Here’s a thing I’ve had around in my head for a while!

Okay, so I’m pretty sure that by now everyone at least is aware of Steampunk, with it’s completely awesome Victorian sci-fi aesthetic. But what I want to see is Solarpunk – a plausible near-future sci-fi genre, which I like to imagine as based on updated Art Nouveau, Victorian, and Edwardian aesthetics, combined with a green and renewable energy movement to create a world in which children grow up being taught about building electronic tech as well as food gardening and other skills, and people have come back around to appreciating artisans and craftspeople, from stonemasons and smithies, to dress makers and jewelers, and everyone in between. A balance of sustainable energy-powered tech, environmental cities, and wicked cool aesthetics. 

A lot of people seem to share a vision of futuristic tech and architecture that looks a lot like an ipod – smooth and geometrical and white. Which imo is a little boring and sterile, which is why I picked out an Art Nouveau aesthetic for this.

With energy costs at a low, I like to imagine people being more inclined to focus their expendable income on the arts!

Aesthetically my vision of solarpunk is very similar to steampunk, but with electronic technology, and an Art Nouveau veneer.

So here are some buzz words~

Natural colors!
Art Nouveau!
Handcrafted wares!
Tailors and dressmakers!
Streetcars!
Airships!
Stained glass window solar panels!!!
Education in tech and food growing!
Less corporate capitalism, and more small businesses!
Solar rooftops and roadways!
Communal greenhouses on top of apartments!
Electric cars with old-fashioned looks!
No-cars-allowed walkways lined with independent shops!
Renewable energy-powered Art Nouveau-styled tech life!

Can you imagine how pretty it would be to have stained glass windows everywhere that are actually solar panels? The tech is already headed in that direction!  Or how about wide-brim hats, or parasols that are topped with discreet solar panel tech incorporated into the design, with ports you can stick your phone charger in to?

(((Character art by me; click the cityscape pieces to see artist names)))

Here’s a thing I’ve had around in my head for a while!

Okay, so I’m pretty sure that by now everyone at least is aware of Steampunk, with it’s completely awesome Victorian sci-fi aesthetic. But what I want to see is Solarpunk – a plausible near-future sci-fi genre, which I like to imagine as based on updated Art Nouveau, Victorian, and Edwardian aesthetics, combined with a green and renewable energy movement to create a world in which children grow up being taught about building electronic tech as well as food gardening and other skills, and people have come back around to appreciating artisans and craftspeople, from stonemasons and smithies, to dress makers and jewelers, and everyone in between. A balance of sustainable energy-powered tech, environmental cities, and wicked cool aesthetics. 

A lot of people seem to share a vision of futuristic tech and architecture that looks a lot like an ipod – smooth and geometrical and white. Which imo is a little boring and sterile, which is why I picked out an Art Nouveau aesthetic for this.

With energy costs at a low, I like to imagine people being more inclined to focus their expendable income on the arts!

Aesthetically my vision of solarpunk is very similar to steampunk, but with electronic technology, and an Art Nouveau veneer.

So here are some buzz words~

Natural colors!
Art Nouveau!
Handcrafted wares!
Tailors and dressmakers!
Streetcars!
Airships!
Stained glass window solar panels!!!
Education in tech and food growing!
Less corporate capitalism, and more small businesses!
Solar rooftops and roadways!
Communal greenhouses on top of apartments!
Electric cars with old-fashioned looks!
No-cars-allowed walkways lined with independent shops!
Renewable energy-powered Art Nouveau-styled tech life!

Can you imagine how pretty it would be to have stained glass windows everywhere that are actually solar panels? The tech is already headed in that direction!  Or how about wide-brim hats, or parasols that are topped with discreet solar panel tech incorporated into the design, with ports you can stick your phone charger in to?

(((Character art by me; click the cityscape pieces to see artist names)))

Chefchaouen, a small town in northern Morocco, has a rich history, beautiful natural surroundings and wonderful architecture, but what it’s most famous for are the striking and vivid blue walls of many of the buildings in its “old town” sector, or medina.

The maze-like medina sector, like those of most of the other towns in the area, features white-washed buildings with a fusion of Spanish and Moorish architecture. The brilliantly blue walls, however, seem to be unique to Chefchaouen. They are said to have been introduced to the town by Jewish refugees in 1930, who considered blue to symbolize the sky and heaven. The color caught on, and now many also believe that the blue walls serve to repel mosquitoes as well (mosquitoes dislike clear and moving water).

Whatever the reason, the town’s blue walls attract visitors who love to wander the town’s narrow streets and snap some beautiful photos. 

More Solarpunk inspiration images!! To recap: some of the defining features of how I imagine solarpunk are: Art Nouveau + other old styles of architecture and fashion, stained-glass solar panels, sustainable-energy-powered tech, lots of inner-city gardening, and lots of streetcars. 

Okay, on to image credits:
1: Kingsbury, from Ghibli’s How’l Moving Castle
2: Stained glass dome, photo by Jyoti Srivastava
3: A streetcar running in Portland
4: Photo taken by John Meckley 
5: Cityscape by Imperial Boy
6: Image by me, traced over image by Alphonse Mucha
7: GaiaOnline avatars made using tektek.org
8: Art by Owen Carson

I really wish I could draw my own cityscapes, but alas, I am no artist. Instead I have to comb the internet, searching for “close enough.”

Maybe someday I’ll have the disposable income to commission artists to draw pieces that are intentionally solarpunk….. Someday….

I just really love Flint’s architecture a lot look at it

Autunite is a secondary uranium mineral, named for its type locality near Autun, France, with a chemical formula of Ca(UO₂)₂(PO₄)₂·10-12H₂O. Autunite ranges in colour from pale yellow and yellow-green to greenish black. It dehydrates to meta-autunite on extended exposure to air, becoming yellower and less greenish.

Autunite fluoresces green-yellow under UV light, and due to its uranium content is radioactive. It may also be used as an ore. It generally occurs in the oxidation zone of uranium-bearing rocks, and is associated with other uranium minerals, such as torbernite and uranophane. Crystals may be tabular or micaceous.

Sources:

• Mindat
• Webmineral
• Wikipedia

Image sources: 1, 2, 3 (2 and 3 are the same sample, viewed under normal and UV light)

 You’re Seeing This Beach Correctly. It’s Very Beautiful And Very Green

photos: Zack Travel

Although not quite one-of-a-kind, this beach in Hawaii is certainly an extremely rare sight to behold. Rather than the usual golden or white sand you’d find blanketing the shores, this is one of only four green beaches in the world! No, it’s not algae or some kind of alien conspiracy, there is a perfectly logical explanation for its grassy hue. Papakolea Beach formed around a cinder cone (that’s the name given to the mound of debris surrounding a volcanic vent) that was rich in the mineral olivine, which unsurprisingly is olive green in color. As the waves lapped at the cinder cone, it gradually broke down and turned into a magnificent green sand. Let’s take a look at this miracle of nature.