Those projects both sound exciting to work on! What a fun field to be in.

And yeah, we’ve got a similar philosophy regarding things to engage with. I’m having trouble implementing it though 😬

Maybe a dumb question but would hydro on top of a large waterfall work without impacting biodiversity? I ask because maybe there isn’t wildlife that goes down large waterfalls, so no impact.

I would love to hear about your work if you’re willing. I am so fascinated by the potential of robots in a solarpunk future.

Edited to add that I appreciate you knowing what fight is yours and what isn’t. It’s certainly a necessary skill for mental health and focus nowadays.

Buildings that grow? Can you explain what you mean? My imagination is going wild

My thoughts too!! As an author nurturing a seed for a solarpunk novel and who has recently found freedom, I teared up tbh!

Yeah, I’m with you that it’s tough to figure out. Good points, and I didn’t offer a solution because I don’t have one! Just… gah, I left reddit because the echo chamber/hive mind is destructive to intelligent conversation.

Online reputations sound nice in theory, but quickly fall apart in practice. It is essentially a social credit system Like China uses to control people. In a system like what you’re describing, people would probably ding someone that they simply didn’t agree with. That means someone with a controversial but perhaps well thought out and valid take would be booted. Thus, intelligent debates and discussions take a hit and then you have the Echo chamber of Reddit.

https://www.wired.com/story/china-social-credit-system-explained/

What is microsolar? Tried looking it up, didn’t come up with much.

If you need it in a jiffy, but libraries and authors could both use support.

To me, the connection wasn’t direct. The author was saying that to move forward and solve humanity’s problems, there needs to be less heroes (guys with spears) and more collaboration (people with bags). Humans love their heroes so it’s an uphill battle.

What I took from my initial read is “stop waiting for others to save the world.” That feels solarpunk to me.

I want to see a study like this about people who lost faith simply because they were not helped or truly listened to. Lots of people with complex illnesses have had similar experiences as each other.

Is this cost-efficient? Pretend I live somewhere with expensive power

Of course! Just like our current society, lots of people are needed to make thing run smoothly. Just off the top of my head: clothing repair and upcycling, woodworking, tool librarian, mechanics of all kinds, people to keep everything organized, storytellers, cooks, care for anyone who needs it (children, elderly, disabled) solar techs, plumbers, electricians… I was expecting to run out of ideas but I didn’t and now my thumbs are tired.

Wow, what a brave woman doing immensely important work. It’s refreshing to see a new and different take on handling trauma and PTSD. We all need nervous system education after these past few years. I’m seriously considering that course of hers!