r/solarpunk 18h ago

Discussion A problem with solar punk.

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389 Upvotes

Alright I'm gonna head this off by saying this isn't an attack against the aesthetic or concept, please don't take major offense. This is purely a moment to reflect upon where humanities place in nature should be.

Alright so first up, the problem. We have 8.062 billion human beings on planet earth. That's 58 people per square kilometer of land, or 17,000 square meters per person. But 57% of that land is either desert or mountainous. So maybe closer to 9,000 square meters of livable land per person. That's just about 2 acres per person. The attached image is a visual representation of what 2 acres per person would give you.

Id say that 2 acres is a fairly ideal size slice of land to homestead on, to build a nice little cottage, to grow a garden and raise animals on. 8 billion people living a happy idealistic life where they are one with nature. But now every slice of land is occupied by humanity and there is no room anywhere for nature except the mountains and deserts.

Humanity is happy, but nature is dead. It has been completely occupied and nothing natural or without human touch remains.

See as much as you or I love nature, it does not love us back. What nature wants from us to to go away and not return. Not to try and find a sustainable or simbiotic relationship with it. But to be gone, completely and entirely. We can see that by looking at the Chernobyl and fukashima exclusion zones. Despite the industrial accidents that occured, these areas have rapidly become wildlife sanctuaries. A precious refuge in which human activity is strictly limited. With the wildlife congregating most densely in the center, the furthest from human activity, despite the closer proximity to the source of those disasters. The simple act of humanity existing in an area is more damaging to nature than a literal nuclear meltdown spewing radioactive materials all over the place.

The other extreme, the scenario that suits nature's needs best. Is for us to occupy as little land as possible and to give as much of it back to wilderness as possible. To live in skyscrapers instead of cottages, to grow our food in industrial vertical farms instead of backyard gardens. To get our power from dense carbon free energy sources like fission or fusion, rather than solar panels. To make all our choices with land conservation and environmental impact as our primary concern, not our own personal needs or interest.

But no one wants that do they? Personally you can't force me to live in a big city as they exist now. Let alone a hypothetical world mega skyscraper apartment complexes.

But that's what would be best for nature. So what's the compromise?


r/solarpunk 13h ago

Original Content Battery replaceability comic. Lessons learnt, hope this comes off well.

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30 Upvotes

r/solarpunk 19h ago

Research Discover how solar energy storage works, its benefits, top technologies, and why it’s key for using solar power day and night, all year round.

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9 Upvotes

r/solarpunk 19h ago

Research Avian conservation value of two small protected areas in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti

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8 Upvotes

Article Abstract:

The value of small protected areas in urbanized environments for avian conservation is poorly documented, particularly in the Neotropics. We compared the composition of bird assemblages between two protected areas of limited size but specific local value, the Urban National Park of Martissant (UNPM) and the suburban Wynne Farm Ecological Reserve (WFER) in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, plagued with severe deforestation and environmental degradation. Species were identified along transects without distance estimation. Overall, 718 birds belonging to 38 different species were censused (494 at UNPM and 224 at WFER, from 24 to 26 species, respectively). Bird species observation included two endemic and vulnerable species, Corvus leucognaphalus and Amazona ventralis, observed only at the urban site. Species richness, diversity, evenness, and species-abundance distributions did not differ significantly between sites. However, the composition of the two avian assemblages differed significantly, with only 31.6% species in common and a significant difference in their relative abundance. We found no evidence for a difference in the degree of forest dependency between the two assemblages. However, mainly and strict insectivorous species accounted for a larger proportion of observations at WFER (34.8%) compared to UNPM (19.6%). Factors influencing the contrast in avian assemblage composition between two sites include differences in elevation and associated vegetation, difference in water availability and variation in the ability of species to adapt to the urban environment. Our results demonstrate the importance and complementarity of the two small protected areas for the conservation of avian diversity in Haiti.

I'm able to access the article PDF, if anyone would like it.


r/solarpunk 4h ago

Research Biophilic Design and the Therapeutic Power of Smellscapes: A Sustainable Path to Psychological Wellbeing

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6 Upvotes

Article Abstract:

Olfaction plays a fundamental role in human psychological well-being, with its direct neural pathway to the limbic system influencing emotional processing, memory recall, and autonomic regulation. While biophilic design has been extensively studied for its psychological benefits, olfactory elements have received comparatively less emphasis in discussions on therapeutic applications. This paper examines empirical evidence supporting the psychological effects of natural scents, including their potential to modulate stress responses, autonomic nervous system activity, and cognitive function. Additionally, it explores how olfactory stimuli can be integrated into urban planning, clinical psychology, and workplace design to enhance well-being. The discussion considers both the restorative and distressing effects of scent, particularly its role in memory recall and trauma responses, as well as the relevance of blue spaces and oceanic smellscapes in promoting mental health. Incorporating olfactory stimuli into biophilic design may offer a complementary approach to fostering psychological resilience in urban environments, though further research is needed to assess its long-term efficacy and practical implementation.


r/solarpunk 8h ago

Research Looking for guest writers on Energy realities of Solarpunk

3 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

I am running a content publishing website on Climate change with focus on post-growth perspectives. I am looking to scale it up in traction and I feel bringing guest writers now would be a nice collaborative way to do that. I am looking to brainstorm and co-author articles (sole author fine too). Also need to figure out a business model around our collaboration. I am open to paying honorarium fee initially to kickstart the collab. I am currently doing some redesign revamps for website to make it more engaging and after that looking to develop pipeline of articles together.

I have written articles on concepts like EROI, Hubbert's curve, Jevons Paradox etc so far but now looking to get deep into elaborating energy realities of low carbon Solarpunk living for the readers (target audience mostly Millennials and GenZ).

If anybody is interested or know anyone, please DM me. If you have any other inputs on this, let me know as well. Cheers.


r/solarpunk 49m ago

Research Explore sustainable energy solutions, smart planning, and innovative technologies to power your home or community with clean, renewable energy.

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Upvotes

r/solarpunk 1h ago

Literature/Fiction Is it possible for a morally grey organization similar to the scp foundation to exist in a solarpunk world?

Upvotes

Ok so first I am an aspiring worldbuilder/writer along with being a future enviromental scientist. I have for the past two months have been getting really into solarpunk, I've come from cyberpunk and stuff. I love solarpunk i love the community governance and just in general everything of it and I want to write a solarpunk story but I want to have something like the SCP foundation in it, I'm calling it the Aegis Directorate. And i just wanted some advice from people who know more about solarpunk then I do on how I can incorporate it, I already have some ideas

The Aegis directorate during the old corporate era was a lot more like the scp foundation with a mission of research, securing, and protecting all Anomalies entities. during and after the revolution they transformed their mission into the protection, research, and understanding of all Anomalies and sometimes refered to as the reformed directorate. But like world ending Anomalies and very dangerous ones still exist so many are still in containment but most aren't. Anomalpis humanoids that aren't insane are incorporated into society and the directorate has a very proactive approach to dealing with Anomalies, like informing and training communities to deal with Anomalies thay might attack them or just how to not provoke them. I'm trying to take a page from how the natives of north America talked about like entities and how they would avoid them and stuff.

But it's still the world and many are dangerous. Many are still locked up and studied and the Reformed directorate still has to do things un ethical to preserve reality. Like if the death of 1 saves 100 the directorate will do that it's meant to be morally grey I'm just afraid it won't fit into a so solarpunk world.

The directorate along with this has two other policies; be cold not cruel, and that Anomalies are apart of the world that should be understood but that humans will screw Up everything by trying to use/exploit them. The directorate also makes sure that the rights of Anomalies are protected by all bio regional governments and such.

Is it just gonna turn out weird trying to make a solarpunk world morally grey with a scp like organizati9n or could it work be make it more interesting?

Some other info about the directorate while they don't do it as often as the scp foundation humans are still sometimes used in testing, while a great emphasis is kept on keeping them alive they are still used. Humans used in this world are often exiles and corporate remnants. Exiles are people who refuse rehabilitation and or are exiled from communities. And corporate remanets are like forces from the old world who refuse to give up the fight for corporations so like raiders and terrorists as they are often seen as.

Frankly maybe I should just make it the world more eldritch themed With solarpunk aspects, thoughts yall?

I could try having chickens be like used to replace most tests


r/solarpunk 23h ago

Action / DIY / Activism Looking for like minded people to discuss using ai to create permacultures around the world

0 Upvotes

I am looking for other people who want to build a network of people who want to feed the world. We can end food scarcity if we work together by creating ultra efficient permaculture setups that can be replicated anywhere.