Solarpunk Collective

-From a children’s fairy tale book in a Solarpunk library 2062 Once upon a time there was a great dragon. It lived in a mountain cave and slept all day on a vast hoard of gold. At night it flew out and gorged itself on a goats and cattle. Sometimes it ate villagers or burned towns. Eventually, the dwarves who lived in the valley grew tired of being terrorized by the dragon, so they assembled an army and marched on its cave. They defeated the dragon and imprisoned it, but no mortal can slay the great primordial beast. The victorious dwarves soon fell to arguing about what to do with the dragon’s hoard. Such a great treasure was difficult to divide. Every dwarf had fought in the battle and many had died, but some fought harder than others, and without the help of the sword smiths and armorers, there could have been no victory. Guards were set while the dwarves decided what to do with it. The sly dragon lay on its pile of gold, grinning at the tiny dwarves who thought they h...

I got the call on my beeper just after lunch. Not much of a lunch, just an old unlabeled tin that turned out to be beans and vegan sausages, cooked on our solar stove on the roof of the squat. Downstairs I waited in line to use the community deck, anxiously tapping my foot and looking at the old patched LCD of the beeper, waiting to see if a second call would signal that the run had been cancelled. It hadn’t. When I finally got to sit down at the ancient computer and check my mail, the coded message was clear. I had barely enough time to put together a team and run the five blocks to the target. There was Otter, our physical pen expert. A tall, lanky dark-skinned bloke, he got his name from his unusually extensive body hair. That and the fact that he was the only one of us who could swim. Jewel considered herself to be a ‘leet hacker and at least had a discerning eye. She usually acted as appraiser for our runs, helping us decide what was worth taking and what should be left ...

"Our aim should not be to secure a somewhat thicker slice of bread today, even if this would make us happy; we must not forget what our real aim is. Our main duty is to consider the needs of others. If we become alive to this duty, there will be no unjustly treated people in our midst, and we, in turn, shall not be treated unjustly. Our day-to-day motto should be: "Your problems are also my problems." We must extend our friendship and strengthen our solidarity." Anna Walentynowicz A few months ago, I started working on an idea for a Solarpunk Role Playing Game. At the time, I felt it was possible to leave the setting completely open, so that GMs could design their own worlds. It can be hard work though to create a compelling universe for people to visit, and having some backstory, shared elements and persistent elements which wouldn't change from game to game would be something that would appeal to hosts and players alike. Since then, I've ...

I recently submitted some ideas to the consultation being undertaken by the Labour Party for a kind of "Green New Deal" for Britain. Unfortunately, my submission was lost due to a server error and I had to resubmit. It did allow me to revisit some of my ideas, and record them here. Opportunities in the low carbon economy Please describe any industries, sectors, or projects that you think are well suited to your region, city or town, that would help to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse Gas emissions are not limited to any one sector but are spread across all aspects of our society. From land use to transport, from construction to energy production. Each sector contributes a share. Reducing any one sector to 0% net emissions would only return our emissions to start of the 21st century levels. There are many ways that each sector can be addressed, and experts should be consulted on any possibility. Just one example that springs to mind is the proje...

Since the year 2000, recycling rates in the UK have increased nearly 400%. Who should we praise for this great achievement? And who should we blame for the 60% of trash which is not yet recycled? Have you heard of Responsibility Assumption , or the Doctrine of Personal Responsibility? This could be considered one of the defining characteristics of modern, western civilization. In this philosophy, people are totally responsible for their own actions, and their circumstances, even to the point where negative thinking can result in bad outcomes. So women are blamed for being the victims of assault, because they could have made better choices. Poor people are blamed for being poor, because they are obviously "too lazy" to become rich. The colossal amounts of plastic trash in the oceans comes from us, our household waste. But we have limited control over how much waste we generate. When you go to the store to buy groceries, you find that all of the optio...

If there's a perfect illustration of Western society, I think it is the cheeseburger. Think about it. The cheese is Capitalism. It makes the burger tasty and appealing, but is unhealthy. Socialism is the lettuce and tomato. It gives a nod to health and lets us enjoy our yummy snack with less guilt and maybe ignore the fact that the dish is ruinously destructive to the environment. What about all the other ingredients? There's so much more to society than just capitalism and socialism. Family. Culture. Work. Study. Social interaction. Democracy. Law and order. Energy and industry. Nature... But the cheese of capitalism has melted and flowed over all the other ingredients. It's impossible to disentangle from the other aspects of our lives, and our communities. Every day I hear arguments about which is better, or more important. Which one can fix all our problems? Capitalism or Socialism? I think it misses the point. There are other issues with our mod...