Welcome back to season two of Solarpunk Prompts. In this brief introduction to the season we talk about the “punk” in Solarpunk, and the need for continuity between our world today and the good place to come.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---Season-2-Introduction

Links mentioned:

• Solarpunk - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk
• In our first season - https://podcast.tomasino.org/@SolarpunkPrompts/episodes?season=1
• National Novel Writing Month - https://nanowrimo.org/

Music from: The Roche Limit by State Azure - https://stateazure.bandcamp.com/track/the-roche-limit (CC-BY-SA)

How can Solarpunk address the problems of a massive project, like travel to the moon? Will the genre crumble under the need for macro-level power and industry? Come explore the latest story prompt and dream of a future together.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Moonshot

Links mentioned:

• Our world energy production - https://ourworldindata.org/energy-mix
• Frying potatos in space - https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Research/Flying_frying_in_microgravity
• Our Shared Storm - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58690965-our-shared-storm
• “Terra Ignota” tetralogy by Ada Palmer - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114545-too-like-the-lightning

Music from:

‘Last And First Light’ and ‘Artemis’ by Scott Buckley - www.scottbuckley.com.au (CC-BY 4.0)

How will our Solarpunk future be shaped by the tenacity and activism of the disabled community? What role does inclusivity and accessibility play in creating that future vision? What new challenges await us all?

Special thanks to Martyna Lysiakiewicz for a sensitivity read.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Disabled-Community

Links mentioned:

• Defying Doomsday - http://defyingdoomsday.twelfthplanetpress.com/
• 2022 report - https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org/resource/what-are-pharma-companies-doing-to-expand-access-to-insulin-and-how-can-efforts-be-scaled-up
• Access to Medicine Foundation - https://accesstomedicinefoundation.org
• 99% Invisible - https://99percentinvisible.org
• Curb Cuts - https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/
• Carol J. Gill - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11435/

Music from:

‘Adrift Among Infinite Stars’ and ‘Bring Me The Sky’ by Scott Buckley, released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Illustration CC-BY-SA 4.0 The Lemonaut - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut

How will access to pharmaceuticals impact the Solarpunk future? In this prompt we explore data miners seeking to liberate the data buried by intellectual property to find new cures and hopes for their communities. We also discuss the state of the pharma industry in the global south and how the reality of today shapes the futures of tomorrow.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Pharmacists

Links mentioned:

• …because they are too cheap - https://www.economist.com/international/2019/09/14/a-dire-scarcity-of-drugs-is-worsening-in-part-because-they-are-so-cheap
• Malaria could be eradicated by 2050 - https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/10/20857132/malaria-eradication-2050-gene-drive-lancet-study

Music in this episode is: “$50 to Breathe”, “It Will Make You Feel Better If You Put It In the Right Place”, and “I Refuse to Accept That There’s Nothing I Can Do About It” from Angie’s Sunday Service by Chris Zabriskie (CC BY 3.0 Deed)

Rare earth metals are essential for our modern life, whether in EV motors, cell phones, or in electronics in general. Mining these metals is notoriously difficult and dirty. How might a Solarpunk future address this issue? How might we get there from where we are today? Through this prompt we explore the realities of rare earth mining today and a few ways it might evolve into a sustainable future.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Miners

Links mentioned:

• https://www.escatec.com/blog/rare-earth-elements-electronics-manufacturing
• https://getrepowered.org/rare-earth-metals-recycle-technology/
• https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2019/3/234917-electronics-need-rare-earths/abstract
• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rare-earth-mining-renewable-energy-future
• https://www.snexplores.org/article/recycling-rare-earth-elements-hard-reuse-greener-technology
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213297X1730054X
• https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Bookchin

Music in this episode is: “Golden” and “Kelp Grooves” by Little Glass Men (CC BY)

How will a Solarpunk future address community distrust in public health? How will we restore faith in vaccines or heal the long history of abuse of minority and indiginous peoples? Is it hopeless? Today’s episode of Solarpunk Prompts takes a look at difficult themes and finding a better future.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Epidemiologists

Links mentioned:

• https://www.bbc.com/news/health-485129230
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6768751
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702151/
• https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2023/07/13/nation-world-news/canadas-indigenous-women-forcibly-sterilized-decades-after-other-rich-countries-stopped/

Music in this episode is: Suspension and Homage by Kjartan Abel (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Displaced people are moved into a new sustainable climate-controlled tower designed to help them find community. For some it’s a dream come true, for others a culture shock. How will this setting come to life as a vision for a Solarpunk future? How can we envision a better way of living by focusing on their humanity?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Tower

Links mentioned:

• https://unece.org/climate-change/news/future-sustainable-building-wood
• Palaces For The People by Eric Klinenberg
• https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/in-defence-of-density-benefits-of-highly-populated-city
• https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/urban-density-and-sustainability/241696/
• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-12-10/why-denser-cities-are-smarter-and-more-productive
• https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2014/jul/29/cities-density-building
• https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2023/04/17/when-density-good-and-when-it-harmful-cities
• https://www.npr.org/2023/10/08/1203950823/15-minute-cities-climate-solution

Music in this episode is: ‘Moonlight’ and ‘A Kind of Hope’ by Scott Buckley (CC-BY 4.0)

Illustration CC-BY-SA 4.0 The Lemonaut & Scan101 - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut

A new tailor joins a community with different ideas from the previous one. How will the community react? What sort of role will they fill in a future of sustainability and harmony with the local environment?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Tailors

Links mentioned:

• Report by the European Environment Agency
• The Looop machine
• Heart-monitoring sweaters and armbands

Music in this episode is: At The End Of All Things by Scott Buckley (CC-BY 4.0) and Lo-Fi Ambient by Nver Avetyan (CC-BY 3.0)

Illustration CC-BY-SA 4.0 The Lemonaut - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut

Professor Ada Palmer, a well-acclaimed historian of ideas, set the action of her science fiction series “Terra Ignota” several hundred years from now. The world she imagined presents vast societal and cultural changes, but the topic of climate change is treated much more implicitly. Within the context of professor’s books - and the now growing genre of climate fiction - let’s discuss why it’s so hard for us to imagine and describe the climate change of the XXI century.

Links and resources:

• Ada Palmer’s Homepage
• Apocalypses by Eugen Weber
• Against Purity by Alexis Shotwell
• Purity and Futures of Hard Work by Ada Palmer
• Daybreak Game
• Earth Rising Game
• alxd’s Homepage
• A History Of Saving The World - another interview with Ada Palmer
• Bazyliszek Homepage [PL]

Episode cover CC-BY 4.0 Henry Söderlund

In this introduction video I talk briefly about what Solarpunk is and why it is important to create new stories with its unique optimistic framing. This video sets the stage for a series of videos with individual writing prompts, and grounds the writer firmly in the genre with guidelines to follow.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---Introduction

Links mentioned in the video:

HOPE 2020: Technological Narratives - https://bit.ly/3sKsB0g Coindesk Solarpunk - https://bit.ly/3TShfTx Chobani Commercial - https://youtu.be/z-Ng5ZvrDm4 Story Hooks - https://bit.ly/3zu6QW6

Music from: float oat - how we found it

In this episode our writing prompt takes us to a near-future town that has grown out of a refugee camp. We discuss refugee camps today, community organizations, makers, and the creation that comes from them. We also discuss creole languages and the truths they reveal about a community.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Refugee-Camp

Links mentioned in the video:

• r0g_agency - https://openculture.agency/
• Communitere - https://communitere.org/
• “Dialect” - https://thornygames.com/pages/dialect

Music from:

ExMemory - Solar Grid - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

#solarpunk #writing #podcast

In this episode our writing prompt explores the transformative power of libraries and community centers. With the power to train communities and empower them with knowledge, what would happen if such a place grew into a place sought by pilgrims for inner truth?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Community-Center

Links mentioned in the video:

• CILIP - https://www.cilip.org.uk/

Music from:

Andy McDade - Ylid - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

Episode illustration by The Lemonaut - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut/755198344755904512/did-an-illustration-on-one-episode-of-the

#solarpunk #writing #podcast

In this episode our writing prompt brings us to the mess hall of an isolated scientific community surrounded by difficult conditions. We explore the justaposition of these challenges in their mission with the everyday humanity of their unique culture.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Canteen

Links mentioned:

• Antarctica No Appendix Club - https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/people-in-antarctica/health/
• UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity - https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000127162

Episode illustration by The Lemonaut - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut/755198344755904512/did-an-illustration-on-one-episode-of-the

Music from:

nikodimov - weeds - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In this episode we discuss hackers, hacker culture, and hackerspaces before using this setting for the basis of our latest writing prompt. What does playful discovery have to do with Solarpunk? Can we find a modal for the future in these communities of today?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Hackerspace

Links mentioned:

• “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution
• Noisebridge - https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge
• OmniCommons - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zccga90hcY
• Hacklab - https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=eAGKsgaArn2
• sudo room and counter culture labs - https://my.matterport.com/webgl_player/?m=9JVcHS4y7aY
• list of character archetypes - https://wiki.glider.ink/characters/archetypes
• Hackerspaces.org - https://hackerspaces.org/

Music from:

yourdiscovery - astrobotany - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

Illustration CC-BY-SA 4.0 The Lemonaut - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut

In this episode we discuss isolation and its toll. We also talk about a different kind of community and the power and freedom it brings to the lonely.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Experts

Links mentioned:

• Lonely Conservationists - https://lonelyconservationists.com/
• Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/26089081-light-years

Music from:

Twin Dragoon - Hidden in brightness - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

Maintaining infrastructure is hard even when your governments are stable. In this episode we explore the reality of crumbling infrastructure on a small town and envision an optimistic future where collaboration overcomes the challenges.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Great-Infrastructural-Project

Links mentioned:

• http://pubs.iied.org/10710IIED.html?k=acccrn&r=p
• https://www.mottmac.com/views/leaving-a-social-legacy-from-infrastructure
• Fediverse address - @SolarpunkPrompts@podcast.tomasino.org

Music from:

Bathroom Plants - New Unity Dawning - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In today’s episode: Reduce, reuse, recycle. What does that look like in a Solarpunk world? How does the trash of one age become a resource for the next? And how realistic are our expectations for that type of lifestyle?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Electronics-Graveyard

Links mentioned:

• Solarpunk: Histórias Ecológicas e Fantásticas em um Mundo Sustenavel - https://www.erambiental.com.br/var/userfiles/arquivos69/documentos/12857/GersonLodiRibeiro-SolarpunkHistoriasEcologicas.pdf
• Jugaad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhGbfljtq0
• Appropedia - https://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia
• Sakawa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttT1hYRPD1k
• re:publica ACCRA - https://globalinnovationgathering.org/2019/01/23/republica-accra-2018/

Music from:

Bubble Keiki - Unlatching The Escape Pod’s Lid - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

Today’s episode explores the loss of cultural history, local and indigenous knowledge. How can a Solarpunk perspective help us see past Western colonialism and find value in new, old places.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Archivists

Links mentioned:

• UNESCO defines - https://en.unesco.org/links
• Chi Luu writes in JSTOR’s Daily - https://daily.jstor.org/what-we-lose-when-we-lose-indigenous-knowledge/
• Safecast - https://safecast.org/
• https://www.fastcompany.com/3030731/why-collecting-data-in-conflict-zones-is-invaluable-and-nearly-impossible
• Want to learn Tlingit? - https://alaskapublic.org/2016/08/31/want-to-learn-tlingit-theres-a-new-app-for-that/

Music from:

Cyber Surfer 3D - Skyforest - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In this episode we explore a world facing a meat shortage and discuss the sustainability of food practices. You also get to hear me try to phoenetically speak Korean.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Chefs

Links mentioned:

• Greenpeace points out - https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/world-cultures-and-religions-plant-based-vegetarian-vegan-diet/
• OurWorldInData.org - https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-meat-projections-to-2050
• https://phys.org/news/2020-12-no-meat-diet-climate-crisis.html
• https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/why-the-meat-we-eat-is-an-antibiotic-resistance-threat
• https://medium.com/swlh/the-future-of-meat-f2150a9e2b34

Music from:

loving memory 영원히 안녕 - 태양이 내 얼굴에 입맞 (Bye forever – the sun is kissing my face)

Illustration CC-BY-SA 4.0 The Lemonaut - https://www.tumblr.com/the-lemonaut

In this episode we muse about the role of the military in a world without war. What comes next for these highly trained individuals and groups? How might they turn those skills toward new types of community service?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Fire-Brigade

Links mentioned:

• Landmine Free estimates - https://landminefree.org/facts-about-landmines/
• Climate Brief - https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extreme-weather-around-the-world/
• Important aspects of military genre fiction - https://www.ancestralstars.com/wp/sff-books/seven-crucial-elements-of-military-sf/

Music from:

Dyamur - Sun Syndicate - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In this episode we journey from the Global South, the starting place of Solarpunk, to help a suffering North facing the Great InterneT Collapse. What unique qualities can they bring to the situation?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Expedition

Links mentioned:

• Global South and Global North - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_North_and_Global_South
• Tony Blair Institute for Global Change - https://institute.global/policy/economic-infrastructure-internet-era
• Jugaad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhGbfljtq0
• Cuban Medical Internationalism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_medical_internationalism
• https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/ransomware-attacks-hospitals-take-toll-patients-rcna54090
• https://www.aha.org/center/cybersecurity-and-risk-advisory-services/ransomware-attacks-hospitals-have-changed
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57184977

Music from:

S O A R E R - Esoteric Eye - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In this episode we explore the relationships between humans and machines, discuss some of the ethical dangers of AI, and how a balanced relationship with technology might present itself in a Solarpunk setting.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Beekeepers

Links mentioned:

• One guy on reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/solarpunk/comments/lm4cqj/what_makes_something_solarpunk/
• The march of the robot dogs“ - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1021386708994
• How AI Will Rewire Us“ - https://medium.com/the-atlantic/how-ai-will-rewire-us-6d7baa0fe6d4
• Open letter from several ‘Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Experts’ - http://www.robotics-openletter.eu/
• Recent studies in invertebrate neurobiology - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096098220000169X

Music from:

ステム88 - Biofield - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In this episode a group of henchmen hired to work for a billionare on his post-apocalyptic stronghold inherit the keys from their former boss. They explore their options at community building and outreach with the surrounding towns as communities collide.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Henchmen

Links mentioned:

• Disaster Collectivism
• The Response
• Douglas Rushkoff Story - Original Source
• Douglas Rushkoff Story - Updated Source

Music from:

taiyou hikou by Yago Omoikane - https://globalpattern.bandcamp.com/album/solarpunk-a-brighter-perspective

In this episode we set sail on a cargoship of the future. What does a trade mission look like in Solarpunk?

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Ship

Links mentioned:

• From Steampunk to Solarpunk
• MS Beluga Skysails
• Inflatable sails
• Fuel from biomass

Music from:

Levantaran el vuelo by Circus Marcus

In this episode we take the skies and travel between distant settlements with an anarchist crew on our beautiful balloon.

Transcript: https://wiki.tomasino.org/writing/Solarpunk-Prompts---The-Dirigible

Links mentioned:

• vacuum airship
• Online relationships are real

Music from:

Jean Toba - really beautiful my mambo