An excellent episode of one of my favorite podcasts, The Great Simplification: Kris De Decker: “Low Tech: What, Why and How”
How does low tech differ from high tech and what does it feel like to live a low tech lifestyle? Why do we assume high tech will always be the solution, and could low tech be a feasible path for a sustainable and fulfilling future?
A morning task: transplant 3 small hazelnut bushes. Also, enjoy observing a red ant exploring a garlic chive flower cluster.
Solar punk tiny house! Flowers in foreground: Vernonia baldwinii, the western ironweed is the purple flower. Rudbeckia subtomentosa, sweet Coneflower is the yellow.
I'm not growing a lot of food in my garden but I enjoy every little bit I do grow! Most recently, lettuce and strawberries. And plenty of wild daisies which are edible though I've not tried them in my salad yet.
My 12 year experiment in tiny house living. Added a solar panel this year. Hard to see in photo but mixed in there are a few raised garden beds with kale, lettuce, radishes and strawberries, herbs, fruit/nut trees, native wildflowers. Laundry day so clothes drying on the lines. Still on grid though I make constant effort to minimize. Firm believer that while we need large systemic changes, we can also make our own individual efforts.
Solar Punk
Three months ago I fell down a rabbit hole on a topic I’d heard of but never investigated: Solarpunk. And really, I’m not sure I can say exactly how I ended up there but I suspect it started when I was doing a bit of research looking for a small battery back-up and solar panel. But, in any case, it did turn up and I started looking into it and what I found is a very inspiring, interesting genre of art and fiction that sits very well with permaculture and social ecology, both of which I am very familiar with. In fact there seems to be a good deal of overlap between the three, to the point that while each comes from a different origin point and developmental history, the general destination seems to be very similar.
Some links...
Podcasts I’m discovering quite a few podcasts and podcast episodes. My favorite thus far is Solarpunk Now! which has, as of April 3, 2022 just gotten started with 2 episodes published and a third coming soon. Another is Solarpunk Permaculture
There are several podcasts that are not specifically Solarpunk but that that have episodes that explore it.
Beyond Species, April 27, 2020: Solarpunk Anarchism
The Fire These Times, January 7, 2022: The Political Economy of Solarpunk w/ Andrew Dana Hudson
It Could Happen Here Daily October 18, 2021: Why You Should Know About Solarpunk
General Resources
Solarpunk Manifesto at Regenerative Design Solarpunk: A Reference Guide Solarpunk: Notes toward a manifesto
More to come as I gather and edit this post…