…but I think I’d probably be miserable there.
I’m violently allergic to pollen, am terrified of bees, wasps, and grasshoppers, and generally despise bugs and dirt. My ideal world would see everything paved in marble. No cars, (obviously) with a quiet, sustainable, walkable communiy, but green, as beautiful as it is, causes me a great deal of pain.
It’s there any place for me in a solarpunk world?
I must say that I am a bit (just a bit) sick of the solarpunk staple images of “it is a city but it is sunny and there are plants”. I am a hard tech enthusiast, I do enjoy artificial settings and clean air, I think that painting enclosed spaces as gray and dimly light by monochromatic neon is as biased as depicting a city that’s always sunny.
I want to live in a clean, sterilized, controlled environment, which does not have to be sad, which does not have to be unsustainable or oppressive, that’s a matter of personal preference. I don’t have allergies so I enjoy a hike in the forest or a picnic under the cherry blossom, but I’d prefer to have my indoors free from bugs, dust and pollen.
To me solarpunk is not about ecology, that’s about a utopian future. One where you can choose to live closer to nature, like many current city dwellers would love, but these world are so much more than that!