copperfingertips
For my Solunarpunk ass
198 posts
Latest Posts by copperfingertips
I have started playing Stardew valley again, this time together with my boyfriend and honestly it’s wholesome… like, not only Stardew Valley per se has a great calming and fulfilling atmosphere, but being there with my boyfriend, waking up with him at 6 am just like irl but here it’s to water crops, cut a few trees, perhaps fish and chat with the community? I love it.
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
When I first saw this headline on Facebook I braced myself to be disappointed. But it sounds like this park was designed really well, consulting the disability rights community, doctors, etc. and keeping in minds the various needs of people with differing disabilities.
#TheFutureIsAccessible #TFiA
http://bonfire.com/thefutureisaccessible
[Image Description: indoors, Annie is sitting in a power chair front of an elevator wearing sunglasses, wrist/thumb braces, and a black t-shirt with text that reads, “The future is accessible”]
DANDELION JELLY! !! It tastes like honey! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 been a busy bee last few days harvesting flowers, plucking petals, extracting nectar, straining and canning this delicious jelly! Very Tideaous work but it’s worth it!
3 cups dandelion tea (made from 4 cups of petals in boiled water overnight ) 4 cups of sugar 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 6 tbsp of regular ball fruit pectin Water bath can for 10 minutes Makes 6 - ½ pints
4/20/16
I’m using a plant to catch a leak in the ceiling. “No such thing as waste in a permaculture system,” right?
7 reasons why solarpunk is the most important speculative fiction movement in the last 20 years
It’s hopeful. Solarpunk doesn’t require an apocalypse. It’s a world in which humans haven’t destroyed ourselves and our environment, where we’ve pulled back just in time to stop the slow destruction of our planet. We’ve learned to use science wisely, for the betterment of ourselves and our planet. We’re no longer overlords. We’re caretakers. We’re gardeners.
Scientists are heroes again. And not just physicists and astronomers. Knowledge of biology and earth sciences matter, they’re the building blocks for a future on Earth. Scientific literacy isn’t just for academics – it’s part of daily life. People know how the things they use work, and if they don’t, they can access that information.
It’s diverse. Solarpunk is rooted in using the environment, so it looks different in different places. Alternative energy is best when specific to place (I imagine geothermal, wind, tidal, and hydroelectric energy sources are still used in certain places) so no overarching government system is needed. Communities can organize themselves, taking their own location and needs and history into account. Brazilian, Inuit, Egyptian, Pacific Northwest, and New Zealand solarpunk can all look very different, but be unified in resourceful, intentional, low impact living.
Individuality still matters. In a post-scarcity society, ingenuity and self-expression are not sacrificed on the altar of survival. With solar power there’s no reason not to go off grid, if that’s what you want to do. Communities can self-organize. You can find a community that suits you, or go live by yourself if that floats your boat.
There’s room for spirituality and science to coexist. Solarpunk is rooted in a deep understanding and reverence for natural processes. There’s room for spirituality there, be it pagan, Buddhist, Sufi, Transcendentalism – anything. There’s so much to explore, from nature worship to organized monotheistic religions, and how they interact with solarpunk.
It’s beautiful. The most common solarpunk aesthetic is art nouveau, but again there’s room for diversity, incorporating art styles from multiple cultures in respectful, non-appropriative ways. The most important aspect of solarpunk aesthetic is the melding of art and utility. The idea of intentional living is strong in art nouveau, but it’s not the only art movement with that philosophy.
We can make it happen. Now. Earthships. Permaculture. Aquaponics. Algae lighting. Compostable products that turn into fields of flowers. Buy Nothing organizations. Tiny, beautiful, efficient homes. Solar power cells you can see through. That’s all happening now. Solarpunk is within our grasp, at least on a personal level. I’m not saying there aren’t still big, ugly infrastructures devoted to unethical consumption, but we can start to tear them down. We can build a solarpunk world with stories and small changes. And small changes lead to big changes. That’s the real beauty of solarpunk. It’s not a post-apocalyptic power fantasy. It’s not a wistful daydream, or an elite future only for physicists. It’s something we can work towards right now. It’s tangible.
I didn’t do the inktober this year, but I had fun with a tiny house :3
Do you know how to take care of your sewing machine?
Taking care of your machine over the long haul influences the longevity of your machine. It could mean the difference of having a machine over the span of 5 years versus 50+ years. Can a sewing machine even last 50 years? Yes, with proper maintenance and care it can! My personal machine was released about 1960 making it 58 years old. My grandmother’s Singer Touch and Sew is around 50 years old and she uses that machine so much it’s ridiculous it’s still working!
So how do I take care of my machine?
Glad you asked! It’s really not that hard to take care of your machine, in fact, the instruction booklet that came with your machine probably tells you how. Some new machines make it really difficult to take them apart to clean them up, but you’re going to want to figure out how!
If your instruction booklet doesn’t tell you how to clean your machine, below are some pictures from my own instruction booklet. Most machines are very similar and you can generally follow the same instructions.
Here’s some general advice for cleaning your machine:
Firstly, dust out your machine. This means removing all the lint that gathered up from your last project (or projects). You can take compressed air and blow out your machine, or, like me, you can take a small, soft paint brush and gently brush it out.
Second, time to oil your machine! You can find sewing machine oil at almost any craft store. I recommend one with a zoom spout to make it easier to oil your machine.
So what do you oil? Pretty much any moving parts except gears and your belt. (Take a look at the pictures.) Work in the oil as you apply it by turning the hand wheel toward yourself. Also be sure not to put oil anywhere you would have thread or fabric moving through. Those places generally aren’t meant to be oiled and it will end up on your projects!!
Lastly, lubricate your gears. This is also a great time to check the condition of your gears. Gears wear down over time and I can say that I’ve had to replace gears before due to wear and tear. The teeth on the gears break with age (or improper machine use), although it can take a while before that happens.
LUBRICANT IS NOT THE SAME AS OIL. DO NOT OIL GEARS. NO. STOP. BAD. You can also buy this at your craft store, most likely.
How often should I be dusting and oiling my machine?
After every major project, or, if you’re working on a very large project (like a leather jacket), you might want to do it sporadically throughout.
How often should I lubricate my machine?
If you don’t use your machine frequently, once every two years is probably acceptable. I use my machine frequently enough to justify once a year.
OMG I FOUND BROKEN PARTS WHAT DO I DO?!
Google it. Most likely someone has already had the same problem and it’s probably documented somewhere on the internet just waiting for you to stumble across. Gears and belt replacements are the most common.
If you’re looking for Singer Sewing machine parts, I highly recommend ordering parts from www.singeronline.com. Not only are they reasonably priced, but their products are high quality. I’ve ordered many parts from this business and they have my star of approval. They also have a youtube channel and document some common problems with machines as well as how to fix them. Check it out: Singer Online YouTube
an adorable sign i saw on my morning walk !! 🍅
After finding out recently that most gift wrap isn’t recyclable I decided to wrap my holiday gifts in the least amount of material possible. No tape, no waste. It’s the little things sometimes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
[Image description: Two simply wrapped gifts in brown paper bags and red string.]⠀⠀⠀
⠀#zerowaste #giftwrap #diy #solarpunk #holidays #genretomovement
[Shameless self-promotion]
As we observe the winter solstice, my thoughts have turned to how solarpunks approach winter. As the days turn dark and cold, how does a society dependent on the sun continue to prosper?
Keep reading
How an island turned around their climate catastrophe
For every ‘dystopian/post-apocalyptic story that has people still surviving from scavenging and canned foods and no farms, no mentions of building a community nor an attempt at rebuilding a society 10+ years after THE END’ owe me $5.
I wish A Christmas Carol had an even stronger influence on Christmas tradition and ghosts became a symbol of the holiday
i’ve long waited your arrival; welcome*
By one way or another, the world as we know it has ended. Nature starts reclaiming the land. There are survivors, but they have a hard task ahead of them; that of trying to rebuild after a great loss. There are no zombies, no mutant beasts here to contend with, but there is always that most human of emotions in the aftermath. Fear. But people pay heed to the mistakes of the past and make conscious choices to not repeat them. Focus is placed on making things grow and thrive, whether it’s the flora and fauna or peoples’ physical/psychological well-being. Builders, farmers, engineers, teachers, and healers become leaders. Storytelling bonds people together through the sharing of vital information and in entertainment. Everyone becomes a guardian of certain areas of knowledge contained in the precious resources of books. Part of the day is spent in necessary labor, but time is also set aside to unwind and share all that’s been learned with others. Strong foundations are laid for a vibrant community. And slowly over time, with an abundance of patience and determination, the community flourishes, able to speak of its own unique achievements. And so, travelers are sent out, to learn about other communities, to listen to their stories, to offer aid if it is wanted. Eager to share what they can, they travel past technological relics to strange and distant lands. In the face of the unknown, they have chosen hope.
Welcome to Soft Apocalypse.
This compilation of downtempo instrumental songs with a low key hip hop vibe encompasses optimistic, wistful, and relaxed moods. It became evocative of a solarpunk theme to me. Enjoy!
00:00:00 Palmer’s Medic - Soft Apocalypse 00:05:24 Katuchat x Andrea - Call Me 00:08:10 Lorn - Ice 00:12:17 Katuchat - Watercolor 00:15:49 Izzard - Late Night Ramen 00:19:05 Dirty Chocolate - Flutter 00:21:43 Lorn - Conduit 00:25:17 Neotenomie - On the Grass 00:27:59 Natan Vance - Like Tears in the Rain 00:30:48 idaydream - Sugar Plum Dumpling 00:34:29 Moonkay - Waterfront 00:37:44 Katuchat - Pink Lemonade 00:41:13 Auditory Canvas - Lost and Found 00:47:39 Palmer’s Medic - 400,000 00:51:00 Katuchat x Rusty Hook - Pastel 00:54:11 Rascal - Elhae’s Joint 00:58:28 Izzard - I dreamt of you 01:01:58 Palmer’s Medic - Justin Everett
People being happy with what they have is the worst thing that could ever happen to the economy
Sometimes I feel like a hipster because I’m like, I was talking about the Green New Deal before it was cool, and now it’s so cool that some young actor I’ve never heard of is explaining it in a video for Vogue!
It’s pretty amazing to see how quickly the Green New Deal has taken off with Sunrise Movement and awesome legislators like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib behind it.
Shit No One Told Me About My Period
I knew the basics before I got it, but I had no clue…
* The blood wouldn’t necessarily be red. When I first got my period, I spent a few min looking at my underwear wondering how I shit myself. I didn’t know the blood could look brown, or be thick.
* That tampons weren’t a good idea yet. I was 10 or 11 when I got my first period and physically smaller than an adult woman. My first attempt at inserting a tampon was very painful and unsuccessful. I wouldn’t use them until I was around 14 or so.
* That when you use pads the blood can get on your bottom and I’d have to occasionally clean off the toilet seat after using it.
* That getting your first period DOES NOT mean you’re fully developed and fully able to bear children. I could have technically gotten pregnant at that age, but I was still a child and pregnancy would have put my life in danger because I was still physically immature.
* That it wouldn’t be regular for another few years.
* That very painful cramping is NOT NORMAL once you reach your 20s and is cause for concern.
* That the blood and tissue you pass can look chunky or stringy and not like blood from a cut.
* That stress can halt your period for months BUT
* That doesn’t mean you can’t get pregnant
Feel free to add your own
My IRL friend Laura Meilman is an awesome artist, and she has made five drawings of mermaids for the environment.
They’re all for sale as prints over at her Etsy shop, and portions of the proceeds will go to the United Way of Genessee County’s Flint Water Fund, The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and The Nature Conservancy.
what skincare culture should be: -strong encouragement to use sunscreen and stay away from tanning booths -encouraging little black and brown kids to love their skin color, giving love to people with skin conditions such as vitiligo/albinism/hyper-pigmentation/etc. -good smelling lotion for all what skincare culture is: -unless a women has totally clear poreless pale skin that glows like paintings like the virgin mary she is gross and unhygienic and doesn’t take care of herself -don’t want to be that girl? spend $1000 a year on expensive goo sold by glossier and lush and inject weird chemicals in your skin to get rid of freckles and moles and wrinkles even though you’re only like 25
[Top left: Green onion seedlings. Bottom left: Baby basil seedlings. Right: A jungle of thyme.]
I’ve been growing some veggies indoors for a while now (almost a year?) and we finally got the lighting right for the plants. These little guys are completely solarpunk/lunarpunk. I live out in the country and for some reason that wasn’t known to us until after we bought our house there is a ban on all veggie growing and structure building. So we couldn’t even build an outdoor greenhouse. These little guys are growing in a legit solarpunk recycled diy’d greenhouse structure inside my garage. Eventually we are going to try and go with completely heirloom non-gmo organic seedlings but until then these little guys are fighting unjust zoning regulations, fighting our ever increasing dystopian reality (I have a yard and I can’t plant things!), and living it up #solarpunk style.
Did I mention our neighbors are bending these rules too? :) I’m not the only solarpunk in my area. My neighbor plants mint and strawberries in their flowerbeds and planted a plum tree right between our property lines so that when it matures no one can say it was theirs or that the regulation people didn’t know about it. It’s been there for years people. I’ve also started some mint and lavender bushes myself. They can ask me all they want about what they are… I’ll just tell them they’re decorative.
Now, I’m not saying that people should do these things. Bending the rules can get you into trouble. But my area is poor and people are hungry, local food pantries have been closing too and without these solarpunk guerrilla gardening tactics people would go hungry. I only know three of my neighbors because everyone keeps loosing their homes. Neighbors last about a year here and then are forced to leave.
At my old town just 20 min away from where I live now, we grew grapes and apples and let whoever was hungry have them. Our neighbors sometimes foraged. There were wild apple trees, grapes, and mulberries and people knew where they were and when they were ready to be picked. It helped a lot of people who wouldn’t have had anything to eat otherwise. banning food sources is what should be illegal. Not tending to gardens. Gardens and plants should never be banned. We live on a living planet, it’s what kept us alive all these centuries. Why are we turning our back on it now?
~ the pondering muse🌙
Where have all the bugs gone? That’s what this post tries to answer and if you’re like me and hadn’t really noticed the lack of bugs recently, you’ll understand why this is such a big deal after reading the article. However, before we dive into this article, I want to share with you what I’ve noticed.
I’ve lived in Missouri for almost 19 years now, about a decade ago I remember windshields so full of bug splats that you couldn’t see out of it while driving down the highway and cringing at the *thump* of especially large bugs when they hit. I remember a season where when I rode my bike around town I couldn’t not hit a grasshopper because there were more than I could count all over the roads and fields. Last summer however? I remember pulling a single butterfly from the grill of my dad’s truck. That’s it… There were no more bugs. …
Here’s how plentiful our world used to be. We tend to think that the environmental conditions that we are born into are normal, but it is anything but normal.
“In “The Once and Future World,” the journalist J.B. MacKinnon cites records from recent centuries that hint at what has only just been lost: “In the North Atlantic, a school of cod stalls a tall ship in midocean; off Sydney, Australia, a ship’s captain sails from noon until sunset through pods of sperm whales as far as the eye can see. … Pacific pioneers complain to the authorities that splashing salmon threaten to swamp their canoes.” There were reports of lions in the south of France, walruses at the mouth of the Thames, flocks of birds that took three days to fly overhead, as many as 100 blue whales in the Southern Ocean for every one that’s there now. “These are not sights from some ancient age of fire and ice,” MacKinnon writes. “We are talking about things seen by human eyes, recalled in human memory.”“
So, when you read the above article, please understand how dire these circumstances are for us and our planet. Ok, so what are the highlights of the article?
“A 2013 paper in Nature, which modeled both natural and computer-generated food webs, suggested that a loss of even 30 percent of a species’ abundance can be so destabilizing that other species start going fully, numerically extinct — in fact, 80 percent of the time it was a secondarily affected creature that was the first to disappear.”
- Drastic drops in insect populations have been recorded globally.
- World’s largest king penguin colony shrank by 88%.
- Blue-fin Tuna populations have shrunk 97%.
- 60% decrease in total wild land animal populations.
- 96% of the planet’s biomass now is humans and livestock. Wild animals represent less than 4%. …
- 10-60% less arthropod biomass in Puerto Rico.
- 50-80% drops in partridges from France due to the lack of insects they eat.
- 50% of all farmland birds in Europe are gone.
- Birds which rely on insects may be starving to death due to their collapse.
These are some drastic decreases and we tend to forget that all species are connected. When we loose one species, we can loose all the species that rely on it. We need to recognize what is happening around us with our environment and our planet. We need to know, that what we are seeing today, isn’t normal.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/13/you_are_stealing_our_future_greta
wip 👀
the entire sinnoh region looks almost entirely like this
I didn’t do the inktober this year, but I had fun with a tiny house :3