~ The Pondering Muse🌙

“Every worm, every insect, every animal is working for the ecological wellbeing of the planet. Only we humans, who claim to be the most intelligent species here, are not doing that.”

—

— Sadhguru (via

nonconformist-vegan

)

Facts.

(via rawveganrawmacita)

Tiny Houses in Urban Context

I’ve seen a lot of really great tiny home designs, and I’ve seen a lot of love from other people for those designs as well. They combine a small space, perfect for one or two people, that usually only apartment buildings design for, with the benefits of having a detached home, with a yard, and windows on all sides for more natural light. 

What I don’t see is a whole lot of context, least of all in an urban neighborhood environment.  These houses are often pictured in an open grassy, or forested space, which is nice for some people I’m sure, but there are lots of people who would prefer to live in a city, in pedestrian and transit friendly areas, rather than in the middle of nowhere, where you’d have to use a car to get everywhere.

There already exists an urban context for tiny homes, but due to restrictive zoning, it’s not commonplace in most cities in the U.S.

They’re called Bungalow Courts, or sometimes Cottage Courts, and basically it’s where you take two adjacent lots, and rather than having one large single-family-house per lot, you have around 3 or so tiny houses per lot, all facing a shared space in the center. 

 All this takes up the same space as two city lots, which are usually zoned to only allow one house per lot. But not everyone wants, or can afford a large house, so Bungalow Courts would be a perfect fit in a lot of neighborhoods that currently lack a lot of housing diversity for a range of wants and needs.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share, because I think this a really neat concept that should be allowed more places. I’d think I’d like to live in a Bungalow Court; I like the idea of having a house to myself, but I don’t need much space, and I don’t want a huge yard to maintain.

In order to make this legal to build out, zoning would need to be changed to allow 3-4 units of housing to be built on lots currently restricted to only 1 unit of housing. A big contributing factor to rising housing costs has been the over-favoring of single-family houses on large lots since the end of WWII, so not enough units of housing are being built in many cities to keep up with demand. 

Legalizing more “missing middle housing” like Bungalow Courts in single-family-house-neighborhoods would help cities incrementally keep up with demand, in a way that fits nicely into existing neighborhoods. 

Why did we as a society ever stop making Jugend style architecture?

That should honestly be something we bring back for Solarpunk. The nature inspired and geometric designs feel like they should be right up that particular alley.

What is Lunarpunk?

So far, I feel like solarpunk has been the thing that’s well defined in terms of what it means to people. It is not just an aesthetic, it is a vision for the future, and an activist methodology. Learning how to grow your own food in your backyard in a bucket in 2018 is just as solarpunk as delicate and elaborate solar jewelry that also functions as your phone.

This is the same with lunarpunk. There are things you can do now in your life that are anti-capitalist and punk and easily accessible, and there are beautiful aesthetics that capture the feeling we want our future society to have.

I believe that lunarpunk is the other side of the coin of a solarpunk society, and that a fully solarpunk society without its lunar counterpart wouldn’t be complete. That in every person there are two parts and those parts correspond with the day and the night.

Daytime is a time meant for experiencing this world. Science is a daytime thing, and so is getting your errands done and making phone calls. The sun illuminates our world in such brightness that it can’t and shouldn’t be ignored.

On the flipside, nighttime is for spirituality, and transcending this world. It is for experiencing art and stories and music and integrating them into our selves. Its for getting high. Its for watching the moon and the stars and contemplating your place in the universe, and it is for dreams.

Human beings need both sides of this coin. They need both science and spirituality in their lives. I think that right now (at least in the US) people focus too much on the daytime sides of themselves, and neglect their more personal and spiritual needs.

Now, solunarpunk definitely resembles this philosophy that I have. On solarpunk blogs you get lots of articles about the newest scientific breakthrough, and gardening tips. However it also delves into lunarpunk territory a bit, with the emphasis on beauty and happiness and art being Incorporated into almost every design that I see for the future. I think that this is great, and we can not completely separate the sides of the world. There has to be bleedthrough or else it just ends up with two different cultures. I think that the solarpunk community on tumblr is very well balanced.

However, lunarpunk is a little bit less understood, because in western society, individual spirituality isn’t a bit priority. This means that there are way less lunarpunk blogs than solarpunk blogs. Those that I have seen have been mostly posting about aesthetic, and stories about the distant future. Again, this is great! I love seeing all of that stuff! But I want to post more about the things we can today to become lunarpunk, the way that there are gardening tips on solarpunk blogs.

Well, this was a good talk. Now I have something to look back on if I get confused about what I’m supposed to be doing. Hopefully someone got something out of this.

Tis the season of mass consumption. One of my friends was telling me about how her grandmother used to save old holiday cards to make name tags for presents. Seemed pretty solarpunk to me. Thought I’d share.

Self-watering capillary planters

This water-saving ‘ready-made garden’ design is popular among urban gardeners here in Denmark: it’s comprised of a simple styrofoam planter, and a 40L soil bag.

Holes are cut in the top and bottom of the soil bag, and soil is pushed into three pillars that reach down into a water reservoir. The reservoir is filled with water and fertiliser through a channel on the side of the planter; capillary action (and eventually, plant roots) draw the water up.

The rate of evaporation is much lower with bottom-watered plants, and the styrofoam also keeps the water cool. The reservoir can hold a week or more of water.

A popular DIY version involves using plastic tubs, creating a reservoir underneath with bottles, or a permeable barrier.

Self Irrigating Planters Made Easy

About 50 people answered “What does solarpunk mean to you?“ during my first giveaway—both new and familiar to solarpunk—and this is the word cloud of their replies. Reblog to “show don’t tell” what solarpunk is all about.