Hello world!

Intros are meant to convince you, dear reader, why you should care about what I have to say. There are so many other blogs out there, so what makes me different?

I try a lot of things out. Some may say I try too many things.

I try things because I want to contribute to the people around me. The more I learn about global geopolitics, the climate crisis and the rapid enshittification of everything we’ve learned to depend on, the more driven I am to find a more just way to live, for everyone.

I’m on a journey to align my values with my actions. If you want to learn a bit about me and where I’m headed, let’s start with the basics – how I spend my time when not at work.

Chill Time Means Thinking Time

In my chill time I like to play board games and spend quality time with my partner. I’m an aspiring himbo, meaning I like to work out but not enough to look like I do. I have an active queer choir near me that I cherish dearly, warts and all. Through the choir I’ve built a little community around me where I live in the UK, and I’m very proud of that. I want to make sure that community can thrive forever, and I want to make sure everyone has access to community like that.

With my people-powered gusto I started a small mutual aid group. Unfortunately, I quickly got frustrated by the lack of coordination or different levels of effort, so I stopped that after a year of trying. Since then, I’ve talked and read a lot about radical activism, anarchism and alternative ways of living outside late-stage capitalism. All that absorbing and learning has got me thinking – so what now? I want to use this blog to work out how I can put into practice what I’ve learned.

Turning Thoughts Into Actions

In an effort to be more practical, I try so many things out, not often committing to one thing over another.

·       Crafts: We need more creative thinking in the world, and that’s not the kind of thing I’m usually drawn to. I’ve tried all kinds of crafts, from building cardboard RPG maps to painting abstract art, with clay modelling and vlogging somewhere in the middle there. I’d now like to explore writing on this website.

·       Self-hosting: I have my own home server, mainly used for some media hosting (Jellyfin plus the *arr suite) and this Ghost blog. I hugely support the idea of data ownership and privacy and am proud to be modelling that in some way. I’d like to use what I’m learning to benefit my community somehow, but I’m not sure how yet.

·       Growing Food: I used to have an allotment before I realised I don’t really have a green thumb. A year later and I’m now growing lettuces hydroponically to see what’s possible without the confines of the seasons and soil. I aim to expand into herbs soon.

·       Making stuff: I’m a proud member of my local hackspace and have made several small things with the laser cutter. I don’t know how to use most of the other equipment in there, but I’d like to try some carpentry and 3D printing one day. The trick will be focusing my efforts on something that other people will find useful too.

I feel like a novice in pretty much all of these things, hence the title of this post – “hello world” is the first message you learn to produce when coding.

I hope to share my journey with the above and more through this blog in an attempt to find my niche and hopefully inspire others along the way. Sounds pretty solarpunk to me!

Solarpunk and Me

I came across the idea of “solarpunk” when researching all of the above and was immediately inspired by all the positive and practical steps people are taking to solve some of the world’s problems, both small and large. I delved headfirst into the plethora of information out there, from writing podcasts and blogs to hacking communities and local growing spaces. I’ve been inspired by everything I’ve read and am so happy to have found a word that fits my hopes for this world.

For me the word “solarpunk” means someone or something that’s resisting the status quo to build something that brings hope to people. Hope of a brighter future, but in the present. That’s what I want to do for people.