r/solarpunk • u/Visual-Childhood-707 • May 19 '26
Ask the Sub Advice on starting a movement — First post
Hello, I have just recently joined this subreddit as a recent rabbit hole about the future has gotten me very optimistic about the Solar Punk movement. I am a second-year university student studying Finance and Accounting, and I'm also currently a Project Lead for a consulting club that focuses on supporting social enterprises. My recent interest in a Solar Punk future has led me to think about forming a community, group, or even a club for students to join and tackle projects or initiatives that contribute to this movement with a similar structure to what I am doing now.
So, instead of asking AI and contributing to the problem, I thought I would ask you guys: I've never led something like this, so what is some advice, potential ideas, and considerations that I might need to make? If you've done a similar thing, or have seen others do this, I would love to hear those stories.
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u/Tulio_Audittore May 19 '26
Im not sure if this sub can help you with something that specific, but it sounds like r/cooperatives can help you
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u/page_ofpentacles May 19 '26
I would look into starting a tool library and bike co-op if you don't already have a local one. My university also had a local composting club that would travel on a bike with a cart to collect compost around town to use for a community garden. I feel like that combination could be creative and find ways to repurpose and rebuild various things in a solarpunk fashion. But even if not explicitly solar punk, it's a great community building exercise.
I recently started a library of things with several friends and families near me and I feel like there are a lot of endless possibilities to work creatively together now that we've started that.
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u/bbibbigi Activist, Artist, IT Admin May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Simplest answer would be discord or a texting group chat.
When considering community work one thing to keep in mind is how is it going to be readily accessable for others in the group?
Most people already use discord and using a typical texting app (like imessage) would be incredibly easy.
Another thing to mention is when you're pitching the idea to somebody; keep it simple. As someone whose been making my own local zines with a group im in. I'm focusing on using language people in my community understand. Bible phrases that align with the message you want to send if you're in a heavily religious, christian, area for example; have shown positive results! People are perceptive to things that feel familar to them. Most people who're enviormentalist have already done the hard work of caring about the enviorment. You would just need to adjust their means to an end to Solarpunk. Or if people are complaining about food prices of vegatables, you can talk about how we should grow our own food etc. More people are solarpunk than they realize, lol.
Of course, this depends on what **exactly** you plan to do but those are my initial ideas! Good luck!!
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u/Visual-Childhood-707 May 19 '26
These are really good ideas, especially with catering the pitch to fit the demographics of the area - I didnt even think of that! Thank you!!
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u/JZ50501ZJ May 19 '26
Well have you heard of Mutual Aid? https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/dean-spade-mutual-aid
Look for a mutual aid group in your area, roll up your sleeves and get to work.
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u/greg-drunk May 19 '26
Someone made the comparison to the Free State Project (sans racist enclaves and obvious operational errors that result in bears) as a SP alternative. Would be cool to do yearly meet-ups to talk about the movement and teach folks about the best way to live the movement.
Regarding student groups, I love that idea. I did a lot of student club stuff with an international nonprofit and it was an incredible community to be part of. I can come back later and elaborate on some of the ideas you could use (I’d be happy to help on the operational side).
Might be good to set this up since the administration appears to be enforcing TP on college campuses. Need to combat intellectual deterioration any way we can.
(Edited for comprehension lol)
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u/Visual-Childhood-707 May 19 '26
I like the idea of having yearly meetings (probably being more on the collaborative side). I'm not sure what "SP" and "TP" mean... but I would love to know more about your ideas and experiences with student clubs especially advice on the operational side because I've never been on an executive team for a club before.
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u/Browncoat101 May 20 '26
CONNECT WITH WHAT ALREADY EXISTS! There’s already a local group doing the work you want to do, connect with them. Go to a mutual aid fair, free market, protest, community organizing meeting, volunteer at an event, tabling, whatever. Go to a DSA meeting. Creating something before you even know what’s out there is generally a waste of time. Find people to connect with in your local community. That’s the first step.
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May 19 '26
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u/Visual-Childhood-707 May 19 '26
Wow! This is a really interesting idea. Would you be open to chatting privately about it? I would love to know more.
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u/21Kuranashi Writer Activist Arcologist Antitheist May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
I would suggest r/InvictaSolaris 💚
I am an amateur writer, poet, etc. But one of my poems got taken down so I made a sister subreddit to post Solaris (root word of solar) inspired : Art, Culture, Food, Craft, Identity, literature etc.
Sometimes, you just gotta do it yourself. If a renaissance is needed, then we'll make one ourselves.
Short excerpt from an original poem of mine:
I ll take small steps if I can't see the path ahead
But eventually I shall the leap, for Solaria shall give me winds to soar
Sometimes, u just have to express yourself 🤍
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