Solarpunk Now! Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:05:46 -0500 https://www.solarpunkcast.net/ en-us © 2026 Solarpunk Now! yes Support this Podcast 3cb42467-5ac0-5c7d-b680-a6166aad4d1b Luka D. episodic false Exploring radical ideas & projects for a kinder, healthier, and more beautiful world. Let’s demand a brighter future together!

Episodes release when they're ready. Join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops: https://www.patreon.com/SolarpunkNow

]]> Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) Luka D. https://storage.buzzsprout.com/yaawtr19s0nabmz8xjenp4fegabq?.jpg Solarpunk Now! https://www.solarpunkcast.net/ What Does Solarpunk Mean in 2026? What Does Solarpunk Mean in 2026? Solarpunk might seem impossible in 2026, but I argue we need it now more than ever.

Fill out the survey here to participate in my interview-based solarpunk research project! Join the free Patreon to get email updates when new episodes release.

Sources:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Solarpunk might seem impossible in 2026, but I argue we need it now more than ever.

Fill out the survey here to participate in my interview-based solarpunk research project! Join the free Patreon to get email updates when new episodes release.

Sources:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-18724089 Mon, 23 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0800 977 1 22 full false After the LA Fires: Scholars and Activists on Altadena's Black History, Present, and Future After the LA Fires: Scholars and Activists on Altadena's Black History, Present, and Future Dr. Wesley Cox, Dr. Dani Haogue, and Zaria Smith all grew up in Altadena, CA. In the wake of the Eaton Fire which destroyed more than half of the city in January 2025, they share their personal stories and how they connect to the wider picture of Black history in Los Angeles, environmental racism, and the struggle for a brighter future.

DONATE to Dena Rebuild: https://denarebuild.co/
 

Mentions/Sources:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Dr. Wesley Cox, Dr. Dani Haogue, and Zaria Smith all grew up in Altadena, CA. In the wake of the Eaton Fire which destroyed more than half of the city in January 2025, they share their personal stories and how they connect to the wider picture of Black history in Los Angeles, environmental racism, and the struggle for a brighter future.

DONATE to Dena Rebuild: https://denarebuild.co/
 

Mentions/Sources:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-16985803 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0700 4986 21 full false We Have to Consider Collapse We Have to Consider Collapse As solarpunks, we have to consider the possibility of collapse. Matthew Azuley–aka EpicTomorrows–introduces us to collapse awareness, a view of the climate crisis which accepts the inevitability of societal collapse on some level. We’ll hear a bit about his forthcoming book, an anthology of global perspectives on collapse, as well as how this view might fit within a solarpunk perspective.

Buy the book on Arkbound


Mentions/Sources:

  • EpicTomorrows on YouTube
  • A Radical Guide
  • Diamond, J M. (2011).  Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. London: Penguin. 
    • Note from Matthew: I need to be very clear, some of Diamond’s scholarship has now been discredited, but this does not change his essential definition of collapse which I still think is the most useful one. Diamond defines collapse as, ‘A drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time’ (Diamond 2011: 3). He developed a single general formula outlining how many of the world’s great civilizations fell, a process he explains as ‘ecocide’. Ecocide, as the name suggests, describes a society that destroys the very environment upon which they depend, thus ensuring its own demise (Diamond 2011: 6).
  • Total Societal Collapse by 2040? (MIT report summarised by ‘Down To Earth’ on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE50z-C-gGA
  • The Green Transition will not work as planned, what might we do instead? – Professor Simon Michaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbnXMv19Hck&t=1s

Recommended Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> As solarpunks, we have to consider the possibility of collapse. Matthew Azuley–aka EpicTomorrows–introduces us to collapse awareness, a view of the climate crisis which accepts the inevitability of societal collapse on some level. We’ll hear a bit about his forthcoming book, an anthology of global perspectives on collapse, as well as how this view might fit within a solarpunk perspective.

Buy the book on Arkbound


Mentions/Sources:

  • EpicTomorrows on YouTube
  • A Radical Guide
  • Diamond, J M. (2011).  Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. London: Penguin. 
    • Note from Matthew: I need to be very clear, some of Diamond’s scholarship has now been discredited, but this does not change his essential definition of collapse which I still think is the most useful one. Diamond defines collapse as, ‘A drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time’ (Diamond 2011: 3). He developed a single general formula outlining how many of the world’s great civilizations fell, a process he explains as ‘ecocide’. Ecocide, as the name suggests, describes a society that destroys the very environment upon which they depend, thus ensuring its own demise (Diamond 2011: 6).
  • Total Societal Collapse by 2040? (MIT report summarised by ‘Down To Earth’ on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE50z-C-gGA
  • The Green Transition will not work as planned, what might we do instead? – Professor Simon Michaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbnXMv19Hck&t=1s

Recommended Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-16074234 Sun, 10 Nov 2024 05:00:00 -0800 3344 20 full false No Healing Without Decolonizing: Community Mental Health in Gaza w/ Dr. Jess Ghannam No Healing Without Decolonizing: Community Mental Health in Gaza w/ Dr. Jess Ghannam In 1995, Dr. Jess Ghannam was one of two psychiatrists for the entire population of the Gaza strip (nearly two million people). The typical Western model of mental health care isn’t equipped to address needs at that scale, especially in a population suffering from multiple generations of ongoing trauma.

Jess’s work centers around community mental health, a model that aims to deliver care at scale by integrating and working within the community. This includes developing a historical understanding and political awareness–the doctor’s office isn’t isolated from the rest of the world. When it comes to addressing global mental health needs, the challenges are great, but the insight Jess brings to this conversation points a way forward.

Note: Since October 7th, much of this work in Gaza has been destroyed. And the needs right now are much more immediate–food, water, shelter, and a ceasefire. If you have the resources to provide assistance, Jess recommends a donation to KinderUSA (http://www.kinderusa.org/), currently providing food support to the region.

Learn more about Dr. Jess Ghannam at https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jess.ghannam

Recommended Reading:

  • Frantz Fanon – Black Skin, White Masks
  • Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> In 1995, Dr. Jess Ghannam was one of two psychiatrists for the entire population of the Gaza strip (nearly two million people). The typical Western model of mental health care isn’t equipped to address needs at that scale, especially in a population suffering from multiple generations of ongoing trauma.

Jess’s work centers around community mental health, a model that aims to deliver care at scale by integrating and working within the community. This includes developing a historical understanding and political awareness–the doctor’s office isn’t isolated from the rest of the world. When it comes to addressing global mental health needs, the challenges are great, but the insight Jess brings to this conversation points a way forward.

Note: Since October 7th, much of this work in Gaza has been destroyed. And the needs right now are much more immediate–food, water, shelter, and a ceasefire. If you have the resources to provide assistance, Jess recommends a donation to KinderUSA (http://www.kinderusa.org/), currently providing food support to the region.

Learn more about Dr. Jess Ghannam at https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jess.ghannam

Recommended Reading:

  • Frantz Fanon – Black Skin, White Masks
  • Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-15585847 Thu, 15 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0700 3604 19 full false Ecology is Radical: A People’s History of Environmentalism Ecology is Radical: A People’s History of Environmentalism This Earth Month, we’re looking back on the history of environmental radicalism. Brian Tokar is a teacher, activist, and writer who’s been involved in the movements he writes and teaches about since the 70s. We discuss how leftism and environmentalism came together, why ecology matters for the left, and what lessons we can learn from these traditions and put into practice today.


References:

Further Reading:

  • Robert Gottlieb – Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement
  • Chad Montrie – A People’s History of Environmentalism in the United States
  • Peter Kropotkin – Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
  • A. Kauffman – Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism
  • Douglas Bevington – The Rebirth of Environmentalism
  • Robert Bullard, ed. – The Quest for Environmental Justice, Confronting Environmental Racism, Unequal Protection, Dumping in Dixie

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> This Earth Month, we’re looking back on the history of environmental radicalism. Brian Tokar is a teacher, activist, and writer who’s been involved in the movements he writes and teaches about since the 70s. We discuss how leftism and environmentalism came together, why ecology matters for the left, and what lessons we can learn from these traditions and put into practice today.


References:

Further Reading:

  • Robert Gottlieb – Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement
  • Chad Montrie – A People’s History of Environmentalism in the United States
  • Peter Kropotkin – Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
  • A. Kauffman – Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism
  • Douglas Bevington – The Rebirth of Environmentalism
  • Robert Bullard, ed. – The Quest for Environmental Justice, Confronting Environmental Racism, Unequal Protection, Dumping in Dixie

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-14873360 Fri, 12 Apr 2024 05:00:00 -0700 3744 18 full false When the Aliens Land, Invite Them to Dinner: Ruthanna Emrys on Monsters, First Contact, and Hope When the Aliens Land, Invite Them to Dinner: Ruthanna Emrys on Monsters, First Contact, and Hope What happens when a solarpunk world is suddenly visited by aliens?

Ruthanna Emrys has long been known to the weird fiction community for her reimaginings of H.P. Lovecraft. She writes stories for monsters – stories that challenge the role of the monster as something “other,” something to be feared, something we can’t build social relations with.

Her latest novel, A Half Built Garden, begins with a classic scenario: an alien spaceship landing. But we learn pretty quickly that, strange and incomprehensible as these aliens are, fear is not the only response we can have to the unknown. A Half Built Garden is a story of high-stakes interspecies negotiations, of hope and progress despite immense challenges, and of bridging the divide between the familiar and the alien.

Ruthanna Emrys (website, and links to buy the book): http://ruthannaemrys.com/

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> What happens when a solarpunk world is suddenly visited by aliens?

Ruthanna Emrys has long been known to the weird fiction community for her reimaginings of H.P. Lovecraft. She writes stories for monsters – stories that challenge the role of the monster as something “other,” something to be feared, something we can’t build social relations with.

Her latest novel, A Half Built Garden, begins with a classic scenario: an alien spaceship landing. But we learn pretty quickly that, strange and incomprehensible as these aliens are, fear is not the only response we can have to the unknown. A Half Built Garden is a story of high-stakes interspecies negotiations, of hope and progress despite immense challenges, and of bridging the divide between the familiar and the alien.

Ruthanna Emrys (website, and links to buy the book): http://ruthannaemrys.com/

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-14658463 Sun, 10 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0700 3581 17 full false Bringing Theory Beyond the Academy: Strange Matters Magazine Bringing Theory Beyond the Academy: Strange Matters Magazine The editors of Strange Matters Magazine want your reading experience to feel like meeting a grad student friend for coffee. Meaning: they explain the most exciting parts of their research, give you all the hot gossip in their field, skip the jargon and elitism, and still deliver the information in a rigorous manner. Strange Matters is thoughtful yet playful, broad in scope yet deep in its analysis. They publish articles in a variety of genres and from a variety of viewpoints, all committed to their mission of “a new culture of open-minded inquiry on the Left.”

I first came across Strange Matters back in 2022, when they launched their successful crowdfunding campaign for Issue 1. Their editorial, “Words for our Present Reality,” spoke to the disillusionment I felt as a leftist in the face of the pandemic, climate change, reactionary politics, economic crisis, etc. The piece also pointed the way forward in what I think is a really promising direction. Strange Matters is an exciting project, and a great example of a successful Left media project. In this episode I chat with two Strange Matters editors, Kyle and Frances, to discuss the magazine, the process of developing it, and what makes the project so exciting.

Links:

Strange Matters Magazine

Strange Matters on Twitter

Strange Matters on Instagram

Articles Mentioned in Episode:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> The editors of Strange Matters Magazine want your reading experience to feel like meeting a grad student friend for coffee. Meaning: they explain the most exciting parts of their research, give you all the hot gossip in their field, skip the jargon and elitism, and still deliver the information in a rigorous manner. Strange Matters is thoughtful yet playful, broad in scope yet deep in its analysis. They publish articles in a variety of genres and from a variety of viewpoints, all committed to their mission of “a new culture of open-minded inquiry on the Left.”

I first came across Strange Matters back in 2022, when they launched their successful crowdfunding campaign for Issue 1. Their editorial, “Words for our Present Reality,” spoke to the disillusionment I felt as a leftist in the face of the pandemic, climate change, reactionary politics, economic crisis, etc. The piece also pointed the way forward in what I think is a really promising direction. Strange Matters is an exciting project, and a great example of a successful Left media project. In this episode I chat with two Strange Matters editors, Kyle and Frances, to discuss the magazine, the process of developing it, and what makes the project so exciting.

Links:

Strange Matters Magazine

Strange Matters on Twitter

Strange Matters on Instagram

Articles Mentioned in Episode:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-14475593 Sat, 10 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -0800 5574 16 full false From Capitalist Realism to a Solarpunk Reality From Capitalist Realism to a Solarpunk Reality To kick off the New Year and a new season of Solarpunk Now, I’m bringing you a conversation with some other creators in the solarpunk space.

In June last year, I presented a panel at the Solarpunk Conference alongside Andre of HydroponicTrash, Ariel of the Solarpunk Presents Podcast, and Elia of The Fire These Times podcast. Our panel, From Capitalist Realism to a Solarpunk Reality, discussed the thought and action necessary to bring solarpunk to life. We got together after the conference to expand on these ideas and find connections between our related, but distinct areas of research.

This conversation originally aired on The Fire These Times in December, but it gets to live on my feed too, because Elia is awesome like that. Andre, Ariel, and Elia all have their own projects, so if you’d like to hear more from them, check out the links below!

Links:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> To kick off the New Year and a new season of Solarpunk Now, I’m bringing you a conversation with some other creators in the solarpunk space.

In June last year, I presented a panel at the Solarpunk Conference alongside Andre of HydroponicTrash, Ariel of the Solarpunk Presents Podcast, and Elia of The Fire These Times podcast. Our panel, From Capitalist Realism to a Solarpunk Reality, discussed the thought and action necessary to bring solarpunk to life. We got together after the conference to expand on these ideas and find connections between our related, but distinct areas of research.

This conversation originally aired on The Fire These Times in December, but it gets to live on my feed too, because Elia is awesome like that. Andre, Ariel, and Elia all have their own projects, so if you’d like to hear more from them, check out the links below!

Links:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-14262762 Sun, 07 Jan 2024 05:00:00 -0800 5290 15 full false AI is Already Existential: The Case for an Anti-fascist Resistance AI is Already Existential: The Case for an Anti-fascist Resistance AI already poses an immediate danger to our freedom, livelihood, and even our very survival. We don’t need to wait on the singularity for AI to become existential – the resistance starts now. A conversation with Dan McQuillan (Goldsmiths Department of Computing).

Find Dan on Twitter, Mastodon, or visit his website

Sources:

 

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> AI already poses an immediate danger to our freedom, livelihood, and even our very survival. We don’t need to wait on the singularity for AI to become existential – the resistance starts now. A conversation with Dan McQuillan (Goldsmiths Department of Computing).

Find Dan on Twitter, Mastodon, or visit his website

Sources:

 

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-13214231 Thu, 13 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0700 5621 14 full false Fashioning the Future: Why Accessible Fashion Matters Fashioning the Future: Why Accessible Fashion Matters AJ is a fashion designer who focuses on making accessible fashion: clothing for diverse bodies, abilities, and genders. His online store–Pocketbean Crafts–sells magical and accessible fashion. He also has a nonprofit, Queering the Spotlight, which provides accessible fashion opportunities for artists and models.

There are a lot of issues with the fashion industry: from labor rights, to a huge carbon footprint, to the lack of options for diverse bodies and abilities. In this episode, AJ offers his view of the problems with the fashion world, and how he’s navigated fashion as a trans man with disabilities. We’ll also learn how AJ challenges harmful norms beginning with the design process, and hear some great ideas for making fashion part of a brighter future!


Links:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> AJ is a fashion designer who focuses on making accessible fashion: clothing for diverse bodies, abilities, and genders. His online store–Pocketbean Crafts–sells magical and accessible fashion. He also has a nonprofit, Queering the Spotlight, which provides accessible fashion opportunities for artists and models.

There are a lot of issues with the fashion industry: from labor rights, to a huge carbon footprint, to the lack of options for diverse bodies and abilities. In this episode, AJ offers his view of the problems with the fashion world, and how he’s navigated fashion as a trans man with disabilities. We’ll also learn how AJ challenges harmful norms beginning with the design process, and hear some great ideas for making fashion part of a brighter future!


Links:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-13010679 Sat, 10 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0700 3508 13 full false More than a Measure: Building Political Consciousness through the Electoral System More than a Measure: Building Political Consciousness through the Electoral System Measure H was a ballot initiative in the 2022 election in Pasadena, CA (a city in Los Angeles County). The measure–now Article 18 of the city charter–established citywide rent control, “just cause” eviction protections, and a rental housing board to implement the law.

On average, Pasadena is more economically unequal than California, as well as the United States as a whole. Histories of this inequality, as well as redlining and racial covenants, are clearly visible in the city landscape. As you can probably imagine, landlords and landlord associations representing their class interests fought pretty hard against Measure H. But the measure passed (by a lot!), and Pasadena tenants now have the basic protections that were so desperately needed.

On the face of it, Measure H might seem like just another electoral campaign, but my guests today saw it as a lot more. They saw an awakening of political consciousness, and an expansion of the horizon of possibility for disempowered and disillusioned tenants. In this episode I talk with three on-the-ground organizers from the Pasadena Tenants Union: on the state of tenants rights in Pasadena, how this measure changes the playing field, and what they learned in the struggle to get it passed.


Sources:

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Measure H was a ballot initiative in the 2022 election in Pasadena, CA (a city in Los Angeles County). The measure–now Article 18 of the city charter–established citywide rent control, “just cause” eviction protections, and a rental housing board to implement the law.

On average, Pasadena is more economically unequal than California, as well as the United States as a whole. Histories of this inequality, as well as redlining and racial covenants, are clearly visible in the city landscape. As you can probably imagine, landlords and landlord associations representing their class interests fought pretty hard against Measure H. But the measure passed (by a lot!), and Pasadena tenants now have the basic protections that were so desperately needed.

On the face of it, Measure H might seem like just another electoral campaign, but my guests today saw it as a lot more. They saw an awakening of political consciousness, and an expansion of the horizon of possibility for disempowered and disillusioned tenants. In this episode I talk with three on-the-ground organizers from the Pasadena Tenants Union: on the state of tenants rights in Pasadena, how this measure changes the playing field, and what they learned in the struggle to get it passed.


Sources:

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-12794192 Sat, 06 May 2023 05:00:00 -0700 5205 12 full false Scientists for Socialism! Why Activism and Research Go Hand-in-Hand Scientists for Socialism! Why Activism and Research Go Hand-in-Hand Bee Rooney is both a scientist and a socialist. She got her PhD in environmental engineering and science at Caltech (Pasadena, CA), and now organizes with the Socialists of Caltech and Pasadena Tenants Union.

Bee shares her insights on balancing the demands of research and activism. We also discuss her work in relation to climate, public health, and building a solarpunk future. Scientists can do a lot when they organize together, and when they bring their skills and knowledge outside of the academy to benefit their community. In this episode we’ll hear what it takes to get together, get involved, and make change happen as a scientist.


Sources:

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Bee Rooney is both a scientist and a socialist. She got her PhD in environmental engineering and science at Caltech (Pasadena, CA), and now organizes with the Socialists of Caltech and Pasadena Tenants Union.

Bee shares her insights on balancing the demands of research and activism. We also discuss her work in relation to climate, public health, and building a solarpunk future. Scientists can do a lot when they organize together, and when they bring their skills and knowledge outside of the academy to benefit their community. In this episode we’ll hear what it takes to get together, get involved, and make change happen as a scientist.


Sources:

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-12591765 Wed, 05 Apr 2023 05:00:00 -0700 4127 11 full false The Union Makes Us Strong! Stories of Tenant Organizing for a World in Crisis The Union Makes Us Strong! Stories of Tenant Organizing for a World in Crisis Last summer, tenant organizers from all over North America came together in Los Angeles for the 2022 Autonomous Tenants Union Network Conference. The conversations in this episode were recorded with permission live at the conference.

Tenants are uniquely situated between socioeconomic inequality and climate change, so a tenants union fights against a wide variety of challenges: harassment and illegal evictions, gentrification, natural disasters, displacement, racism, and more. In this episode, we’ll hear from two tenants unions who have faced unique regional challenges. We’ll see where their struggles overlap, as well as unique obstacles they face and strategies they’ve developed as a result.

West River Tenants United, based in occupied Oceti Sakowin land (aka South Dakota), are battling racism, poverty, displacement of indigenous tenants, and the challenges of organizing in a rural area. They organize in tricky situations like trailer parks, homeless encampments, and a hostile political environment. You can find their website here.

The Houston Tenants Union operates in an area especially prone to disasters caused by climate change. They help keep each other safe and rebuild in the aftermath of disaster, offer services that landlords and the city refuse to provide, and organize buildings against negligent management. You can find their website here.


Sources:

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Last summer, tenant organizers from all over North America came together in Los Angeles for the 2022 Autonomous Tenants Union Network Conference. The conversations in this episode were recorded with permission live at the conference.

Tenants are uniquely situated between socioeconomic inequality and climate change, so a tenants union fights against a wide variety of challenges: harassment and illegal evictions, gentrification, natural disasters, displacement, racism, and more. In this episode, we’ll hear from two tenants unions who have faced unique regional challenges. We’ll see where their struggles overlap, as well as unique obstacles they face and strategies they’ve developed as a result.

West River Tenants United, based in occupied Oceti Sakowin land (aka South Dakota), are battling racism, poverty, displacement of indigenous tenants, and the challenges of organizing in a rural area. They organize in tricky situations like trailer parks, homeless encampments, and a hostile political environment. You can find their website here.

The Houston Tenants Union operates in an area especially prone to disasters caused by climate change. They help keep each other safe and rebuild in the aftermath of disaster, offer services that landlords and the city refuse to provide, and organize buildings against negligent management. You can find their website here.


Sources:

Further Reading:

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Buzzsprout-12373977 Sun, 05 Mar 2023 05:00:00 -0800 2985 10 full false Your Imagination is Haunted: Exorcising Neoliberalism's Ghosts with Elia Ayoub Your Imagination is Haunted: Exorcising Neoliberalism's Ghosts with Elia Ayoub This is a collab episode with fellow podcaster Elia Ayoub of The Fire These Times. We talk in detail about the research I was doing before I started my show, as well as how it connects to Elia’s current research. We cover neoliberalism, capitalist realism, hauntology and ghosts, and all sorts of issues with temporality and imagining the future.

Fun fact, The Fire These Times was actually the podcast that encouraged me to start Solarpunk Now! I listened to some of his episodes on solarpunk while I was still learning about the genre and trying to come up with a central theme to design my own podcast around.

The Fire These Times website: https://thefirethesetimes.com/
You can also follow Elia on Mastodon, and support his show on Patreon.


Sources:

  • Byung-Chul Han – Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power
  • Melinda Cooper – Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism
  • Mark Fisher – Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
  • David Graeber & David Wengrow – The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
  • Michel Foucault – The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979

Further Reading:

  • Pierre Dardot & Christian Laval – The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society
  • Jacques Derrida – Spectres of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International
  • Philip Mirowski and Dieter Plehwe – The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> This is a collab episode with fellow podcaster Elia Ayoub of The Fire These Times. We talk in detail about the research I was doing before I started my show, as well as how it connects to Elia’s current research. We cover neoliberalism, capitalist realism, hauntology and ghosts, and all sorts of issues with temporality and imagining the future.

Fun fact, The Fire These Times was actually the podcast that encouraged me to start Solarpunk Now! I listened to some of his episodes on solarpunk while I was still learning about the genre and trying to come up with a central theme to design my own podcast around.

The Fire These Times website: https://thefirethesetimes.com/
You can also follow Elia on Mastodon, and support his show on Patreon.


Sources:

  • Byung-Chul Han – Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power
  • Melinda Cooper – Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism
  • Mark Fisher – Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
  • David Graeber & David Wengrow – The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
  • Michel Foucault – The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979

Further Reading:

  • Pierre Dardot & Christian Laval – The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society
  • Jacques Derrida – Spectres of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International
  • Philip Mirowski and Dieter Plehwe – The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-12080369 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 05:00:00 -0800 5969 9 full false It's Not a Revolution if We Can't Dance! (Chaia Heller Pt. 2) It's Not a Revolution if We Can't Dance! (Chaia Heller Pt. 2) We need to change our very understanding of nature. Or more specifically, our relationship with nature. We need to see it not as something to exploit, or restrain ourselves from exploiting, but rather as a continuation of ourselves. We desire a world where our choices don’t feel like choosing the lesser of environmental evils–where we can fully enjoy our lives without destroying a river or a rainforest in the process.

This is the second part of my conversation with Chaia Heller, author of The Ecology of Everyday Life, as well as lifelong activist and teacher. In this episode we bring her theory of the five aspects of social desire to life, showing how this theory unfolds into practice: direct actions, illustrative opposition, building alternative political structures, and beyond! The theories of social ecology and social desire provide a rational basis for solarpunk projects of all kinds.


Sources:

The Institute for Social Ecology

Chaia Heller- The Ecology of Everyday Life: Rethinking the Desire for Nature

Murray Bookchin- The Third Revolution: Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era

The Symbiosis organization

Emma Goldman- Living my Life

Audre Lorde- The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power

Learn more about Rojava

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> We need to change our very understanding of nature. Or more specifically, our relationship with nature. We need to see it not as something to exploit, or restrain ourselves from exploiting, but rather as a continuation of ourselves. We desire a world where our choices don’t feel like choosing the lesser of environmental evils–where we can fully enjoy our lives without destroying a river or a rainforest in the process.

This is the second part of my conversation with Chaia Heller, author of The Ecology of Everyday Life, as well as lifelong activist and teacher. In this episode we bring her theory of the five aspects of social desire to life, showing how this theory unfolds into practice: direct actions, illustrative opposition, building alternative political structures, and beyond! The theories of social ecology and social desire provide a rational basis for solarpunk projects of all kinds.


Sources:

The Institute for Social Ecology

Chaia Heller- The Ecology of Everyday Life: Rethinking the Desire for Nature

Murray Bookchin- The Third Revolution: Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era

The Symbiosis organization

Emma Goldman- Living my Life

Audre Lorde- The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power

Learn more about Rojava

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-11790927 Wed, 30 Nov 2022 12:00:00 -0800 2528 8 full false The Sensual Side of Social Ecology (Chaia Heller Pt. 1) The Sensual Side of Social Ecology (Chaia Heller Pt. 1) When it comes to doing our part to “save the environment”, we’re often limited to making superficial choices as consumers. Choices which don’t do much, if at all, to preserve or improve the health of our planet. What if we had a real choice? What if our ways of life–from basic needs to our deepest desires–were aligned with ecology, rather than in tension with it?

In this episode I sit down with Chaia Heller, author of The Ecology of Everyday Life, to discuss social ecology and her work developing a philosophy and politics of social desire. Social ecology, starting with the work of Murray Bookchin, draws from sources like Marxism, feminism, and the environmental movement to develop a rational society that values both social justice and the environment. Chaia expands on this, drawing from feminist theories of desire and the erotic, to show how a rational ecological society should emphasize enjoyment, not just satisfying basic needs. Sounds pretty solarpunk to me!


Sources:

The Institute for Social Ecology

Chaia Heller- The Ecology of Everyday Life: Rethinking the Desire for Nature

Murray Bookchin- Freedom and Necessity in Nature: A Problem of Ecological Ethics

Murray Bookchin- Post-Scarcity Anarchism

Learn more about Rojava

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> When it comes to doing our part to “save the environment”, we’re often limited to making superficial choices as consumers. Choices which don’t do much, if at all, to preserve or improve the health of our planet. What if we had a real choice? What if our ways of life–from basic needs to our deepest desires–were aligned with ecology, rather than in tension with it?

In this episode I sit down with Chaia Heller, author of The Ecology of Everyday Life, to discuss social ecology and her work developing a philosophy and politics of social desire. Social ecology, starting with the work of Murray Bookchin, draws from sources like Marxism, feminism, and the environmental movement to develop a rational society that values both social justice and the environment. Chaia expands on this, drawing from feminist theories of desire and the erotic, to show how a rational ecological society should emphasize enjoyment, not just satisfying basic needs. Sounds pretty solarpunk to me!


Sources:

The Institute for Social Ecology

Chaia Heller- The Ecology of Everyday Life: Rethinking the Desire for Nature

Murray Bookchin- Freedom and Necessity in Nature: A Problem of Ecological Ethics

Murray Bookchin- Post-Scarcity Anarchism

Learn more about Rojava

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-11790900 Wed, 30 Nov 2022 12:00:00 -0800 2520 7 full false The Roleplaying Game Helping Us Build Utopia The Roleplaying Game Helping Us Build Utopia Imagining the future isn’t easy, especially when we’re constantly told that our demands for freedom, justice, and societal transformation are unrealistic. While theorists have pointed out the importance of developing a radical imagination, it can be hard to know where to start.

Solarpunk Surf Club is “an artist collective that creates and curates egalitarian platforms for surfing the waves of still-possible worlds.” Nick and Max, two members of the collective, have spent the past few years developing a card-based tabletop RPG designed to break down barriers to radical imagination and strengthen our imaginative capabilities. That game is Solarpunk Futures. It’s well-researched, beautifully executed, and ultimately a powerful and versatile tool for imagining a better future.

In this episode, I discuss Solarpunk Futures with Nick and Max. We dig into their design process, artistic philosophy, and vision for their game as a tool that can help us transform the world.

Get Your Copy of Solarpunk Futures: https://thefuture.wtf/
More from the Solarpunk Surf Club: https://solarpunksurf.club/
Follow @solarpunkclub on Twitter


Sources:

Mark Fisher – Capitalist Realism

Ursula K. Le Guin’s acceptance speech for the NBF Medal

Ursula K. Le Guin – “A War Without End”

Deleuze & Guattari – Anti-Oedipus

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Imagining the future isn’t easy, especially when we’re constantly told that our demands for freedom, justice, and societal transformation are unrealistic. While theorists have pointed out the importance of developing a radical imagination, it can be hard to know where to start.

Solarpunk Surf Club is “an artist collective that creates and curates egalitarian platforms for surfing the waves of still-possible worlds.” Nick and Max, two members of the collective, have spent the past few years developing a card-based tabletop RPG designed to break down barriers to radical imagination and strengthen our imaginative capabilities. That game is Solarpunk Futures. It’s well-researched, beautifully executed, and ultimately a powerful and versatile tool for imagining a better future.

In this episode, I discuss Solarpunk Futures with Nick and Max. We dig into their design process, artistic philosophy, and vision for their game as a tool that can help us transform the world.

Get Your Copy of Solarpunk Futures: https://thefuture.wtf/
More from the Solarpunk Surf Club: https://solarpunksurf.club/
Follow @solarpunkclub on Twitter


Sources:

Mark Fisher – Capitalist Realism

Ursula K. Le Guin’s acceptance speech for the NBF Medal

Ursula K. Le Guin – “A War Without End”

Deleuze & Guattari – Anti-Oedipus

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-10821139 Mon, 20 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0700 3837 6 full false Let's All Do Acid Communism! (HydroponicTrash Pt. 2) Let's All Do Acid Communism! (HydroponicTrash Pt. 2) This is Part 2 of my conversation with Andre–hacker, gardener, organizer, and all-around solarpunk. In this episode we continue our discussion of historical social movements, then talk about how to build power and organize your community in the 21st century. The secret? A little something called Acid Communism.


Follow Andre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HydroponicTrash
On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hydroponictrash
On Substack: https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/


Sources:

Acid Communism (Unfinished Introduction) by Mark Fisher

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> This is Part 2 of my conversation with Andre–hacker, gardener, organizer, and all-around solarpunk. In this episode we continue our discussion of historical social movements, then talk about how to build power and organize your community in the 21st century. The secret? A little something called Acid Communism.


Follow Andre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HydroponicTrash
On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hydroponictrash
On Substack: https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/


Sources:

Acid Communism (Unfinished Introduction) by Mark Fisher

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-10657615 Sat, 21 May 2022 11:00:00 -0700 3545 5 full false Log On, Clock In, Drop Out: Tech and Liberation (HydroponicTrash Pt. 1) Log On, Clock In, Drop Out: Tech and Liberation (HydroponicTrash Pt. 1) Andre–aka HydroponicTrash–is a hacker, gardener, organizer, and all-around solarpunk. In this episode we discuss technology: as an industry, as a cultural phenomenon, and as a potential method of liberation. This takes us back to the 60s counterculture, which had a big influence on the early development of the internet, and the neoliberal turn of the 70s and beyond, which played its own major role in shaping technology today.

This is Part 1 of a two part conversation.

Follow Andre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HydroponicTrash
On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hydroponictrash
On Substack: https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/


Further Reading:

Andrewism’s Youtube Channel (videos about solarpunk, social movements, revolutionary philosophies, and so much more!)

Definition of Appropriate Technology from Appropedia, the sustainability wiki

Andre’s Blog Post covering the history of the 60s, and their relation to today’s struggles

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Andre–aka HydroponicTrash–is a hacker, gardener, organizer, and all-around solarpunk. In this episode we discuss technology: as an industry, as a cultural phenomenon, and as a potential method of liberation. This takes us back to the 60s counterculture, which had a big influence on the early development of the internet, and the neoliberal turn of the 70s and beyond, which played its own major role in shaping technology today.

This is Part 1 of a two part conversation.

Follow Andre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HydroponicTrash
On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hydroponictrash
On Substack: https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/


Further Reading:

Andrewism’s Youtube Channel (videos about solarpunk, social movements, revolutionary philosophies, and so much more!)

Definition of Appropriate Technology from Appropedia, the sustainability wiki

Andre’s Blog Post covering the history of the 60s, and their relation to today’s struggles

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-10657537 Sat, 21 May 2022 11:00:00 -0700 3134 4 full false Compassion Is Radical: Care Work Within a Punitive System Compassion Is Radical: Care Work Within a Punitive System Sarah is an addiction counselor at a nonprofit agency in California. Her agency offers a wide range of services, both inpatient and outpatient, and they primarily serve low-income clients with publicly funded health insurance. In this episode we discuss: the structural barriers her clients face, encouraging developments in addiction treatment, and a vision for a future where everyone gets the care they deserve.

Sources:
Pierre Dardot & Christian Laval – The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society
William Davies – The Happiness Industry

David Graeber on Care:

Further Reading:

Melinda Cooper’s Family Values is a historical/sociological account of the alliance between neoliberal policy and social conservatism.

The Museum of Care is a collaborative project around the concept of care, started by Graeber and many of his friends/students/comrades.

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Sarah is an addiction counselor at a nonprofit agency in California. Her agency offers a wide range of services, both inpatient and outpatient, and they primarily serve low-income clients with publicly funded health insurance. In this episode we discuss: the structural barriers her clients face, encouraging developments in addiction treatment, and a vision for a future where everyone gets the care they deserve.

Sources:
Pierre Dardot & Christian Laval – The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society
William Davies – The Happiness Industry

David Graeber on Care:

Further Reading:

Melinda Cooper’s Family Values is a historical/sociological account of the alliance between neoliberal policy and social conservatism.

The Museum of Care is a collaborative project around the concept of care, started by Graeber and many of his friends/students/comrades.

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Luka D. Buzzsprout-10422443 Tue, 12 Apr 2022 05:00:00 -0700 3974 3 full false Building a Better Democracy... with Computer Science! Building a Better Democracy... with Computer Science! Matthew Gray is a computer science researcher and history buff passionate about sortition, a method of allocating public offices by lot rather than by election. In this episode we explore the potential benefits of sortition, and Matthew explains the computer science that could make it work securely and efficiently at the national level.

Matthew’s writings on sortition

Matthew’s website

Join the conversation about sortition: https://equalitybylot.com/

Sources:
Wikipedia entry on sortition
Aristotle’s Politics
David Graeber – The Democracy Project
Wendy Brown – Undoing the Demos

Further Reading:
Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast episode on sortition
Of By For (an organization working to implement sortition in the U.S.)
Random sample voting (an interesting method of randomly selecting voters)
Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy (using random sampling and democratic deliberation to improve opinion polling)

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Matthew Gray is a computer science researcher and history buff passionate about sortition, a method of allocating public offices by lot rather than by election. In this episode we explore the potential benefits of sortition, and Matthew explains the computer science that could make it work securely and efficiently at the national level.

Matthew’s writings on sortition

Matthew’s website

Join the conversation about sortition: https://equalitybylot.com/

Sources:
Wikipedia entry on sortition
Aristotle’s Politics
David Graeber – The Democracy Project
Wendy Brown – Undoing the Demos

Further Reading:
Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast episode on sortition
Of By For (an organization working to implement sortition in the U.S.)
Random sample voting (an interesting method of randomly selecting voters)
Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy (using random sampling and democratic deliberation to improve opinion polling)

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Solarpunk Now! Buzzsprout-9904036 Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0800 4766 2 full false Why Solarpunk? Why Solarpunk? Why do certain futurist aesthetics appeal over others? What does art have to say about our political goals, or about the psychological landscape of our world today? Art can be speculative: posing questions and potential answers about how things could be, or should be, in the future. In this inaugurative episode of Solarpunk Now, I show how art and politics intertwine, and make the case for solarpunk as a speculative political project.

Sources:
Louis Snyder on the Brothers Grimm and German nationalism
Andrew Dana Hudson – On the Political Dimensions of Solarpunk
A Solarpunk Manifesto
Teen Vogue talks Eco-fascism w/ Naomi Klein

Further Reading:
Elvia Wilk – Is Ornamenting Solar Panels a Crime?
Neal Stephenson – Innovation Starvation
David Graeber – On Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
Appropedia entry on solarpunk

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Why do certain futurist aesthetics appeal over others? What does art have to say about our political goals, or about the psychological landscape of our world today? Art can be speculative: posing questions and potential answers about how things could be, or should be, in the future. In this inaugurative episode of Solarpunk Now, I show how art and politics intertwine, and make the case for solarpunk as a speculative political project.

Sources:
Louis Snyder on the Brothers Grimm and German nationalism
Andrew Dana Hudson – On the Political Dimensions of Solarpunk
A Solarpunk Manifesto
Teen Vogue talks Eco-fascism w/ Naomi Klein

Further Reading:
Elvia Wilk – Is Ornamenting Solar Panels a Crime?
Neal Stephenson – Innovation Starvation
David Graeber – On Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
Appropedia entry on solarpunk

Support the show

Solarpunk Now! is hosted & produced by Luka Dowell. The solarpunk theme is by Red Keener, with additional music by Gabriel Rivas. You can follow the show on Instagram or Mastodon, and support my work at Buy Me a Coffee. Please join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops. Keep dreaming big, and keep up the good work!

]]> Solarpunk Now! Buzzsprout-9903940 Mon, 17 Jan 2022 17:00:00 -0800 1756 1 trailer false