Solarpunk discussion

The first hopeful book about climate change, The Future Earth shows readers how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades.

The basics of climate science are easy. We know it is entirely human-caused. Which means its solutions will be similarly human-led. In The Future Earth, leading climate change advocate and weather-related journalist Eric Holthaus offers a radical vision of our future, specifically how to reverse the short- and long-term effects of climate change over the next three decades. Anchored by world-class reporting, interviews with futurists, climatologists, biologists, economists, and climate change activists, it shows what the world could look like if we implemented radical solutions on the scale of the crises we face.

What could happen if we reduced carbon emissions by 50 percent in the next decade?
What could living in a city look like in 2030?
How could the world operate in 2040, if the proposed Green New Deal created a 100 percent net carbon-free economy in the United States?

This is the book for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the current state of our environment. Hopeful and prophetic, The Future Earth invites us to imagine how we can reverse the effects of climate change in our own lifetime and encourages us to enter a deeper relationship with the earth as conscientious stewards and to re-affirm our commitment to one another in our shared humanity.

I’m 13% in and it’s very doom and gloom. Hopefully this will lead to some ideas and a brighter future.

Lena wrote: "I’m 13% in and it’s very doom and gloom. Hopefully this will lead to some ideas and a brighter future."

Oh no! They used "hopeful" multiple times in the description - fingers crossed they're building up to it.

Lena wrote: "I’m 13% in and it’s very doom and gloom. Hopefully this will lead to some ideas and a brighter future."

I read it early last year, and I seem to remember it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I think it gets more positive further on. Or that’s how I remember it. I’m going to read it again.

Fiona said: They used "hopeful" multiple times in the description
That's what we go by as moderators. We try for books that are not depressing and show a better future.

Lena wrote: "Fiona said: They used "hopeful" multiple times in the description
That's what we go by as moderators. We try for books that are not depressing and show a better."

Exactly! Though we've definitely been caught out before, it's not always a guarantee ^^

I’m on chapter four of the audiobook. The author has met Greta Thunberg, he described her as “tired.” Sounds right.

I’m halfway done. The author has tempered the gloom and doom by imagining future political actions that make way for a better system. It’s a muddled but I see what he’s doing.

Finished: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lots of doom and gloom but also new ideas on talk therapy and journaling feelings of loss related to climate change.

This sort of thing was emphasized in Designing Regenerative Cultures, or at least what I remember of it. I need to re-pick-up that book.

Lena wrote: "Finished: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lots of doom and gloom but also new ideas on talk therapy and journaling feelings of loss related to climate change.

This sort of thing..."
Done before I even started - I've hit a new late level! I'd actually be keen to re-read Designing Regenerative Cultures too. Maybe that's the next book of the month?

It would be a good idea.

And no worries Fiona, we never close here at Solarpunk! I lucked out that it was audiobook and available on Scribd.

The four hour work week was emphasized in Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World, I remembered him pointing out The Jetson’s three hour work days: https://youtu.be/1p2Zbl_VFeE

Yesterday I came across Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, it’s an audible book of the year. I think we should consider it for a book of the month. Or maybe I’m holiday exhausted and need a second opinion.

No I completely agree - it's Solarpunk-adjacent but we've done that plenty of times before; I like to think of this kind of book as on the "how to get to Solarpunk" path.

Lena wrote: "This sort of thing was emphasized in Designing Regenerative Cultures, or at least what I remember of it. I need to re-pick-up that book."

Is the author of Designing Regenerative Cultures working with similar ideas in general, or is it just this aspect that is similar?

I remember a great emphasis on talking talking talking, and understanding many view points, before taking action. It felt slow, but I also remember that the gas riots in France were going on at the time. They were a response to the raising of associated taxes to fund their countries climate action. Impatient I can be but I understood that a few more community meetings might have prevented that. Might.

Thanks Lena, I might read that one.

I am going to have to come back to this one over the Christmas break, I think - there's a lot going on and I'm having a hard time sinking into anything, let alone non-fiction.

For the next poll - currently we have the two suggestions in this thread, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto (I swear I'm not entirely biased, but it's definitely appealing right now) and Designing Regenerative Cultures. Are there any others up to be included, or shall we run with those two?