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Hello World, I'm Tomasino.

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This is SolarPunk Prompts,

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a series for writers where we discuss SolarPunk,

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a movement that imagines a world where technology is used

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for the good of the planet.

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In her 2018 TED Talk, Keisha Howard said,

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advances in technology and science don't lead to a dystopia

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in SolarPunk,

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but rather harmony with the Earth and a more egalitarian

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civilization.

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Or, as one headline put it, SolarPunk is a tumblr vibe.

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It's also a practical movement.

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In this series,

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we spend each episode exploring a single SolarPunk story

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prompt, adding some commentary, some inspirations,

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and some considerations.

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Most importantly,

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we consider how that story might help us better envision a

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sustainable civilization.

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If this is your first time here,

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I'd recommend checking out our introduction episode first,

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where we talk about what SolarPunk is, why you should care,

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and why this series came into being.

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Without further ado,

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today's prompt is the Community Center.

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A community center, library or educational hub,

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initially set up to help people like coal miners re

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-specialize and find other jobs,

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has now become a place for unofficial pilgrimages of people

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striving to find their role in life and learn history from

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those who lived it.

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What I immediately love about this prompt is that it goes

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straight to the heart of what many libraries are used for

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today.

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This type of skill retraining or upscaling or professional

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development.

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development is in practice today around the world and

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probably at a library near you.

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A peer research study from about a decade back found that

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one in five library visitors attended a class, program,

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or lecture for adults.

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There are digital networks for skills development which are

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rolled out throughout libraries as well like Clip in the

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UK.

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But this prompt takes us beyond even these extensive

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programs when it mentions respecialization training for

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minors.

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This is a reference to an ongoing Scandinavian union effort

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to modernize its workforce and prepare them for the

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sustainable practices emerging across the globe.

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One can easily imagine a community center filled with the

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types of training and resources found in a local library

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and staffed with union experts who have gone through this

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sort of retraining process and can speak from experience.

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A place like that could exist today down the road from

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where you are right now.

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If we'd let our imaginations take us just to decorate it

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too into the future,

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it's quite conceivable to see these places becoming a sort

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of destination for those who jobs are shutting down or no

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longer relevant.

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One entire industry is disrupted.

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Where do you go?

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Who do you turn to?

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Do you fall back into unskilled labor?

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Is unskilled labor even a real thing?

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When there's a place,

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a community center known to retrain people,

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to give new skills,

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to prepare you to pivot into something similar perhaps,

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or to lay the groundwork for something brand new,

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then there's a place for hope.

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It would be a place to humanize workers and give them a

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renewal.

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And who would you find there?

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Would it be professionals who went through the same

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process?

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Would it be librarians?

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Or the retired perhaps looking to stay in touch, socialize,

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and share their knowledge?

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It's not hard to imagine people traveling there,

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even of a great distance, migrants of a sort,

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but a better thought of as pilgrims is the journey to this

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place of hope and promise.

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It all depends on the psychology of the travelers and the

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mystique that may have grown up around the center.

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It's quite the picture, isn't it?

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This prompt does a fabulous job,

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not talking about what's happening in the rest of the

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world.

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This place could be a pillar of hope in a rather dismal

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setting,

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or it could be a very realistic and modern view of a near

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future world.

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What I find most interesting to consider is the

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possibilities for what a community center like this might

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turn into once the world has moved on a bit more,

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when this is no longer needed by gig work.

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workers to retrain their livelihoods when it stops being

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crucial, but the sense of hope is remained,

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and the wisdom of the teachers is still there for the

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sharing.

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How will pilgrims see it then?

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Will it be more like a holy site,

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or a guru living atop a remote mountain?

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Will people come for enlightenment instead of PowerPoint

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training?

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These possible pseudo -spiritual lines remind me in some

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ways of the monks and monasteries in Walter Miller's

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Achaectical for Libowits.

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Rather than a depressing setting of a remote Catholic

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monastery hoarding scraps of scientific knowledge without

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any understanding of them,

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we're given a vibrant community setting where wisdom is

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sought and shared.

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What would a young lost person do to find their purpose in

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life?

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An author could have great fun exploring the differences

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there.

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Alternatively,

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there's always the option of looking at internal struggles.

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Remember that in SolarPunk,

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our protagonist communities may still struggle with the

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how.

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How do we best teach the community?

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How do we best act as servants for each other?

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And there are always many voices in community,

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differing opinions, differing strategies.

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The chief librarian that built the center could have vastly

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different ideas of how it should be run than the new guy

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with his focus on efficiency and measurement.

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This type of conflict can make interesting drama while

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still upholding the values of the genre.

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The desire to use technology, communal effort,

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infrastructure,

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and resources for the betterment of that future.

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That's all for today's episode.

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Before we go,

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I want to give a very special thanks to all the librarians

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out there.

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You are the living embodiments of the better future.

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I hope more of the world is like a library one day.

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Thanks for joining me.

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I'll talk to you soon on the next SolarPunk prompt.

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Today's music was from Andy McDade, Illid, from SolarPunk,

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a brighter perspective.