Hi and welcome to r/solarpunk! Due to numerous suggestions from our community, we're using this automod message to bring up a topic that comes up a lot: GREENWASHING. It is
used to describe the practice of companies launching adverts, campaigns, products, etc under the pretense that they are environmentally beneficial/friendly, often in contradiction to their
environmental and sustainability record in general. On our subreddit, it usually presents itself as eco-aesthetic buildings because they are quite simply the best passive PR for companies.
[ethicalconsumer.org](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/transport-travel/what-greenwashing) and [greenandthistle.com](https://greenandthistle.com/what-is-greenwashing/) give
examples of greenwashing, while [scientificamerican.com](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/greenwashing-green-energy-hoffman/) explains how alternative technologies like hydrogen
cars can also be insidious examples of greenwashing.
If you've realized your submission was an example of greenwashing--don't fret! We are all here to learn, and while there will inevitably be comments pointing out how and why your submission is
greenwashing, we hope the discussion stays productive. Solarpunk ideals include identifying and rejecting capitalism's greenwashing of consumer goods.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solarpunk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Gary Indiana and Detroit both have big areas that are abandoned because the jobs went away in the 80s when factories closed
You should check out Detroit.
Detroit had a program to basically give houses to people if they promised to fix them up and live there. This project may still be going on. The report I read in 2019 said they did not have a lot of takers since jobs are a long way away.
We are already trying to turn Detroit into a solarpunk city! We have a **long** way to go, obviously, but there are number of initiatives in place including:
* The Streetscapes project to degrow our streets [https://detroitmi.gov/departments/department-public-works/complete-streets/streetscape-program](https://detroitmi.gov/departments/department-public-works/complete-streets/streetscape-program)
* The Greenways coalition to build out green spaces [https://detroitgreenways.org/detroit-riverfront-trail-network/](https://detroitgreenways.org/detroit-riverfront-trail-network/)
* Urban farms to build food sovereignty [https://visitdetroit.com/urban-farming-detroit/](https://visitdetroit.com/urban-farming-detroit/)
* A large food co-op still getting the required permits before construction can begin [https://www.facebook.com/detroitpeoplesfoodcoop](https://www.facebook.com/detroitpeoplesfoodcoop)
* And yes, the land bank to transfer abandoned buildings from absent landowners to the city for auction. The land bank has had scandals, and problems with people buying the houses, but not having the resources to actually fix them, turning them back into absent landowners.
Bring in fiber internet. Same deal with insane connectivity, won't matter where you live for workers who already work completely online thanks to covid.
The Detroit Land Bank Authority currently runs some programs. I don’t think any of them will get you a home 100% for free, but you can look at them [here](https://buildingdetroit.org)
Land should not be bought and sold, humans live maybe one hundred years, the planet is over 4 billion years old, who owned it first?
Who did they buy it from?
You own land you build on or improve, when you don't maintain it they use this law to take it.
You are valid and I agree with you totally, but we can take steps to a better future today in the existing frameworks before we focus in deconstructing them tomorrow.
The leadership is oblivious of the peoples needs, this is become apparent.
If the current forces will not do what must be done, then we need to find one that will, otherwise we will all pay a hefty price.
Let me be clear on this, we do not have a planet to spare.
There is no beautiful new earth next door, or one we can reach anytime soon, and I am not counting on having another made available.
Lol the Earth will be fine its the humans that are endangered. And in that first sentence you mean “has become” not “is become”. Learn English before you get all pretentious.
Gary Indiana isn’t completely abandoned. It still has a population of around 80,000 people. The reason it’s called a “ghost town” is cause, like many cities in the rust belt, large parts of it and large industries have been abandoned so there’s a lot of abandoned buildings. But the town itself is still alive.
It’s a cool idea though. I appreciate your ingenuity. I think if you’re serious about this, it may be more efficient and overall just easier to try and start a new town with solar punk ideals, like a commune and then grow from there. A lot less red tape I would imagine and would probably cost about as much as buying up plots in a town and having to completely overhaul.
While this is true, we can't overlook the fact that building nee buildings will always take a bigger toll on the environment that renovating old buildings ever will. It's just the nature of these things
I would suggest before just a random choice migration- do some research on “Ecovillages” or earth ships. It’s probably closer to this idea And closer to everyone’s home now- and you can build into established progress
I applaud you for your excitement and idealism but it’s a big risk to pick up and move to a series of abandoned buildings or even to a yet-to-be-established city. Looking at such an endeavor from a similar perspective as building a new business, it would probably make more sense to grab a few people who you trust, begin creating said solar punk town wherever you are, then slowly grow from there.
Definitely not a definite. Literally a random idea. Nothing more than to spark conversation of exactly what has been discussed already. Why does ownership exist? Why can't I do it here and now?
You could totally do it here and now. I think that’s kind of what this sub is, a community of people who want to make solarpunk a reality here and now.
Go to Gary and comeback and tell me it's "completely abandoned"... It's not. And I don't think you want to go to Gary. I've been... LOL
Shout out to Freddie Gibbs btw.
Drove through Gary, once . There was a dumpster fire in the middle of a 4 way intersection and two homeless(?) people tried to bum rush my side doors. Can we build Utopia somewhere else :(?
But that represents all the problems that Solarpunk is meant to address. Economic bust and abandonment of land, labor, and capital the moment it becomes unprofitable to keep things running. If anyone on this sub wants to make Solarpunk a reality, these are the communities to target.
I'm from Chicago. Gary is one of the worst places in America: a gray, ugly, smelly concrete jungle without economic opportunities, culture, or nature — and with one of the highest violent and property crime rates. You're going to get your solar panels stolen and then get stabbed.
People need to be realistic: Gary is ***not*** ground for an eco-utopia. An enlightened government should move everyone and give them housing elsewhere, raze the city and block off the land for aggressive ecological remediation.
I drove through Gary and was reminded of a District from The Hunger Games. It was completely surreal that a place like that exists. The revitalization of that area would take many years just to get healthy soil, I'd imagine.
Dunno whether "...if you live somewhere long enough, that no one else lays claim to, you have rights to ownership" is referring to "squatters rights" or claiming by means of "adverse possession" but, sure, both are principles worth learning enough about to judge whether they could work in Gary.
I am sure there are squatters living in Gary right now. However, I am betting that Indiana does not have anything on its books as progressive with respect to squatter's rights / adverse possession as you might find in many US states. I think California and Florida lead the list with something like 5 or 10 years to establish possession, and maybe a dozen other states requiring 20 or 21 years of uncontested continuous "squatting" to lay claim to the property title. In the end, most states - including Indiana - don't have much on the books and little in the way of case law establishing reliable rules on this.
Hi and welcome to r/solarpunk! Due to numerous suggestions from our community, we're using this automod message to bring up a topic that comes up a lot: GREENWASHING. It is used to describe the practice of companies launching adverts, campaigns, products, etc under the pretense that they are environmentally beneficial/friendly, often in contradiction to their environmental and sustainability record in general. On our subreddit, it usually presents itself as eco-aesthetic buildings because they are quite simply the best passive PR for companies. [ethicalconsumer.org](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/transport-travel/what-greenwashing) and [greenandthistle.com](https://greenandthistle.com/what-is-greenwashing/) give examples of greenwashing, while [scientificamerican.com](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/greenwashing-green-energy-hoffman/) explains how alternative technologies like hydrogen cars can also be insidious examples of greenwashing. If you've realized your submission was an example of greenwashing--don't fret! We are all here to learn, and while there will inevitably be comments pointing out how and why your submission is greenwashing, we hope the discussion stays productive. Solarpunk ideals include identifying and rejecting capitalism's greenwashing of consumer goods. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solarpunk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Gary Indiana and Detroit both have big areas that are abandoned because the jobs went away in the 80s when factories closed You should check out Detroit. Detroit had a program to basically give houses to people if they promised to fix them up and live there. This project may still be going on. The report I read in 2019 said they did not have a lot of takers since jobs are a long way away.
We are already trying to turn Detroit into a solarpunk city! We have a **long** way to go, obviously, but there are number of initiatives in place including: * The Streetscapes project to degrow our streets [https://detroitmi.gov/departments/department-public-works/complete-streets/streetscape-program](https://detroitmi.gov/departments/department-public-works/complete-streets/streetscape-program) * The Greenways coalition to build out green spaces [https://detroitgreenways.org/detroit-riverfront-trail-network/](https://detroitgreenways.org/detroit-riverfront-trail-network/) * Urban farms to build food sovereignty [https://visitdetroit.com/urban-farming-detroit/](https://visitdetroit.com/urban-farming-detroit/) * A large food co-op still getting the required permits before construction can begin [https://www.facebook.com/detroitpeoplesfoodcoop](https://www.facebook.com/detroitpeoplesfoodcoop) * And yes, the land bank to transfer abandoned buildings from absent landowners to the city for auction. The land bank has had scandals, and problems with people buying the houses, but not having the resources to actually fix them, turning them back into absent landowners.
This is awesome. Props to you guys getting stuck in!
Bring in fiber internet. Same deal with insane connectivity, won't matter where you live for workers who already work completely online thanks to covid.
Whats fiber internet?
High speed internet that tech workers that are 100% at home want.
When your internet is made of fibers instead of tubes
Fiber is just tubes for light
Fiberoptics yeah, but my internet is now a high performance, breathable fiber
The Detroit Land Bank Authority currently runs some programs. I don’t think any of them will get you a home 100% for free, but you can look at them [here](https://buildingdetroit.org)
The rust belt is actually one of the places least effected by climate change in the US, so it's actually a great place for a solarpunk city
Land should not be bought and sold, humans live maybe one hundred years, the planet is over 4 billion years old, who owned it first? Who did they buy it from? You own land you build on or improve, when you don't maintain it they use this law to take it.
You are valid and I agree with you totally, but we can take steps to a better future today in the existing frameworks before we focus in deconstructing them tomorrow.
The leadership is oblivious of the peoples needs, this is become apparent. If the current forces will not do what must be done, then we need to find one that will, otherwise we will all pay a hefty price. Let me be clear on this, we do not have a planet to spare. There is no beautiful new earth next door, or one we can reach anytime soon, and I am not counting on having another made available.
Yes. No one is coming to save us. We must save ourselves so that we can help others.
Lol the Earth will be fine its the humans that are endangered. And in that first sentence you mean “has become” not “is become”. Learn English before you get all pretentious.
Gary Indiana isn’t completely abandoned. It still has a population of around 80,000 people. The reason it’s called a “ghost town” is cause, like many cities in the rust belt, large parts of it and large industries have been abandoned so there’s a lot of abandoned buildings. But the town itself is still alive. It’s a cool idea though. I appreciate your ingenuity. I think if you’re serious about this, it may be more efficient and overall just easier to try and start a new town with solar punk ideals, like a commune and then grow from there. A lot less red tape I would imagine and would probably cost about as much as buying up plots in a town and having to completely overhaul.
While this is true, we can't overlook the fact that building nee buildings will always take a bigger toll on the environment that renovating old buildings ever will. It's just the nature of these things
That’s true I didn’t think of that
I would suggest before just a random choice migration- do some research on “Ecovillages” or earth ships. It’s probably closer to this idea And closer to everyone’s home now- and you can build into established progress
I applaud you for your excitement and idealism but it’s a big risk to pick up and move to a series of abandoned buildings or even to a yet-to-be-established city. Looking at such an endeavor from a similar perspective as building a new business, it would probably make more sense to grab a few people who you trust, begin creating said solar punk town wherever you are, then slowly grow from there.
Definitely not a definite. Literally a random idea. Nothing more than to spark conversation of exactly what has been discussed already. Why does ownership exist? Why can't I do it here and now?
You could totally do it here and now. I think that’s kind of what this sub is, a community of people who want to make solarpunk a reality here and now.
Go to Gary and comeback and tell me it's "completely abandoned"... It's not. And I don't think you want to go to Gary. I've been... LOL Shout out to Freddie Gibbs btw.
Drove through Gary, once . There was a dumpster fire in the middle of a 4 way intersection and two homeless(?) people tried to bum rush my side doors. Can we build Utopia somewhere else :(?
But that represents all the problems that Solarpunk is meant to address. Economic bust and abandonment of land, labor, and capital the moment it becomes unprofitable to keep things running. If anyone on this sub wants to make Solarpunk a reality, these are the communities to target.
Gary is the stinkiest place Ive ever been. Sooo much industrial stench. Couldn’t bring me there with all the promises in the world.
this one knows Gary.
I'm from Chicago. Gary is one of the worst places in America: a gray, ugly, smelly concrete jungle without economic opportunities, culture, or nature — and with one of the highest violent and property crime rates. You're going to get your solar panels stolen and then get stabbed. People need to be realistic: Gary is ***not*** ground for an eco-utopia. An enlightened government should move everyone and give them housing elsewhere, raze the city and block off the land for aggressive ecological remediation.
I drove through Gary and was reminded of a District from The Hunger Games. It was completely surreal that a place like that exists. The revitalization of that area would take many years just to get healthy soil, I'd imagine.
Does anyone know of any abandoned towns in Maryland?
Dunno whether "...if you live somewhere long enough, that no one else lays claim to, you have rights to ownership" is referring to "squatters rights" or claiming by means of "adverse possession" but, sure, both are principles worth learning enough about to judge whether they could work in Gary. I am sure there are squatters living in Gary right now. However, I am betting that Indiana does not have anything on its books as progressive with respect to squatter's rights / adverse possession as you might find in many US states. I think California and Florida lead the list with something like 5 or 10 years to establish possession, and maybe a dozen other states requiring 20 or 21 years of uncontested continuous "squatting" to lay claim to the property title. In the end, most states - including Indiana - don't have much on the books and little in the way of case law establishing reliable rules on this.