For apartment dwellers, people with HOA restrictions, etc
What easy steps can we take to live solarpunk?
- go vegan
- buy second hand
- reapir things you own that broke
- switch to some sort of green electricity
- small scale indoor gardening of som herbs, tomatoes or other similar plants easily grown on a balcony or within the kitchen
- political action like local protests or even better get elected
- volunteer work in some sort of progressive charity
- organize a tenenant union or become active in the hoa
There is plenty more, the key is to make the world better and not try to make it perfect. A lot of usefull action is community driven and in those roles you can have a much much bigger impact then by just changing your own way of life.
Some regions allow you to choose your electricity provider, which allows you to buy certificate based “green” electricity. Then there are small scale solar installations, which might work or even large scale ones, if you own it within a hoa.
My town provides this option - including various shades of green energy. We’re currently on “100% green” but like 40% from burning garbage at the landfill for power generation. This year they gave the option to do entirely solar but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I’ll admit I don’t know much about how they allocate power (sourcing or distribution). I always figured my electricity was coming from the same pool as my neighbors regardless of the sourcing I was paying for, but if I can encourage my town to switch to green energy faster, that seems worth doing.
Ride a bike :)
Keep plants at home. Some of them are really good at keeping your air clean, and having green, living things around helps support mental health which is one of the most punk things a person can do right now, heh.
Here’s a list of plants that are especially good air scrubbers with info like toxicity to people and pets and how often to water them: https://www.healthline.com/health/air-purifying-plants
It’s not perfect, but in the US some states (more each year) have community solar programs. I work for this one, but there are a number of similar companies you may subscribe through: https://www.commonenergy.us/
It might sound reductionist, but start with the basics, and realize that a lot of people do the basics wrong. The basics are:
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
In that order. That’s the part people screw up the most. They want to start with recycling, then move to reuse, and THEN reduce. In addition, there’s also
{:start=“4”} 4. Renew
In which you take into consideration replenishing the earth with the resources you’ve consumed.
