Ok, just to clarify, I'm not a professional in any of these areas. I'm just a lawyer in Brazil who payed close attention to what professionals were saying during the elections and what people were doing that got the most results. We obviously did somethings right, and as I see many people around the world asking what was it, I decided to give a brief summary to help my friends on other countries. Because, oh boy, everybody deserves to feel the relief and happiness we're feeling right now.

#1: Find out what you can do best; and DO IT

There's no one true path to get people on your side. Some people are better convinced by talking, others might be moved by music, or written words. Some people are moved by fear of racism; others, by workers' rights. And that's where the left has a huge advantage: we are more diverse.

We have gruff workers, and LGBT+ people, elders who are good at bickering with their friends, and chronically online youngsters who are great at editing videos and gaming the algorithm. EVERYBODY has their place. All of the skills matter. USE the diversity of the left. USE your own voice.

If you're good with words, talk to people, in real life and online. If you're not, but you're good with music, compose something. I saw a guy coding a game in which you were Flávio Bolsonaro trying to flee the police and comit his multiple crimes; guy was good at coding, so he coded it and made it available for free. A young woman was good at making humorous remixes of politicians talking, so she did that. Multiple people fought with memes that were shared through all of the internet.

Every talent matters, your voice matters. If you're angry about the racism of the alt-right, then talk about racism. If you're fearful about the way they are killing the environment around you, talk about it. If you're sad because public health is so bad your grandma is having trouble with insulin, then talk about your sadness. Use your emotions, use the things you do best, use what matters to you. You NEED all of that, take advantage of your uniqueness. There's not "one true path", you need all of them.

Oh, and use Big Tech against themselves. You have a camera on your hands. Open it up, say your truth, and post it. You may think you're not a good communicator, but there are so many people like you, with the same problems; your voice, not an influencer or politician, but a common person like them, saying their truth, is going to move them better than anybody could.

#2: DO NOT ENGAGE THE ALT-RIGHT

I think this was one of the most valuable lessons learned: do not engage their content. NEVER. No matter how horrible, this is BAIT. Do not share, do not comment, if posible, don't even watch their stuff. The algorithm is against you, and they know it: every form of engagment is gonna boost their content. So DO NOT ENGAGE. EVER.

Of course, you're gonna need their content to show the awful things they're doing. If you're gonna do this, you gotta either download it, screenshot it or do any other thing to disconnect the content from the original poster. And when you do it, talk OVER it. Do not just share what they're saying, react to it. Show people why it's so awful.

No matter how angry or sad you are DO NOT ENGAGE.

Flipside: engage EVERYTHING at your side. Watch the videos, share, save, comment. Send them. You need to make sure the right content circulates. This is guerrila tactics in a world dominated by Big Tech.

#3: Do not try to convince those who are lost

You are not going to deradicalize people. At least not with the time you have. But there's a lot of people who are still not radicalized. Don't waste your time with the difficult and inefficient work of trying to deradicalize fascists. They are in a cult, and it's not easy to get people out of a cult. You need to talk to the people who are not fascists yet; this is something you can do much more easily.

#4: Do not waste allies

Do not alieniate right-wingers and centrists. They are actually the people you're trying to convince. You may not agree with them, but they are not fascists as the alt-right, so don't treat them like they are.

Many people outside of the left are actually proud of democracy, and want to do good by their communities. They just disagree with the left about how to get there. In these times of authoritharism, these people are your allies. You are all on the same boat agaisnt fascism. Talk with them with this in mind. Show them you want the same thing.

Tell them how you both want to live in a democracy, talk about how you can disagree without wanting each other dead. These people don't like the alt-right. They are actually embarassed by them. Engage them. Brazil was won with a big alliance involving the left, centrism, and the right.

There were known right wing politicians who asked their voters to GO VOTE FOR LULA. Right wing influencers who did the same. This changed EVERYTHING. They talked about democracy, and respect, and freedom You need to engage everybody right now. Do it!

On this topic: try to show everybody what personally matter to them the most. Elders were angry about how disrespectful and impolite the alt-right was being. Factory workers got angry at Bolsonaro mocking Lula, who lost his finger in a factory accident. Women were angry about how they spoke about them. Tell each one what matters most to them. It's easy: the alt-right has a way of offending everybody in some way. Use this to show people how the things they do affect and disrespect them and the people they love. The alt-right makes a lot of mistakes, make sure they reach the people who matter the most.

Oh, and a good tip we found out about: when dealing with these people, ask them to Google stuff. We realized this on the first debate. Bolsonaro was lying his ass of on live television, and Lula asked people to open their phones and google terms like "Bolsonaro + death of Ana Clara" or "Bolsonaro + organized crime in Rio". There was a surge in the searches and we realized this worked.

For the next days people were posting and talking about "hey, I just googled "Did Bolsonaro tried to kill Lula?" and I was so shocked by what I found!" Or "Dude, did you google about "Bolsonaro + cop who killed Ana Clara"? I'm so shocked!" It works. It plays on people's curiosity, and also gives them the sense of autonomy that they are researching and reaching their own conclusions, instead of you telling them what to think.

#5: Occupy every space

Occupy social media. Occupy the streets. Occupy the arts. Occupy whatsapp. You need to be everywhere you can, and you need to dominate these spaces. Go to Tiktok, Reddit, Whatsapp, your local church. When you're there, organize. Coordinate with the people who are on the same space on how to dominate the narrative. Talk about the same thing at the same time, until it's all anyone can hear, and you will get everyone will talk about it too.

You need to set the tone. It's not enough to react to the absurd things the alt-right is doing; you need to be the ones acting. Decide what you're gonna talk today, and DO IT. Occupy this place with the things YOU decided to talk about. Make THEM react to YOU. Control the narrative.

About the "internet bubble": if you think you don't have reach because all of your friends are left-wing, think again. You may be right at the center of this bubble, but there are people who are at the edges. Share materials with everyone. The people at the edges will need content to share outside the bubble.

#6: FUCKING SHOW UP

If I have to argue against one more gringo about the need to fucking get your ass out of the sofa and GO VOTE, I'm gonna start biting people. Do you see the videos of our elders going to the polls? Do you see the videos of people coming by boats? Do you see indigenous people marching to vote? Do you see it?!

I saw elders being carried in the arms of their family to the polls when they couldn't walk. I saw friends driving across the country in 2 days to vote. I organized with friends to pay bus fares to people who will never know my name. When the politicians in Salvador took the buses from the streets so people couldn't reach the polls, I saw getting their cars and stopping at the bus stops to carry complete strangers to their voting place.

DO NOT MAKE ME ARGUE WITH YOU ABOUT THIS AGAIN. YES, THIS IS FOR THE AMERICANS SPECIALLY.

GO. FUCKING. VOTE.

Show up! Help your friends, help your family, help your neighbours show up. You do not have the excuse after this.

Yes, you're gonna tell me the Democrats are terrible, that they're all the same, and guess what?? People were saying the SAME EXACT THING in Brazil. Believe it or not, Lula is not considered left-wing enough or good enough by a huge amount of the left. Me included. I've been wanting someone better for a decade now. He is known for making concessions to right-wingers, and he's too soft on the military, and he is still a huge believer in capitalism and infinite growth. I wanted someone better. Most of my friends wanted someone better.

This does not matter. We went and did everything included to get this guy elected.

Listen, we all know capitalism and USA imperialism are a boot on our necks. But, and I can't believe I have to tell you this, if you have a choice between two boots, PICK THE ONE WHO STEPS LIGHTER ON YOUR NECK.

Fucking hell. Pick the least worst option, and FUCKING GO. You can organize the revolution later, but you cannot organize the revolution dead. Pick the one who's gonna give you more breathing room to work your way out of capitalism.

GO. FUCKING. VOTE.

#7: Keep your faith. Keep your hope. Believe in miracles.

Look, when the results of the first round got to us and Bolsonaro was set to win, we all cried. We despaired. And everybody, at least for a moment, believed we were lost.

We had to convince millions of people to get an overturn. In three weeks. With active Meta and Israel an USA fighting against us. By all means, it seemeed imposible.

But there's a saying here: you have to go down still firing. You can't lose hope. You have to do whatever you can, till the bitter end.

Next day after the result people were organizing. And it grew like a wave.

Yes, we all lost and gained hope many times during the way. That's what allies are for. When we lost hope, we reached for them. We took care of each other. We helped keep the flame alive.

By the end, so many people were mobilizing it was infecting everybody like a virus. We started with a few students and crazy people on Whatsapp who believed in the imposible; at the end we had culinary show hosts and artists, and influencers; we had the Pope, and Greta Thunberg and fucking Madonna, we had videos from the children in Gaza.

Do not lose hope. And if you do, keep going. Keep going on faith alone. Believe in miracles if you need, but go down fighting.

Most of the time we believed we wouldn't make it, but we kept going even so. And at the end... we made it. Fuck.

...

This is going down in History. People were laughing and crying and hugging and drinking. We all came out of this believing again in the power of the people. We saw the imposible. We saw organized people power win against billionaires and technoligarchies and war machines. They were defeated by young people sharing hashtags and editing videos and memes and elders being carried by their communities when they couldn't get one more step. They were defeated by fishermen traveling by boats, and people crossing roads in buses and cars and even expats coming back from China by planes. They were defeated by us, and we are now the largest exporters of hope to the rest of the world.

We saw the miracle with our own eyes. We believe in it now. You can see it too. Here's the roadmap. Now go on and make it happen.

Took part in a https://www.drawthegreenfuture.com/ event last night. Underyling image is a terrace street in cardiff.

1) split the road. keep one lane for traffic, other for stuff
2) Drop off zones for delivery vans
3) CNC granite kerbs with drainage
4) external shutters on the south facing windows
5) Street trees added in south side, aiming to maximise summer shading
6) Street lighting fixed to the trees
7) Overhead fiber/cables fixed to the other side of the trees
8) Small amount of densifying infill to 4 storeys. Wood cladding and a bat box
9) North side of house extended up to give extra floor/ green roof+ solar on top.
10) Still limited garden space, but a few people are growing vines/wistera/virgina creeper up their house for summer shade and (minor) winter insulation
11) Trick from vietnam. Main traffic route is over a lidded culvert. This gives a lot of space for stormwater in a surge, and variuous utilities can be run under the street just by lifting lids rather than digging up the road

Hey friends,

We’ve been remodeling an old bed-n-breakfast and turning it into a proactive future building hub. It’s 15bd, we have a camp ground operational too for tens/van life etc. it’s absolutely beautiful and we are working to foster life in all its facets. We are also offering work trade.

We are connected to a global network of other community builder and creators in this whole space. We have so many opportunities, we can’t pursue them all. We’ve gotten very organized with our energy and are calling in more folks that want to build, learn or get connected.

We are in Southern California, and are coordinating potential shared purchase of a property in Italy or Spain.

If you’re working in this space and want to align with other folks passionate about building sustainable futures, resiliency and culture. Check out our app, couple profiles in particular we are looking for. But the doors are open to those dedicated to the cause. People of all ethnic, cultural, and orientations welcome.No leases or long term commitments. It’s a get in where you fit in situation. Come visit and share your vision and perspective. Let the community help you thrive and or tap into the things that are happening here already.

https://www.wildseedsranch.com/live

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been thinking a lot about waste management lately in a post-capitalist society, and I wanted to pick this community's brain since I haven't been able to find many deep dives on the topic.

Even in a fully circular economy, absolute 100% zero waste is practically impossible; entropy dictates that some form of unusable residue or degradation will always exist. Currently, our globalized system relies heavily on a broken paradigm: developed nations export their waste to the Global South, where it often ends up in unmanaged landfills, clogs wastewater drains, or pollutes local rivers and oceans. Meanwhile, the people who generate the waste have the luxury of not having out of sight, out of mind attitude.

As we aspire to a Solarpunk society, this is something we should strive away from, and I'm really curious about how we could achieve this.

* Physical Waste Management: In a society deeply integrated with nature, how would everyday waste be collected, treated, and processed? Would waste segregation still be necessary at the household/community level, would segregation be voluntary, and what systems would make that seamless?

* Encouraging Participation: How would a Solarpunk culture encourage people to actively participate in sorting and sustainable habits without resorting to shaming and punishment?

* The Ethics of "Dirty" Labor: Right now, waste management and sanitation are some of the lowest-paid employment opportunities while also being the most underappreciated and hazardous jobs in society. In a Solarpunk framework, how do we incentivize or share these necessary tasks so no one is forced to do the "dirty work" for everyone else?

I’d love to hear your theories, fictional ideas, or any real-world regenerative models that inspire you!

OC : https://www.instagram.com/p/De9_52kP64l/

Periodic newsletter from Geomancer Permaculture, agroecology and urban design project based out of Central Kentucky (USA).

More information: Instagram - Patreon - YouTube

Just to be clear, I haven't researched the genre much. I think it's very fascinating but i went straight off aesthetics and the vibe I got from the pictures i found. I hope everyone enjoys!

OC : https://www.instagram.com/p/De8SyW_Dw0b/

I've been blogging recently to try to escape the existential dread of AI, societyrot, and soulrot...Started with r/fuckcars and it inevitably lead me back here.
https://ehwazwaves.substack.com/p/solarpunk

As far as I understood, Solarpunk intentionally is a utopia and rather hopeful. But is it void of conflict? Do things like climate crisis and counscious intelligent AI still exist (they are at least veeeery probable?)? Or can you imagine any other conflicts, like something social?

What does appropriate technology mean for you then? Technology that is advanced enough to tackle the climate crisis? Or does it just... not happen? Tech that is not killing the planet? (But what if the planet is already inevitably damaged?)

I have a general understanding of solar punk from a couple of different sources ~ mostly on the ‘nonfiction real life application’ in an idealogical sense; But i’m curious in exploring the theories and application as it gets exaggerated through time. Climate change is inevitable, the progression of technology is inevitable, the experience of life is inevitable, and the tension between communities and ideologies is inevitable. What would you want to see from these inevitables?

we are the seeds to expanding possibility, and i’m working to create a collective imagination that holds space for everything while encouraging something beautiful, meaningful, and sustainable for all.

I'm asking because Vaillant all but says we're going to face fires we have never faced before for decades to centuries to come due to climate change.

And I'm sitting here wondering how a solar punk community would deal with firefighting? Traditional structure, wildlands and when it's the wildlands urban interface?

Thoughts? Comments?

"French Heatwave as Scorching Temperatures Blanket Southern Europe :

Shoppers walk under the shade of a floral-covered alley at Les Alles shopping center during high temperatures in Aix-en-provence, France, on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023.

Photographer: Jeremy Suyker/Bloomberg via Getty Images"

Hey Reddit! We're Games Transformed, a festival happening across three venues in East London on 31 October and 1 November.

We're bringing together people who make games, play games, organise politically, and are interested in how games can help us understand the world and imagine changing it.

There'll be 80+ board games, workshops, talks, experimental games and plenty of opportunities to actually play, make things and meet people.

We've got a packed programme put together with game designers, artists, activists and organisers, exploring everything from political organising and resistance to the systems that shape our everyday lives.

We're a small team organising this independently, and we'd love to get the word out to more people who might be interested.

You can find out more on our insta: https://www.instagram.com/gamestransformed/

Tickets are available here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/gamestransformed/2328476

Happy to answer any questions about the festival or the programme!

Hey solarpunks - my buddy and I are working on a factory-built, stackable home concept. They're ~490SF inside, fully code compliant under Washington State modular housing laws, and small enough to fit on a trailer (on US roads). Welded steel frame construction, insulated metal panels for the envelope - they should be very efficient to build and live in. Basically souped-up container homes, but designed from the ground up to be real homes.

I threw a bunch of design info on a website if anyone wants to know more: https://www.buildhab.com/

We're both in aerospace and could use someone with structural engineering and/or architectural experience, if anyone wants to get involved. Would love any other input from the community too.

Thanks!

It's not finished yet, but i wanted to share it. I need some ideas and inspiration. I'm going to put more plants there, but i want to let these grow a bit first, and i am still knotting ropes they need to go in a different pot.

What would you guys add to this?

This is the first essay in a new guide for solarpunk self-development. I distinguish my approach from “self-improvement”, which is really just conformity to neoliberal capitalism. Instead, we’re looking at how to move toward truly meaningful flourishing, becoming the kind of person who has the character and community capable of contributing to a better world.

Thank you for your time and attention :)