Accidentally read a lecture at the London School of Solarpunk

It’s been a month since I accidentally read a lecture at the London School of Solarpunk.
No, dear autocorrect, it wasn’t “of Economics”: it was under the trees in Victoria Park. In fact, I offered that spot myself — I previously used it for picnics, even for that legendary February one. In any case, amazing people.

That’s how I got to know this concept, “solarpunk”. I am still exploring it. In a nutshell, there are two dimensions: more tech-y and more social-y.

Tech-y:
- renewable energy
- ecological architecture
- decentralised technology
- climate adaptation
- bicycles and walkability
- solar infrastructure (obviously)

Social-y:
- coexistence rather than domination
- non-human life treated as part of the community
- local knowledge and shared resources
- repair rather than destruction
- optimism without naïveté

Accidentally figured out that my Archive of Lady Catherine de Turnips, a writing project I started at around the same time (26.06.2026) — in the middle of hiding from the first wave of heatwave, so the sentiment of its “pilot letter” is pretty transparent, — fits into the more social aspect. My Lady Catherine is all about being considerate neighbours (even if the latter are cats and/or witches). Well, I have never been a specifically tech-y person, after all.

PS
I found a beautiful definition: solarpunk is the future that was promised in the Utopian Scholastic aesthetics.