>> the trouble, i find, is that solarpunk the aesthetic and genre almost completely define solarpunk the movement—for the worse. <<
I find this substantially true, but not entirely true. It depends a lot on what you go looking for. If you start with the aesthetic you'll find pretty pictures and clothing fashions, with variable degrees of practicality. If you start with the genre, you'll find all sorts of entertainment, some of which is genuinely entertaining, some of which is genuinely solartech, a little that is both, and a lot that fixates on one at the expense of the other. But there's also another branch, which isn't necessarily much concerned with contemporary solarpunk -- the part with deep roots in the hippie community and other Earth/land movements. This is where you find the practical low-to-mid tech stuff that people build so they can accomplish more and/or rely less on questionably ethical and questionably reliable mainstream infrastructure. There is a great deal of ingenuity there, and then those ideas seep into the art and the clothes and the storytelling and everything else.
To look at it a different way, solarpunk can be done from the surface in (which is largely what you're describing) or from the core out (which is some of what I'm describing). If you focus on the surface trappings, you tend to miss the point, which a lot of people do -- and if they're just in it for the art or the stories, it's okay, as long as they don't confuse that with practical plans for sustainability. Start from the core out, and you realize that without a clear vision, people won't understand where you're trying to go; without some charm, all that hard work is very unappealing; so that's where the art and storytelling come in, to create motivation and momentum.
>> with extremely scattered exceptions: there is no real "solarpunk" <<
I have seen many things that reasonably fit within the solarpunk realm. Whether they are "good" or not depends on how you judge them -- and what they were designed for, as the creator's goals may have nothing to do with yours.
>> and likewise no real solarpunk "movement". <<
Likely so. I would expect that more people are in it for relief from this world's fucking miserable outlook than because they have any idea or intent about actually trying to clean up the mess.
>> unless you overfit what solarpunk is (which we'll get to) or define it by vague platitudes like "ingenuity, generativity, independence, and community" (we'll also get to this) <<
Well, all of those things have their uses -- if you define each one, its strengths and weaknesses, and then develop a personal or group process for teaching and learning the skills that make them.
You need ingenuity to solve problems in new ways when the old ways aren't working. But that means you need to respect people who are a little (or a lot) wild and not best suited to conventional anything. Ideally, you want a mix of people who understand the proven methods, and those who can brainstorm when the old ways don't work, and the participatory decision-making skills to keep them from eating each other.
Generativity is just a modern way of saying "Plan for the seventh generation." If you want your kids to have a future -- or humanity to have a future, you better figure this out. Mainstream people are terrible at this. It goes against all their capitalist training, and they struggle to think more than a few years ahead. But it's the norm in many traditional cultures, not all of which have been wiped out yet. Here is one example of deep-future thinking.
Independence and community are two ends of a spectrum, where you absolutely need a healthy balance. Too much independence and people can't work together effectively, so society falls apart. Too much community crushes individuality and motivation, leaving people unable to endure their own company while alone or express themselves honestly in a group. Either extreme screws you, so it is crucial for people to understand why we need a balance and how to maintain that.
>> it is far more of a vibe than a praxis.<<
That is a brilliant phrase. I usually put it "The concept exceeds the execution" but yours is more particular and applicable to many situations, like how people tend to market politics. All feeling and no policy. :/
>> and this leads to interpretations that totally defeat what i presume should be the point of solarpunk. <<
When you're talking about art (the aesthetic), writing (the genre), or other creative activities then there is no one true point. People can do these for many reasons -- for fun, to make a living, to express themselves, to explore possibilities -- and all of those are valid. Even when you're talking about a movement, it can span many goals around a shared vision or at least direction. One artist might want to raise awareness, another to relieve despair through hopeful imagery, and a third to render a solar house so compellingly that people will want to build or buy one. All valid, and all useful in different ways.
Solarpunk is basically about challenging (that's the punk park) the idea of all-powerful fossiltech (that's the solar part) to create a different future than the one presently ahead of us, and people are doing that through art, writing, activism, and other means. They do this as well or poorly, as coherently or chaotically, as they do anything else. That is, 90% of everything is crud, but it's the other 10% that keeps humanity moving more-or-less forward.
Thoughts
I find this substantially true, but not entirely true. It depends a lot on what you go looking for. If you start with the aesthetic you'll find pretty pictures and clothing fashions, with variable degrees of practicality. If you start with the genre, you'll find all sorts of entertainment, some of which is genuinely entertaining, some of which is genuinely solartech, a little that is both, and a lot that fixates on one at the expense of the other. But there's also another branch, which isn't necessarily much concerned with contemporary solarpunk -- the part with deep roots in the hippie community and other Earth/land movements. This is where you find the practical low-to-mid tech stuff that people build so they can accomplish more and/or rely less on questionably ethical and questionably reliable mainstream infrastructure. There is a great deal of ingenuity there, and then those ideas seep into the art and the clothes and the storytelling and everything else.
To look at it a different way, solarpunk can be done from the surface in (which is largely what you're describing) or from the core out (which is some of what I'm describing). If you focus on the surface trappings, you tend to miss the point, which a lot of people do -- and if they're just in it for the art or the stories, it's okay, as long as they don't confuse that with practical plans for sustainability. Start from the core out, and you realize that without a clear vision, people won't understand where you're trying to go; without some charm, all that hard work is very unappealing; so that's where the art and storytelling come in, to create motivation and momentum.
>> with extremely scattered exceptions: there is no real "solarpunk" <<
I have seen many things that reasonably fit within the solarpunk realm. Whether they are "good" or not depends on how you judge them -- and what they were designed for, as the creator's goals may have nothing to do with yours.
>> and likewise no real solarpunk "movement". <<
Likely so. I would expect that more people are in it for relief from this world's fucking miserable outlook than because they have any idea or intent about actually trying to clean up the mess.
>> unless you overfit what solarpunk is (which we'll get to) or define it by vague platitudes like "ingenuity, generativity, independence, and community" (we'll also get to this) <<
Well, all of those things have their uses -- if you define each one, its strengths and weaknesses, and then develop a personal or group process for teaching and learning the skills that make them.
You need ingenuity to solve problems in new ways when the old ways aren't working. But that means you need to respect people who are a little (or a lot) wild and not best suited to conventional anything. Ideally, you want a mix of people who understand the proven methods, and those who can brainstorm when the old ways don't work, and the participatory decision-making skills to keep them from eating each other.
Generativity is just a modern way of saying "Plan for the seventh generation." If you want your kids to have a future -- or humanity to have a future, you better figure this out. Mainstream people are terrible at this. It goes against all their capitalist training, and they struggle to think more than a few years ahead. But it's the norm in many traditional cultures, not all of which have been wiped out yet. Here is one example of deep-future thinking.
Independence and community are two ends of a spectrum, where you absolutely need a healthy balance. Too much independence and people can't work together effectively, so society falls apart. Too much community crushes individuality and motivation, leaving people unable to endure their own company while alone or express themselves honestly in a group. Either extreme screws you, so it is crucial for people to understand why we need a balance and how to maintain that.
>> it is far more of a vibe than a praxis.<<
That is a brilliant phrase. I usually put it "The concept exceeds the execution" but yours is more particular and applicable to many situations, like how people tend to market politics. All feeling and no policy. :/
>> and this leads to interpretations that totally defeat what i presume should be the point of solarpunk. <<
When you're talking about art (the aesthetic), writing (the genre), or other creative activities then there is no one true point. People can do these for many reasons -- for fun, to make a living, to express themselves, to explore possibilities -- and all of those are valid. Even when you're talking about a movement, it can span many goals around a shared vision or at least direction. One artist might want to raise awareness, another to relieve despair through hopeful imagery, and a third to render a solar house so compellingly that people will want to build or buy one. All valid, and all useful in different ways.
Solarpunk is basically about challenging (that's the punk park) the idea of all-powerful fossiltech (that's the solar part) to create a different future than the one presently ahead of us, and people are doing that through art, writing, activism, and other means. They do this as well or poorly, as coherently or chaotically, as they do anything else. That is, 90% of everything is crud, but it's the other 10% that keeps humanity moving more-or-less forward.