Hippies didn’t have the internet. Some had some of the right ideas, but it wasn’t easy to connect the dots of information or insight people had, so a lot of early ideas of improving the world just had to fail against the onslaught of capitalism. Currently we live in a period where the mainstream system seems to fail. The real dystopia doesn’t just happen somewhere else to some unfortunate few, it’s quite obviously popping up everywhere in many forms.
Solarpunk steps in and imagines that we could build a future that isn’t more dystopian. We could take stock of what we have - technology, skills, limitations - and dare to imagine a future that is actually less dystopian than what happens now. We refuse to accept that this is the best version of humans inhabiting the universe that we could possibly come up with, and collect material, information, documentation to support a worldbuilding effort that aims for a better future.
Have the hippies failed? Or did they point the way towards a lot of the right directions? Is punk dead? Don’t think so, and it’s all in favour of DIY. So we basically DIY our future here.
another thing is that selling out isn't really viable for most people under 35 anymore. at some point more and more people are gonna ditch the mainstream out of necessity, not out of choice
It is a practical gospel of hope. I work in tech and I hate what we have done with tech. Let’s do better! This is the opposite of dropping out, it is digging in and making positive change informed by a humane and rational value system.
So, no, not hippie redux. But any old hippies are certainly welcome.
Apparently you didn’t read the article. And no it isn’t. It shares some superficial similarities and some roots (as the article explains), but contrary to the hippie movement it isn’t about personal (and sexual) liberation.
Agreed. Art is the single most powerful tool used to start cultural revolutions.
The Renaissance only happened because of artists’ ideas were spread in a meaningful way.
The music and psychedelic art of the 50s-60s inspired the hippie movement.
Currently, we are being inspired by cyberpunk art. I guess that’s the natural progression of capitalism. But it will eventually fail. And when it does, SolarPunk will rise.
I tried in my first reply, but why should I waste more time on someone that doesn’t even bother to read the linked text and shows repeated 0 effort in trying to understand even the basics?
There’s a lot more to solar punk than aesthetics. Sure, it started out there to a decent degree but it’s grown to take on a life of it’s own. Its a vehicle to realize liberatory politics at the community and global level through social ecology (among other things). It’s an answer to the all too common question of what a post capitalist society would look like, particularly for many varieties of libertarian socialism.
The only way solarpunk would lose steam is if it abandons it’s political foundation. Which is a part of what happened to the hippy movement but we’ve learned from past mistakes and I have faith that solarpunk can be realized in some meaningful fashion
Okay, on a slight tangent but I was wondering what the difference between social ecology and human ecology is. I hear a lot about social ecology in these circles and a lot about human ecology in different circles. I’m assuming they’re related, but are they interchangeable?
So there’s the academic study of social ecology which is related to human ecology, the latter being a broader area of study. There’s also social ecology, a philosophical theory developed by Murray Bookchin. He’s a prolific social libertarian who developed the ideology of communalism after a falling out with anarchists over how decision making would be handled in a post-state society. I’m kind of steering away from your question at this point but I’d be happy to continue (to the best of my ability, I’m still learning) if you have any more questions
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