5 Solarpunk Communities That Will Bring You Hope

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

Please take a look at the agrarian villages of south-east Asia. They aren't just sustainable communities, they are sustainable economies that are here for thousands of years. They are an example of organic solarpunk communities that all of you totally ignore. A western centric solarpunk society that are not time-tested and never faced reality should not be something to put emphasize to, not while ignoring the organic ones.

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Hi Anik! I saw your comment on my other architecture video about south east Asian villages. Don't worry, it isn't being ignored. It's just me working on this channel and by the point that you commented the script for this video had already been written and recorded. I am planning on making more videos focusing on different communities and will make a point of trying to include a diverse range of places to live. Nothing is being ignored here.

[@kiiamarie3881]

i really appreciate this comment especially considering the bit about indigenous folks. when i didnt see anyone indigenous. i personally wanna see more videos of indigenous communities that have BEEN forging the path. im currently working on a playlist ill be adding your suggestion.

[@lyra6383]

Hope from a teenager in the uk! ✌️❤️

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Much love back from Canada ❤❤❤

[@arielkroon]

Adding to this - while you were talking about "aging in place" I was honestly thinking of the retirement village that my grandparents were in - it's in the basic form of an ecovillage, a mix of accessible walk-ups (with elevators) and little cottages with gardens, a communal garden, community activities in the central building, etc. When I get older I'd love to live somewhere like that, but obvs with an emphasis on clean energy, sustainability, and intergenerational care. The retirement home also has a nursing home on site, so that when aged people are no longer able to take care of themselves, they're still within their community and their friends from the village who are still able to live independently can come see them, or they can all meet at the coffee shop on the grounds, etc. I honestly think that elder care should be more of a focus in solarpunk; it's not sustainable (or humane, ngl) to just ship someone off to a conventional nursing home / hospice once they are no longer to support themselves (which is such a neoliberal individualist thing, ugh), so that a legion of underpaid young people (most of whom are frankly female-bodied) can clean up after them with single-use plastics. Hm, I have a lot of thoughts on this, I guess...

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

I completely agree, we should be supporting the elderly members of our community together rather than shipping them off. The person who suggested this topic was actually talking about aging in place and thinking about this very issue. It brings up a lot of issues with our current system and the changes that need to be made.

[@natosi_vision]

I am inspired, humbled and filled with gratitude and hope. Thank you!!! I look forward to more videos & posts from you and to looking further into the resources you provide.

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

I am so happy that it means so much to you, thank you so much for the suggestion. I hope that you find the planned community of your dreams and that the resources come in handy.

[@andrewchoi5808]

Solarpunk revolution has begun

[@alecdavy21]

solarpunk all the way baby!

[@arielkroon]

This was great to see! Especially Findhorn in Scotland, since an eco-village in a northern(ish) climate would be difficult, I think. I''m looking forward to your cities video! The North Glenora Sustainable Affordable Housing Project in Edmonton as well as their new Blatchford community which is being built currently to be a sustainable city neighbourhood. I feel like Canada has little bits of examples of sustainable living in cities/communities but nothing that's really come together on a large scale (or been allowed to flourish.... as I understand it, Indigenous lifeways are pretty hella solarpunk but colonialism ruined that - not permanently, but as a lot of Indigenous peoples have been demonstrating, it's very very hard to cut through the government red tape and racism and baked-in colonial extractivist society to move towards a contemporary iteration of Indigenous collective life with the land even with the best of intentions)

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Yeah I could only find a few examples of ecovillages in Canada, and then it's narrowing it down to the ones that have footage available. Sustainability is definitely possible in our cold country but it should definitely be indigenous led. I think its just hella important to try and support the Indigenous community as much as possible.

[@andycooper6085]

@@TheSolarpunkScene What surprised me when I looked at Findhorn on Google maps was the nearby airport and motorcycle training - kind of feels so disappointing at the amount of oil use there after seeing the eco villiage.

[@foresterleaf9575]

Awesome 💚💙💚💛💙💚💛

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Thank you! 🍃🪴💚❤

[@Ilyak1986]

*Interesting* video. The idea of eco-villages seems absolutely wonderful for those that would like to live in a quieter community and such. I see a little bit of technological integration with various solar panels, but it still has that very rural feeling to me, and something that always stuck with me, ever since I went to Disney World as a kid when I was 13 or so was Epcot's idea of the smart home, with a bunch of technologies helping with accessibility and sustainability. Maybe all the tech is hidden *inside* these otherwise rural and rustic looking homes present in this video with microchips and voice-activated widgets in every corner of the house. Also, I do wonder what solutions Solarpunk offers for the *opposite* end of the spectrum--I.E. how can we create sustainable megacities? One thing that kind of stuck out to me with this video was that while life is good if you're happy with just what the eco-village provides, what would happen if you wanted a bit more variety? The idea of a fifteen minute city sounds amazing to me--particularly where high-rise multi-zonal skyscrapers are involved, thus drastically increasing accessibility and the ability to find almost anything within a fifteen minute walk or bike ride. Though the idea of a green megacity with *affordable housing* seems like it's still such a faraway dream. Maybe there will be a silver lining with the collapse of commercial real estate prices that I can only hope will give way to more room for residences to try and drive down the price of living in cities, thereby allowing humanity to build upwards *and* sustainably.

[@DrDanWeaver]

Useful overview, thanks. Please make one that shows how low income/middle etc can also find coops and land to live and exit the mainstream. Subscribed.

[@kiiamarie3881]

THIS im looking for examples to potentially helpthe community i come from.

[@gailalbers1430]

yes a compilation from other creators- still useful - ne to this named concept cyberpunk , something i’ve been privately imagining. It’s just do irritating that the reader has not been told how to pronounce „ Findhorn“ ( find is pronounced with a long i like hint with a soft d.

[@mehditorkaman2544]

Seeing such examples definitely does give hope. Thanks for a great video.

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@pongop]

Thanks for the great video!

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Thank you for watching! It means a lot.

[@pongop]

@@TheSolarpunkScene Content like this -- solarpunk, sustainable architecture, eco-design, etc -- is one of the few things that gives me comfort and hope these days. Thanks for your channel.

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

@@pongop That is so incredibly lovely to read. It gives me hope as well, thats why I try so hard to get this content out there for people.

[@pongop]

@@TheSolarpunkScene The people appreciate it =)

[@Emily-ox6yn]

Very inspiring video, can't wait to see the content this channel produces in the future!

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Thank you so much!

[@Phalaenopsisify]

Such a nice video! I like this little growing channel and your last comment about merch was just perfect :)

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@GoterGuy]

The only problem that I seem to find with these communities is that they don´t seem to acomodate a large number of people and tend to be strictly rural. I really wanted to see examples of the functionality of those communities when incorporating solar punk in a more urban area, or with a larger group of people.

[@shizuwolf]

Could use some places like this where I live

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Check out the locations list with GEN! Maybe you can find something near you.

[@shizuwolf]

@@TheSolarpunkScene what’s that?

[@CB-A6KZ]

Great video, and from the comments there are serious questions to be addressed in future (sustainability, scalability, equitable access, etc). Just fyi it’s pronounced “finned-horn”, short “i”

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Thank you, and thanks for the correction!

[@stjimtemyth995]

people may wish to look into "the cape" in victoria austraila while not a true eco village it adopts energy star ratings and water recycling and storage principles. and was made to show developers that sustainability can be achieved at scale.

[@NomadSyd]

Would love to connect with you in the future on projects if you are still active ❤

[@popilikitt5173]

I really really wanna do everything I can to live in a place like this with my friends when I grow up. I know there is a lot of unnofficial ecovillage/Ecoplaces scattered in France. Maybe I could begin to inform myself more on them. Also I dont know if the concept of ZaD exists on the international scene ? it means "Zone à Defendre" (Place to Protect). The most famous one in France is Notre-Dame-des-Landes, a place with a lot of biodiversity and that is very rich in life. Corporates and such wanted to build an airport on it, and so activist began to live on those land and taking are of nature to prevent the construction of the airport and the destruction of the ecosystem of the place. So they're like, an activist illegal eco-place. Which I think is really cool. Today, there is still no airport on Notre Dame Des Landes thanks to the occupation. I think I'll go meet the folks there when I'll have a car. Anyway great video thanks a lot for your work ! It really inspires me.

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

I'd never heard of that phrase before but it's definitely a concept I'll have to look into more and see if we have something equivalent in Canada. I hope that you get to go meet those folks! For ecovillages in France, this is the page that I found: ecovillage.org/gen_country/france/. Maybe you can go check them out too! Thank you for watching my video, I really appreciate the support.

[@user-nj3xc5cn3q]

I really want to live in a community like one of these. I've been trying to find communities with solarpunk ideals to join, but I haven't had any luck and I don't know where else to look. Can anyone point me in the direction of sustainability focused communities that I can actually join?

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Here's a link to the Global Ecovillage Network, which has contacts to different ecovillages all over the world. ecovillage.org/projects/ They have them listed by geographical area, so you can try and find one that fits for you. :)

[@BeautifulEarthJa]

Love these I'm looking for buildings that have been retrofitted I have bought an old house, concrete is only 30 years old so we're just fixing it

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

If you're looking for great ideas on what to do with retrofitting, check out the videos with www.youtube.com/@kirstendirksen ! The channel is a fantastic resource and where I've gotten a lot of my ideas from.

[@aarononeal9830]

Please talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants tress

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

I hear you! I use Ecosia myself, I'll see if I can include it in a future video.

[@philipswann9753]

Yay!

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

[@verynice5574]

I like these concepts but something just feels fundamentally off about these communities. Like you mentioned they use 60% as much electricity as an average American home, which is better than 100%, but I just looked it up and my electric use in my small but comfortable studio in Bangkok is 1/5th the average American (per capita) use and it's not exactly built for efficiency. My commute is 95% walking and 5% light rail, etc. These projects seem like fun places to live but they also seem pointless as far as the environment goes. The steps seem to be: 1. Buy 180 acres of land. 2. Gather 100 or so upper middle class individuals who can work from home. 3. Build giant slightly less unsustainable homes. 4. Pat yourself on the back. Having said that I'd still live in one if I got stuck in the states lol.

[@Shannon4710]

There are a lot of factors that can play a part in energy consumption that can make it hard to make a fair direct comparison. For example where I live we have to deal with temperatures that depending on the season can range from as low as -20C up to +30C. As you can probably imagine heating during the colder part of the year uses up a lot of electricity. I believe it contributes more than 70% of the energy consumptions of houses here. I also don't think they are pointless at all. A lot of technologies and trends started out being too expensive for the common person to enjoy. People with more money can help develop and drive these things forward until they become more accessible for everyone just by spending their money on it. In this case there are already a lot of communities where the members don't have a lot of money but these wealthier communities can still do a lot of good by developing new methods and technologies as mentoined in this video.

[@davidbadillo3858]

Ok, just so everybody gets it, again, the plan is to create small communities (30-40 actives per community) everybody gets to do their part of the work and share a common space and a small housing, and the twist is everyone has the opportunity to leave the community and travel to find another place where to stay, slow-worldwide travel and susteinable life sounds good? no rushes to leave the community but if you want you can go fin a nice place anywhere else or if its ok you could stay, keep the simple life and die old

[@tomastelensky-vlog8723]

Looks like perfect documentary! But the music is too annoying. Why put artificial computer tuc tuc music on a natural video.

[@fernandaberlinaburgosdelga7600]

And how does the economy work in such an environment? :0

[@festeCanuck]

Interesting and enjoyable for the few...can't wait to see 8,000,000,000 people living like this lol

[@tamtrinh174]

someone please tell me this is not the Amish's way!

[@flashgordon1262]

lovely..up until decolinising...swiched off then :(

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

Sorry to hear that! It's an important subject.

[@flashgordon1262]

@@TheSolarpunkScene Yeah it is and im all a behind but you know im a 2nd amendment sligtly alt right anarchist...what a title eh, and these days we are all a little touchy i guess...possibly to much,anyway good luck my friend :)

[@MrArukimasu]

Terrible finish but then this match should have been on a major PPV rather than those horrible NWA title matches Barry had with Muta and Chono.

[@nsfeliz7825]

do they shower once a month? 🙄🤔😹

[@TheSolarpunkScene]

I mean there's five different communities listed in this video so you may want to be a bit more specific than "they"