I would just like to both validate and challenge your view of the UK. I lived in Torquay (Devon, so the southwest) for a good long while, albeit during the height of lockdowns, and community felt nonexistant. There were some punk-type-folks attempting to get stuff started right when I moved away, but only just then iirc.

I moved to Inverness (Scottish Highlands) and it’s night and day. There’s a queer community doing hella shit, there’s a tool library popping off, lots of good local initiatives are being organised and taking off.

My kneejerk response is to say that Inverness beats the hell outta Torquay. But the thing is, about 4-5 years ago NONE OF THE STUFF I mentioned was going on. The queer meetup was organised by one dude who moved up from London and was gobsmacked that there wasn’t an active community. Now it’s consistently a huge, weekly event. There are even offshoots of quieter meetups that had to be created because the main one is So Successful. But all the local queers will tell you that before this started, they thought they were all alone up here.

And the tool library is only about a year old, but keeping on well.

So on one hand, yeah, I think the UK has a very… independent culture. But once someone identifies a need in a community and fills that need, people tend to show up and appreciate it.

Also, i reckon this is a good time to be an organiser. People are tired of being alone during a pandemic, people are tired of seeing what other communities do via the internet and want their communities to do the same.

Tl;dr be the change! There’s an appetite for it.

I like option 2, I thought I would prefer Option 1 before I saw 2 but it’s executed really well in 2! Also, that illustration is gorgeous, and thank you for sharing the illustrator’s details. I want my next novel to be solarpunk, and I am definitely in the market for a new cover artist…

I need to add this and Murder in the Tool Library to my storygraph. And preorder/buy a copy of both tbh.

This looks like the kind of feeder a small bird would build for itself, and I mean that in the best way. I love it

The other morning my dogs woke me up way too damn early, but it meant I got to watch a very fat pigeon on the power line behind my house, and I got to see the finch population rapidly increase around it. (I swear I saw one little bird and by the time I got out of bed there were 5 jetting around. Pigeon did not move.)

I agree that these are luxuries for a lot of people. Some of them can be found with mindset shifts (from “fuck you dogs” to “oh look, pretty birds” for example) but it’s also hard to shift your mindset to positivity when our society tries its damnedest to beat happiness out of you.

A friend literally just gifted me a copy of this because I’ve been feeling so burnt out by capitalism, and let me tell you, I devoured that book. It spoke to my weary soul. And made me want to quit my job (I already was wanting to quit my job)

I’m so interested in this subject, but I have no societally-wide answers. I’m coming at this from the perspective of someone solarpunky who will have a child soon, and then as someone who will be educating that child eventually. I know what I WILL NOT do is send them to American public school, because of my own traumatising experience in that situation. Also because I live in the UK now. But I don’t want to send them to UK public school either, if I can help it. Still too much focus on rule following and “behaviours” as things to be changed, instead of behavior as communication.

In the years before kiddo goes to school, or if I choose to home educate, I’m gonna try pulling in some inspiration from montessori/waldorf/reggio emelia styles. (I’m realising now that I know those names but not exactly what they stand for anymore. Gotta redo my research, because I know they’re all a mixed bag)

But I think the ideal for school is time in nature, problem solving, finding answers over memorising them, etc. Big emphasis on time in nature, too-- I very much love tech and that should play a part in education too, but learning how the world in its most basic state works is so important. Especially with regards to where food and utilities come from.

In case anyone is curious on my 2020 election logic: I was basically so tired of neoliberals thinking that Biden would automatically close the border camps and end gun violence when the recent Democrat stance has always been closer to… thoughts and prayers and inaction. Is that less evil than neon Hitler? Of course. With more distance from both America and neoliberal Biden fans, I can see that now. But for a lot of people, like past!me, being fervently pushed to do A Thing with overly lofty promises OR being guilted into doing The Thing yields opposite results.

I’m neutral on there being a community for it really. But then I’m someone with a US citizenship who hasn’t voted in around 5 years because I’m not living in the US anymore, and that upgrades voting for a lesser of two evils from “minorly depressing annoyance” to “majorly depressing and confusing hassle”

I’ve also been kicked from communities of US citizens living elsewhere for saying I’m not inspired to vote despite the difficulty because I didn’t think it would cause a meaningful difference who won (this would be… circa 2020 elections I believe).

I’ve since grown beyond this sentiment for various reasons. But I probably would have grown faster if I was able to voice my concerns about voting in the current system without feeling like I was a heretic.

Tbh, after typing and thinking a bit, I WANT this community here for the same reason I think groups like doomers should be welcomed here. We can’t have the productive discussions that lead to understanding and change if we exclude people who would otherwise be willing to talk and work with us. And yeah, maybe a set space legitimises not voting. But I don’t think that’s a really huge concern honestly.

I’d be down but I require my own personal bucket of thumb drives

queerness intensifies

That’s a good plan, it might be tricky with international transfers… but maybe I can set my mom up as a “collection point” and have her transfer money to me once it’s been gifted. Though I might be overreacting about international-ness, I WILL be there in March to celebrate baby and I can just deal with American Currency Issues then.

Haha fair enough on picking battles… I’m already prepping for how the heck I’ll ensure they’re well educated. I work from home, and I work a 4 day week, but even then I think my dream of home education would end me.

Yessss cloth diapering. I’ve been working on sewing some even (including for years before I was pregnant) because I’m extra and ridiculous. But I haven’t found a local diaper service… might be smart. We don’t have a tumble dryer, so everything line dries, and while sun is good for stains and disinfecting and it will be Summer… it won’t be summer forever, and pulling a frozen nappy off the clothes line will only be funny once. Or twice.

God I’m so afraid of (inevitably) becoming consumerist. Even if I’m 100% prepared for the Needs, there will be a tenth, hundredth, millionth time a kid just Wants something and I will not be able to say no lol

Oh trust me, I have long since infiltrated my buy nothing groups. But duly noted regardless, because I need to start utilizing them more! And thanks for the advice on checking about recalls, I hadn’t thought of that!

Oooh I like the friends taking on a role of gift… gatekeeper? Because on one hand, it lets me maintain the surprise, but also my friends are based where most of the gift-senders would be (The US) and it’ll be way easier for them to text a fellow American than god forbid texting the UK at international rates.

I also like this idea of approved companies/websites. Thank you!

That’s a really good point on donating, nothing like Baby’s First Charitable Donation.

I had admittedly completely forgot about birthdays and christmas. Oops. Yeah this is gonna be a long task, isn’t it?

Also, thank you! And duly duly noted. I feel one step ahead now, because I also have no idea what I’m doing!

I like the “ask for advice” idea. I can ALWAYS use more advice (and it’s way easier to dispose of when it’s junk…)

I do hear you on not wanting to rob people of giving, it’s a nice feeling and I don’t want to suck the joy out of this experience for other people just for my personal Amazonian battles. I’m wondering if giving a nice card gives people the same level of joy (it does for me on both giving and receiving, anyways).

And yeah, that’s fair about it being hard to beat Amazon 100%. I figure it’s an uphill battle but I can at least sisyphus my way up a way meters.

I just want to say that I love that this book isn’t on Amazon (or is but I just can’t find it). I’m an author as well and the amount of focus there is on “get your book on Amazon!!!” drives me bonkers. Evil evil corporation, as we know (here anyways).

Anyways that aside, cover is gorgeous, and the blurb is super intriguing. Like, a murder in a place full of things you can murder someone with? That’s a neat premise.

I’ll set a reminder to grab it from smashwords on the 8th!

It’s tricky. I’m bipolar, and I need my medication to thrive, so we’ll need ways to compound those kinds of medications that aren’t at odds with solarpunk. What that looks like, I don’t know. I’d need more knowledge on how aripiprazole is created and a definition of “solarpunk” enough to combine them…

But also, I used to have severe issues with social anxiety. I still have the underlying anxiety predisposition, but improving my surroundings and the people around me helped with the anxiety.

I think a more solarpunk society will benefit the general mental health of a lot of people, but there are still going to be mental illnesses that need medical intervention.

But I think it’s also important to note that Solarpunk isn’t handed down from any governing body. There’s no strict dictation of what is and isn’t solarpunk and what does and doesn’t fit. We have general consensus, but it comes from the ground up, and it comes from what we talk about and how we talk about it. In short: If you want to discuss how mental health will be handled in a solarpunk society, the ball is in your court. It’s up to mentally ill folks and our advocates to determine our futures here.

Final caveat: I think there are some people in the solarpunk community who overlap with the… “natural is better” community. The “anti-chemical” community, or the “the only antidepressant you need is trees” community. That’s a problem we as individuals should definitely address. But again, how? Up to you and us.