤️❤️ grateful to travel with you as well
I've felt a little on edge about the obsession with AI lately and how schools are introducing it to children without highlighting its climate impacts (my kids are in primary school) and encouraging critical thinking of its applications. Your piece has reminded me that we can still find climate-friendly ways for technology and look beyond the limitations of the ways we're being encouraged to look at technology currently. I feel like automation still feels hugely underutilised at the expense of AI, but that doesn't mean it will always be that way. Fiction and storytelling in the meantime can help expand those horizons. I've not come across Becky's series, but I've placed a reservation for the first book at my local library 😊
Thank you so much for this reflection, Kay, I completely agree with the unintentional use of AI. I think you’ll love the Chambers books!!
Crazy, I visited the earthships on a writer’s retreat in Taos, also (at the Mabel Dodge Luhan house)!
Aren’t they so cool?!
Yes, so strange and at the same time practical and brilliant.
These photos, this hopeful vision, Earth and Verse actualized. Thank you for all. ❤
thank you Stephanie! I really enjoyed writing this one <3
Hi, I loved 'A Psalm for the Wild Built' so much I now write my own SolarPunk Stories! If you are interested you can read them here on Substack.
https://sustainablesaffy.substack.com/p/solarpunk-story-voices-from-the-village