Solarpunk Presents

In this episode, Prof. Jenni Barclay explains the importance of storytelling by scientists to themselves, other scientists, and the general public.

Has that got you thinking, hey, wait, WHAT?! Everyone knows that scientists should never tell stories! If we expect them to show up like Back off man, I’m a scientist! and guide us through difficulties, then they’d best stick strictly and dryly to the facts, because everyone knows that scientists should never tell stories, right? But scientists even need to tell stories to themselves and to each other to more effectively process the information contained in their data, observations, and experiences. Human beings are not computers: we need stories to grasp the meanings of things, and that also goes for scientific facts. This means scientists need to be storytellers, too, if they want people to understand not just what the facts are, but what they mean for society and the world at large. Then people would better be able to see what our options are for responding to environmental and technological developments and emergencies.

Learn more about Jenni and her research on volcanoes and scientists here https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/persons/jenni-barclay or follow her on social media at @volcanojenni on xitter and bluesky.

Support Solarpunk Presents on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/solarpunkpresents

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On today’s episode, we’re talking about board games! Ariel interviews Dr Sourayan Mookerjea, Professor of sociology at University of Alberta, about the game “Perfect Storm”, which he uses in his classes and beyond to teach players about the complexities of a sustainable energy transition in the province of Alberta, and Canada more widely. We talk about the different meanings of “energy”, green capitalism, degrowth, decommodifying housing, and more!

Links:

• Dr Mookerjea’s profile at U of A
• “Perfect Storm” description via Just Powers

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Have the inhumanity and environmental destructiveness of global supply chains got you down? What about the rapaciousness of multinational corporations who have twisted globalization into a nightmare for so many people on Earth? Here’s one thing you can do about it: you can support the growing movement known as distributed production. In Episode 3 of Season 4, researcher Sarah Hutton of the Internet of Production Alliance explains what distributed production is, why it’s all about people power, and exactly why it is a completely radical and powerfully democratizing activity that is also better for local jobs, local communities, and the environment.

Join the Internet of Production Alliance’s Community Forum at https://community.internetofproduction.org/

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In this episode, Ariel talks to Hermina Joldersma, professor emerita at University of Calgary, about alternative housing arrangements, focusing on co-housing. They discuss not only Hermina’s experiences living in different types of housing, but the mindset necessary to co-housing and communal life, and the way that community often has to be intentionally created. Tune in now!

Links:

• Hermina Joldersma’s profile page at University of Calgary
• Hermina Joldersma at Fibre Art Network
• Urban Green Cohousing
• CBC article on Urban Green and co-housing in Canada
• CoHo BC official website

Support Solarpunk Presents on Patreon or make a one-time donation via PayPal.

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In this kick-off of Season 4, Ariel and Christina tackle the topic of housing. It is one of the central imaginings of solarpunk, after all. And it’s something we’re not doing very well in the present. 

How could solarpunk expand its dreams of housing beyond the aesthetic and into the realm of the practical? Can solarpunk envision not just greenery and solar-panel-draped dwellings, but housing that would meet people’s needs, not just for shelter, but comfort, mental health, emotional and physical support, ease of access, friendship and community, and culture, while also being affordable to everyone, energy efficient, and not contributing to urban sprawl? It seems like a tall order, but we want to make it a present reality. Tune in as we discuss!

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Solarpunk’s envisioning of a future that we’d like to live in isn’t just about providing a vision for us to aim for, it’s also about changing cultural norms in the present so that we can actually get to that future. Solarpunk storytelling is in no small part about normalizing the things we want to support and develop, such as sustainability, wild and productive gardens, social justice, and cohesive, supportive communities. On the flip side, solarpunk strives to make taboo or erase completely the attitudes and entire industries that are anti-human and anti-planet; we’re thinking about racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, misogyny, fossil fuels, petrochemical pesticides, overly industrialized agriculture, etc. But, aside from storytelling, how do we change the norms of the cultures that we’re living in at all, much less to be more in line with a solarpunk ethos? Is there a secret sauce that works every time? And if we knew the answer, would we be even having this conversation in the first place? Tune in as we discuss.

Links:

• Flying pumpkin wear your seatbelt ad
• Article on Swiss behaviour changes due to Fridays for Future

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In this episode, Brianna Castagnozzi, one of the editors-in-chief of Solarpunk Magazine, is here to give up the solarpunk artist’s eye view on solarpunk art and AI; a very different take than the solarpunk hacker’s view given to us by John Threat in season three episode seven. As much as I (Christina) was convinced by John’s advice not to stick your head in the sand but to master the tools of your capitalist overlords, Bri has equally compelling points about not joining into an activity that exploits the work of artists without their consent and without compensating them.

Join us!

You can follow Bri and her art at @mosshawkarts on xitter and Tumblr and at @mosshawk_arts at YouTube and Instagram.

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This week, Ariel chats with Paul Heersink, cartographer and Program Manager for the Roads and Addresses program at ESRI Canada. Formerly, he was Production Manager of the Community Maps Program: an initiative that is aiming to build a seamless topographic basemap of Canada using contributor data, and the Roads and Addresses program aims to do the same with community-sourced data, building a navigable map of Canada with the most up-to-date information provided by those who know it best.

Paul also personally maintains and updates a map of the sunken battleships (and other naval vessels) that were downed during World War Two. Paul’s map combines two of his interests - cartography and WWII history and, though it started as a passion project outside of work, Paul has been approached by numerous organizations since publishing his data that are very interested in using it to support salvaging and reclamation efforts. The ships have been called “ticking ecological time bombs” as they are carrying crude oil, munitions, and other toxic materials that can leach into the water around them as the hulls degrade. That said, some also contain traditional treasure! Join us for a discussion about the details.

Links:

• Paul’s official ESRI bio page.
• The ESRI Community Map of Canada
• Resurfacing the Past article on Paul’s work from ESRI
• Sunken Ships of the Second World War (interactive map)
• YouTube video of the animated map
• News and other articles featuring Paul’s work.
• Uboat.net - The site that kicked off Paul’s curiosity
• Documentary on this topic

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Between September 15 to 24, 2023, you can go be a part of renowned hacktivist, writer/director, and creative futurist John Threat’s Zukunft Garden—a solarpunk future garden—that’s part of Vision2030’s Earth Edition festival at CalArts, in Santa Clarita, near Los Angeles. Join us for this episode, where John talks to Christina about this social art installation, what it means and can signify for participants, and the inspiration behind it. They discuss John's background as a hacker, an activist, a cyberpunk and, most recently, a solarpunk dedicated to thinking outside of the systems of this world.

Stay tuned also for what John has to say about what solarpunk can do with AI art and why we should be engaging with AI technology, rather than ignoring it outright - as John points out, corporations will still be using AI, and it's incumbent on solarpunks to know thy enemy ... or at least, to be able to know enough about new technologies to decide whether or not to use them as tools for community support and envisioning better futures, rather than taking advantage of others.

Useful links:

• Zukunft Garden official site
• Earth Edition Festival official site
• Visions 2030 official site
• "What Is Solarpunk?" YouTube video by Andrewism
• The Solarpunk Conference official site

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What is petroturfing? What is an energy imaginary? If, as Thomas King says, we are all stories, how can we make sense of which stories are leading us to an understanding of things as they are, rather than misrepresenting reality or persuading us to take a biased view? And what can we do when we learn to critically interpret the world around us? What are some concrete actions we can take as regular folks if we decide that we want to push back against this narrative of “ethical oil” and intervene in the reactionary oil culture war?

Dr Jordan Kinder has spent the last decade of his life thinking about these questions, specifically in the context of the Canadian oil industry and Alberta. The result? His new book Petroturfing: Refining Canadian Oil, which covers these topics and more, forthcoming from University of Minnesota Press in spring 2024. Join Ariel and Jordan to learn about the many competing narratives about (and even by!) Canadian oil and gas—including but not limited to being labelled dirty oil, ethical oil, one of the world’s leading polluters, an underdog industry under attack, a Canadian success story, the ball and chain around Canada’s neck as it tries to avert climate catastrophe, and the list goes on…

References:

• Just Powers 
• Petrocultures Research Group
• Solarities
• Energy Humanities
• Kinder, Jordan “Mystifying Oil Today” for Heliotrope
• Kinder, Jordan “Tailings, Unconventional: Sedimented Horizons for More Equitable Energy Futures” for Against Catastrophe

Socials:

Connect with Jordan at jbkinder.github.io

Connect with Solarpunk Presents Podcast on Twitter, Mastodon, or at solarpunkpresents.com.

Support the show on Patreon or make a one-time donation via PayPal.

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