I mean, if we are going to change the way we humans relate to the earth we have to be conscious of all the spheres (biosphere, hydrosphere, chryosphere, lithosphere/geosphere, atmosphere) and biogeochemical cycles (Carbon Cycle, Hydrologic aka Water Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, etc). I think studying Earth Systems Science and Ecology are good ways for people to start learning.
I knew about hemp, and how useful it can be. Kelp, and bamboo are super exciting, too. I might do a lesson about these materials with my environmental science students. Great video!
If anything I'll try to sneak my class OUT, haha. I have been thinking of making a video about my school's greenhouse I got set up. There is so much research that sustainability in schools has tangible effects on the attitudes and environmental education of students.@@mywholedarname
I especially appreciate you including the disadvantages of each material. It's easier to be optimistic when the place you're getting your info has looked at their proposals with nuance.
Love the video, as always. Minor thing - "tree" is just a growth habit, while grass is an actual plant family, so bamboo is both a grass and a tree. It's a grass tree.
this isn't true, trees are woody plants with secondary growth. bamboo doesn't have secondary growth. similarly, palm trees also aren't technically trees, but woody herbs
@@fwompwomp I had never heard the addition of secondary growth as part of the definition. I looked it up and it says that "in some situations a narrower definition may be used including secondary growth" so this is just newer or older than my books it seems. So, I'd say we're both right.
Love the Solarpunk concept. In a world full of stories of destruction Solarpunk is a ray of light. C+O2 is using kelp as a soil amendment, the results are very encouraging.
Kelp also naturally helps plants create more branches, as well as help prevent damp off, sometimes an issue when transplanting younger seedlings into larger containers that are too moist for that stage of their growth. Kelp is an amazing soil amendment to or nutrient, especially for anything like a food source. It's impossible to use too much (you don't get nute burn if your numbers are off, so it doesn't damage anything), and it naturally stimulates plants to create more branches, therefore more food. It's fascinating stuff IMO.
@@d.w.stratton4078 *using livestock dejection as fertilizer* Tbh we have A LOT of environmental friendly fertilizer, and not adding a kind of production and functioning like our practice of agriculture was the ecosystem it should be seen has will probably be better
Mushrooms and fungi have lots of uses too. There have been trials of using fungi to make lightweight building materials and there's a company who currently uses mushrooms as a polystyrene replacement. What's awesome about fungi is they can grow on almost any form of cellulose including agricultural waste.
Mushrooms can also be used to make leather replacements, can be used in pure foam form for insulation or in textiles, and that same foam made by Oyster mushrooms is also edible. Many species of mushrooms also have suprising medicinal uses, especially against cancer and other tumors, but also as immunity boosters, antioxidants and much more. I also read about a mushroom that has basically the same protein composition as meat and can be grown industrially, though for some reason it has not taken off yet. Not to mention all the uses of yeast fermentation. And the best part is how there is so much space for innovation, since there are just about 20 mushroom species that are properly utilised and researched (mostly Oysters, Reishi, Shiitake, Maitake, Chaga, Jelly Ear and some others), while there are thousands more with undiscovered properties and benefits. For example, those polystyrene replacements I know of are mostly made with the use of Oysters or Reishi, but their use is kind of limited since both of those mushrooms have trouble growing on sawdust of conifers, even though conifer sawdust is by far the most abundant waste material in European and north American timber industry. But there are species of Ganoderma (Reishi), for example Ganoderma carnosum, that should in theory grow really well on coniferous wood and potentialy enable a whole new industry. And yet, I literally found only one scientific article from 2022 researching that mushroom, so you can imagine just how much potential of fungi might be flying completely under our radar.
Maybe we could use used concrete crumbled like how they uses slate stones for stone walls in shepard pastures in England. That sounds potentially neat, just a lil way into the video but unfortunately or fortunately we have to try compromise. With a clay slurry maybe to make the concrete walls adhere or a new kind of cement, I like micro plastics. Could use big used oil or water plastic 5l jugs for it with cotton or plastic string and Lemongrass synthetic or natural oil to attract swarms of social bees and fungi like reishi or turkey tail or oyster or winecap mushroom surrounding?
Kelp is cool and all but we know the way it is currently manufactured and shipped off to be consumed is pretty fucked. How about groundcover like nasturtiums too and chamomile, then fungis like oyster and reishi, to hazmat sad Mr beast style, clean up a landfill after all gases methane carbon dioxide ect have been extracted, one pile mostly organic waste for plants and fungi, one pile for mostly plastics that can't be used anymore like crushed milk jugs, bottle caps can be reused, let fungi and sunflowers deal with that. Then hydrolyse the plastics into petrol. The still useful pile for wood, clothes, jewelry, concrete ect landfill diving in hazmat suits. Then metal and glass recyclables like glass bottles and tincans, unshatteres beer glass bottles could be reused and I'm sure there's technology to be discovered and relearned that lets you reuse glass bottles and opened tincans.
Your video actually reminded me in a weird way just how possible this future is. I remember reading about hempcrete and kelp back in the early 2010's and yeah 10-15 years later is bang on for when that tech would finally be reaching maturity! This is really hopeful news! Thanks for sharing, plenty of good vibes going around!
Solarpunk seems to offer most solutions to humanities problems of coexisting with itself, but how do we move this idea outwards? Can a Solarpunk political party exist? Can we build independently by communities and then let it spread naturally as people see its benefits? Seeing just how dire things are getting recently, it really feels like we're on a timer to start making these changes a reality
I think solarpunk is beyond the current political paradigm. There’s no way to have a solar punk party in the same way there’s no way to have an eco-friendly share market. Solarpunk happens from the ground up, as the grass grows. Once it is big enough, it may be noticed by the politicians (if such a class will still exist by then), but the people figuring out clay chemical reactors probably won’t care all that much
🙂IMO, you start locally and lead by example. If you're not already, watch some stuff from The Post Apocalyptic Inventor. He's a German dude who re-uses, repairs, and re-purposes various motors, gadgets, tools, and so forth. These skills would be needed in a solarpunk future, _and_ are useful in the current recession. For example, I started doing my own work on my truck, repairing my garage and house, etc. My fence especially will save me big-time, and I'm still going to convert my old truck to electric over the next few years, since it's already too inefficient for road-trips, so I can start with something small like a 50 km to 100 km battery, and expand as battery tech improves, which would also include used batteries. That would also be good as the biggest backup in a household, with a smaller one for use when you're out and about just to keep a few lights on, and keep the place from overheating or freezing. Heat pumps, insulation, and specific paints can also provide good energy benefits - for example, see Night Hawk In Light's video on his white, thermally-emissive paint experiments, to replicate the commercially available stuff. If you're a home-owner, re-organize and rebuild it for more room-mates or collaborative living, and if you're not an owner try to find a place that is. (Even my small city has _one_ co-op, collectively-owned set of town-houses.) Always keep learning and trying new things, too! 👍
The good news for that timer is that it was recently found that what basically look like display boxes filled with liquid algae can help draw 50x the carbon out of the air that a tree can, and it doesn't take 40 years to do it. There are actually ways of cultivating various algaes at home, and over the years a few places have even experimented with gardening it on vertical surfaces as both a form of art and and something like a natural air carbon filter. I think acting locally in a way that takes advantage of this could help a lot. Even if it's just the almost display cases of liquid algae "soup" being installed in areas like public transportation stops or good sized parks with lots of sunlight. They're not the only solution, obviously, but they improve things as whole lot more than most people would assume at first.
Well, the best step forward would be to start growing your own solarpunk stuff (most likely bamboo would be easiest) and after a few years you'll probably have more than you need so share it with some neighbors. could even connect with a youth group and have them weave bamboo baskets if you have enough materials harvested (or could even invite them out to harvest). point is things that don't currently exist are hard to get support for, but if it's already existing it's much easier to. The same holds true for getting bike infrastructure, while at first it's hard once you have a decent network of bike paths it can be much easier to argue for expansions.
@@nightpups5835 Be careful with bamboo. Some varieties can grow like the plague in the proper environment, and suddenly you end up with an invasive species of you aren't careful. Thankfully, there are a whole lot of varieties of bamboo for almost every environment and there are ways to keep it from spreading too far. Just be careful with planting bamboo in the ground, I guess would be my point. Container gardens or even blocked off areas in the ground are pretty common in certain places.
Great video, these always fill me and my friends with so much hope. Also, always good to see real sustainable building discussed like cob and hempcrete.
I think the most frustrating part for me is knowing that we already have the materials we need to build a better future. We already have literally everything we need, we just lack the will and some of the understanding.
We have the resources, and we do have the will, but our most elite classes, whom live in and control every country on the globe, have an intrest in keeping things the way they are and making sure people and uninformed, divided and think a better world isn't possible
Another material which is under utilized is fungus, there are a couple companies which have developed methods of turning mycosynth walls in the styles of fiberglass panels
I've been growing mushrooms for more than a decade already, mostly as food and as a way to reuse certain wastes (coffee grounds, newspapers, even corrugated cardboard). Spent subs can really do wonders in a compost pile, too. So I'm really glad to see all the work that has gone into researching and developing more sustainable alternatives to building materials these last few years.
I humbly propose that Fungi might be able to out do them all. However it isn't a contest. Every hands on deck is needed. Would adore to see you do a video like this on our fungal friends. As they can handle everything from climate change, pollution remidiation, medicine, building materials, packing materials, and more!
I like the idea of all hands on deck. We should aim to diversify our resources and not depend on one thing, probably make the whole system more resilient.
Love the actionable framing. Just started grad school for Environmental, Science, and Technology Policy. Always love your content. I feel that you and I are kindred in that you and I focus on the rubber meeting the road in our scholarship. How do we balance urban planning for density and the use of bamboo and other sustainable resources? How do we keep building taller, not wider? Bamboo and wood can do a lot, but there's still a catch-22 with the amount of density that we need to plan for. Someone should study cost-effective bamboo construction limits and model the most efficient density that it could achieve! Hemp is dope. That's an easy win for textiles and stationary. Kelp is delicious and nutritious. I wonder how much of any of these 3 materials could be produced without monocultures?
Steel should not have to be necessarily carbon-intensive. With green steel recycling (because rust is a far better resource than ore for refining) bamboo and hempcrete sustainable reinforced concrete could become a reality. Overlay that with a pine wood floor or linoleum, insulate it with silica wool, and window it with bioplastic or biofilm windows, and sustainable skyscrapers could become a reality. If we pair this up with limited use of roman concrete (which has recently been rediscovered) buildings could last for millennia, outlasting the population peak of this century.
I also wanted to add that it's not a requirement to have skyscrapers or hugely tall structures in all cities. Even cities like London are mostly made up of smaller buildings, and often it is considered good city planning practice.
@@BenRose60 Definetely, I am myself a huge proponent of Dutch-style city planning, with 5 level streets instead of single family homes and skyscrapers. It was just an indication of how sustainable does not have to be limited.
@@BenRose60 for sure, great point, I think that avoiding hardcore Suburbia is the first goal and bamboo and wood could easily achieve multi-family housing.
@@zep4814 would love to learn more about applied material science stuff like this. I'm glad that young environmentalist students are starting to see construction, architecture, project management, other built-environment stuff as Environmental Study material and not just ecology, biology, forestry, conservation, etc.
I went to the Hash, Marijuana and Hemp Museum in Amsterdam recently. The use for hemp is so fascinating throughout european history (of which the most surviving sources were preserved in that museum), as well as more ancient documents of the cannabis plant throughout Asia and the Middle East. The museum is not very big, only 5 rooms, but there is no issue spending over an hour listening to the different parts of the exhibition. I would recommend bringing a headset with audio jack, as the guide devices are not bluetooth compatible, and it can be hard to hear their speakers if the museum is full. They had hempcrete there, as well as instances of hemp used in car parts, clothes and ropes.
I think another thing a lot of people get wrong about solarpunk is the reliance on solar power (i don't know a lot about solarpunk but i imagine most people view it as the dominant source of energy in a solarpunk world just because it's in the name). A much better option to power the world without damaging the environment would be with nuclear power plants. Extracting the material to build and maintain (solar panels need to be replaced every 25 years) enough solar panels to power the entire world would greatly damage the environment, a lot more than building nuclear plants and making fuel for them, and because the amount of uranium we can extract can satisfy our current energy needs for about 5 billion years when used in modern breeder reactors, nuclear is effectively a renewable energy source. wind and hydro power also are worse, wind turbines for the same reason as solar panels, and hydroelectric dams emit greenhouse gasses, less than fossil fuel power plants but that is still pretty bad when compared to nuclear plants, which do not release anything harmful into the atmosphere.
Solar panels can be infinitely recycled and changed our to create a zero-waste future and can be seamlessly integrated into already-existing buildings without the need to destroy the environment any further. Nuclear is cheap and long lasting, but solar is cheaper and again, infinitely recyclable. Nuclear can help but it's not the primary source of power for a solarpunk future. We'd have to routinely launch all the nuclear waste into space every few hundred years or so, and accidents while rare can still happen. But we do need nuclear.
I've wanted to make this exact video for years, excellent work as always! I filmed a bunch of dope stuff about bamboo in colombia, incredible plant! I lived in a bamboo treehouse and toured some of the most incredible architecture I've ever seen, from cathedrals to youth hostels. They call it "the vegetable steel" because it can be used for scaffolding and even foundations and bridges. The ability to make viscose fibers as soft as silk out of it is a huge leap too. The fact that it has to be cut after 6 years just makes it necessitate abundance too, a truly renewable resource and a mfin solarpunk superstar! Hemp can also be used to make carbon fiber stronger and lighter than steel and even fckn rebar. Making graphene out of it makes it an incredibly enticing component for high technology too. The other contender for sp superstar is absolutely algae which can even be made into solar panels. Resistance is fertile my friends!
If I may add another plant, the coconut would be a great candidate. I was born and raised in the tropics and I can tell you, the coconut tree is known as the tree of life in my part of the world. From its roots to its leaves, they all have uses. Some probably uncommon uses of the coconut are: 1. its sap can be turned to sugar, vinegar and alcohol 2. its husk and bark as rope 3. the coconut juice can be used as an alternative to IV fluid in hospitals 4. its dried husk, if burned, is effective against driving away mosquitoes.
I wasn't expecting this to be about literal seeds lol I think one important thing to remember with all these sustainable solution is they need to be diversified and local. No solution will solve every problem or be healthy to rely on solely. But also a solution can be good somewhere and hard to implement elsewhere or not be as useful elsewhere ( construction material will have to be different in morocco and in norway, because the climate is different which affects both the ressources available and the needs in term of properties ). That was pretty much your conclusion but I think it's really the most important part to take away from it
Cool video! I appreciate you showing that there are many solutions and creative ways to use our environment, without naively clinging to singular solutions. It’s refreshing and hopeful! A diversity of solutions to support the diversity of humanity!
damn, this was such a good video. I'm a South Africa and I didn't even know about the hempcrete building in CPT, really cool. You're voice is lovely and the video was well put together and informative, can't wait to see more
Generally great video. My only concern is that in many parts of the world, bamboo is highly invasive and extremely difficult to contain. I think as long as it is cultivated mindfully, it can be a really great option.
1:48 you build with the materials that are renewable in the geography that you are building in. Check out the natural architecture of Sigi Koko. Cordwood, strawbale, earthship etc. Also, how about hempcrete vs concrete? Kirsten Dirksen is cool also.
I've been yearning for more solarpunk ideas! I want to do more research into sustainable production practices, as I want to get better at understanding how to be more self-sustaining as well as ways to serve my community better. I've started by learning how our ancestors make and grow their food so I can attempt to incorporate those traditions into my own lifestyle. I'm hoping as time goes on, I'll be able to grow and make food to share with the people around me and solidify my community. I've recently been putting thought into how things are made and how they can be made more sustainably. One of those thoughts was paper, since it is used in writing and art and packaging and much more. So hearing that hemp is an alternative for making paper makes me want to look into that and see if I can learn how to make it and what local hemp farms I can buy from. I also have been wanting to learn how to grow kelp since I make a lot of japanese food and its a core ingredient in dashi. This video has encouraged me to look more into what it would be like to farm kelp, since it has far more uses than I would've thought!
Check out permies, a permaculture hub. They've got all sorts of sources and info for you. The forum is also full of nice people with lots of knowledge.
As always, great video. I love hearing about solutions rather than JUST problems. I mean, gotta learn about the problems too to know how to fix them, but that gets depressing fast.
As an ecological construction worker I can also vouch for straw as a contender. It's a byproduct of the food industry and is a great insulator. At the company I work at we use it to create prefab elements together with wood to make structurally sound buildings with vapour permeable walls and roof which drastically lessens the amount of HVAC needed. You can then use loam (clay sand mixture) to finish off the inner walls and potentially use hempcrete for use as an insulating, fireresistant outside layer.
This dovetails nicely with the video I just watched on tiktok yesterday about a small Palestinian fashion brand that is making textiles and clothes out of banana tree fiber. The banana fabric holds die better than cotton!
With respect to kelp; due to the extreme levels of sewage off the coast of CA sea urchins are able to migrate between kelp beds without suffering the usual losses and show up in numbers that decimate the kelp beds to the point where they can't recover. That would have to be fixed before kelp could be a solution.
A healthy Sea Otter population can keep Sea Urchins in check. Endangered from the fur trade era, their numbers have rebounded and they've helped bring back northern California kelp forests. SEE - USA, California, "Monterey Bay Aquarium"
Reminds of how one of the first things the Martian settlers in Kim Stanley Robinson's _Red Mars_ did was build a greenhouse to grow as much bamboo as possible, which was used as scaffolding for their bigger habitat.
One thing I highly recommend: Look into "engineered timber"! Turns out, with a little heat and pressure treatment, you can make wooden materials up to the task of building even ultra-heavy or ultra-tall buildings! Of course the treatment takes some energy input, but this paves a potential way to replace some concrete and steel usage.
The first time I heard about solarpunk I actually got a little emotional because it was the first time Id seen a realistic possibility for the future that wasn't a dystopia and it incorporates a positive relationship to nature and fellow humans. The vision of such a future was not something Id ever really imaged as being possible and for the first time ever I can imagine a positive future. PS I love your channel Im a big supporter of your work I will like share and subscribe keep up the good work!
One of the coolest hempcrete projects i've heard of is in the Lower Sioux Community in Minnesota where an indigenous owned company is growing the hemp, processing it, and constructing low cost homes for tribal members from it. Building permanent structures in a steppe environment is really resource intensive as well are the energy costs of cooling and heating them. This is why steppe people's have traditionally lived in tents because they're a flexible way to live with the extreme weather of the steppes. But hempcrete really provides an actual viable solution from the resource problems of static urbanism in steppe's environments. If I ever have some money I'd love to build a hempcrete home. Also the southeast of the united states used to be bamboo country. Pre-colonization there were canebrakes growing in every river bottom in the region. That land was highly prized for farming by settlers who also knew that removing the bamboo would negatively impact the indigenous people they wanted to displace. If the south started growing and building with bamboo it would be an amazing change.
These are always super interesting. As someone who tends to get lost in the theory and isn't very practical, I love seeing how you extend these to address wide ranges of material changes we can make to make a better future
A concept I learned recently was that if "founding crops", that is, crops domesticated by the very earliest human civilizations. In Mesopotamia, for example, a few of those were wheat, chickpeas and flax, all of which have been domesticated there over 7000 years ago (that is quite literally prehistoric). A carbohydrate rich grain, a protein rich grain and a structural/building crop. The same happened where other notorious early civilizations existed, like Mesoamerica (Mexico and neighbouring Gulf coast countries), Northern India and the Chinese plains, where crops like corn, rice, hemp and bamboo were also domesticated thousands of years ago. Humanity built their first cities on these plants. That said, by studying plants that fit the necessities of humanity then, we could find plants that can fit humanity today. They WILL be local/native plants, of course, but it would be worth the effort to save resources.
just wanted to say i am really happy to see your channel growing brother. when i discovered you were at about 70k subs or something. your videos are very well made and what you are talking about is the probably the most important stuff in the world.
I love that your channnel goes from politics, to philosphy to talking about nature resource uses and more. All with the unification of envisioning a realistic and livable future.
When I really think about the biggest limitation of hempcrete (not as strong as regular concrete) I imagine that that doesn't have to be that big of a problem. We don't need skyscrapers. If we were actually smart about our land use, then we shouldn't need any one building to be higher than 10 or so stories. And so no building would have *that* much load to bear.
There's not gonna be one silver bullet solution for future biofabrication etc so I'm glad to see you using "seeds" and putting emphasis on the multiplicity of the solutions out there! Thanks for another great video - Ariel
Concrete has extremely high thermal insulation properties actually, you just need to choose the right mixture. There are several different types of thermal concrete, and its one of the best thermal conductivity materials for sustainable building.
I love to see more poly culture gardening like the three sisters method. The world of companian planting in general just feels rife for rediscovery to me.
@@Waitwhat469 I was just watching a video on a permaculture orchard the other day where this guy interplanted his fruit trees with nitrogen-fixing trees (not unlike planting beans with corn), and then created an understory with berry bushes and perennial vegetables, and had fruit vines climbing up the non-fruiting trees. You can add additional "forest layers" to an orchard like that, too, like an occasional nut tree towering far above the fruit tree canopy, or growing mushrooms in mulch or mushroom logs on the ground, or even underground in a symbiotic relationship with some of your trees' roots. It's an awesome method of agriculture with so much room for new ideas.
I love bamboo and hemp. Helpful plants and usually require so little from us. Bamboo furniture is beautiful and can be bent to make furniture in low tech ways. Hemp fabric can make the cushions. We’re good!
Bamboo is also an excellent candidate for biochar. Biochar is a great amendment for supporting/improving soil microbiology and locks in the carbon sequestered by the material that’s burned to create it for hundreds of years (and possibly longer). Definitely just a small piece of the solution, but the potential for bamboo to be utilized for carbon sequestration in this way seems really promising.
Kelp and bamboo are kind of localized solutions, for certain climates. But hemp grows literally everywhere. It's a weed...and you can make all sorts of things with it: lether, clothes, bags, plastic, bricks, medicine, etc
I love the inspiring and hopeful solutions! Similar to hempcrete, I recently learned about seaweed bricks made from invasive seaweed and recycled plastic bricks.
Love your videos. I’m usually the choir ,looking to find confirmation bias to be preached to me, when I watch. However, you recharge my batteries and help me keep from sliding into apathetic inaction. Just here to say thank you. Would also like to let you know the information is great, but the inspiration is it for me.
Another random use for dillisk (kelp) is it’s good for quitting smoking, have a bit of that every time you crave a cig and you’ll be off them in no time
Yo! Peace! Breddah, I love hearing the sounds Trini tropical birds in the background. I love what you’re doing, bro. “Just as a diverse garden thrives…” 🙏
Good video, but I do see some biases coming through. The cattle industry for example isn't destructive by nature, only the industrial side of it is... however regenerative cattle ranching is actually carbon negative, creates biodiversity, captures rainfall to replenish aquifers, and helps reverse desertification. Kelp recently has raised some health concerns as high levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury have been found in both wild and farmed Kelp. Bamboo is awesome, but it does require binders for some of its applications which sometimes adds toxic chemicals into the mix. Hemp shares the similar thermal inefficiencies of Concrete which is why hempcrete walls are made really thick, also they cannot meet structural standards without a standard timber frame, and hempcrete still requires lime which has its own carbon impact. That's not meant to diss hempcrete because it has a ton of amazing properties, but it's not necessarily the best option. All that being said, a Solarpunk future would optimize each for their best designated use. As for construction materials, Concrete shouldn't be ruled out, it should just be used more like a Blini Shell design. When used in a monolithic dome structure with insulation like a Blini shell, you can create an extremely thermally efficient building using a fraction of concrete compared to other methods. Stabilized Rammed Earth shouldn't be overlooked either as it is made of 90% dirt, 10% concrete and is the strongest and most insulating of everything on the list. A Stabalized Rammed Earth wall will last 1,000 years without issue. Also earth ships, Cobb, and earth bag constriction methods should be considered as well.
I was informed to seek you out to discover SolarPunk. Im glad i did. New subscriber. Thanks for your imagination, intelligence and inspiration for the future. Love from Scotland. ❤
I like this video a lot. Not only does it inform but it fills the niche which I rarely see from the left, which is to off potential solutions to problems! Keep it up
I need someone to create a big brutalist-style building out of hempcrete, because I love cursed imagery/jokes 😂 At the very least, I need there to be a punny name for the concept. Bluntalism? Nah there's a better portmanteau out there somewhere
Its not anymore about just being ”sustainable” but regenerative. We as ecosystem engineers have to create a livable habitat for all species and turn back the destruction we have created. This is much more than just being sustainable.
Just came across your channel - I was explicitly looking for solarpunk content that spoke to capitalism and anti-Blackness in our world today. I wanted to view an essay that had an anti-colonial lens. Incredibly grateful for your channel and the very very visible hard work you put into creating and editing these essays. You have a new subscriber!
It is too late for good options, we now have the choice before us between :A lots of genocide and B: lots and lots and lots of genocide. I don't know yet whether bamboo can help us shift from B to A, but I know for certain that the current traditional construction materials aren't going to help so we might as well start trying it, worst case: status quo.
I am very literally using bamboo knitting needles while i watch this, so there's that. They're pretty good. Thanks for this...i think about bamboo a lot, and hemp some, for whatever reason kelp hadn't come up.
Fantastic video again, comrade. I really appreciate the optimistic yet clear-eyed overview of subjects like these, you make me want to learn more while understanding that there are pitfalls to any solution which must be accounted for. It helps us all remember the law of unintended consequences as we work together to build the future we know is possible. I would really appreciate you making the video you referenced in the hemp section about racial capitalism hating weed and the value of cannabis in our future. It is a fascinating subject and would love to hear your perspectives. Thank you for your work, friend.
Lovely video! I did a lot of research in college for sustainable textiles and Hemp denim when done right is amazing!🌼Speaking about textiles specifically, cork could be a runner up, even though the trees take a while to age, harvesting cork can increase it's co2 absorption (at least I think) and create a carbon sink. I also did some studies in Andean textiles and found out how sustainable alpaca wool and vicuna is vs sheep wool. I'll have to look into what a solarpunk animal industry looks like.
I'm studying to be a mechanical engineering student and I think my ideas are captured pretty well by something the railway engineer Gareth Dennis said in his presentation to the PWI (Permanent Way Institution) "Sustainability probably isn’t what you think it is" which can be found on youtube he said - "Solutions must be people-led, not technology-lead" we have the technology what we need are the social and industrial plans and the ability to enact them. i like the positive videos they help keep my motivated in my work.
I love the idea of the combination of Sea, Land and "Sky" being a help in crafting a solarpunk future
I mean, if we are going to change the way we humans relate to the earth we have to be conscious of all the spheres (biosphere, hydrosphere, chryosphere, lithosphere/geosphere, atmosphere) and biogeochemical cycles (Carbon Cycle, Hydrologic aka Water Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, etc). I think studying Earth Systems Science and Ecology are good ways for people to start learning.
I knew about hemp, and how useful it can be. Kelp, and bamboo are super exciting, too. I might do a lesson about these materials with my environmental science students. Great video!
Solarpunk-Channel: Not Just Bikes, Edenicitiy, Strong Town
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please sneak me into your class room lol
definitely going on orbital habitats
Oooo I hadn't heard of Edenicity yet, I'll check it out.@@slevinchannel7589
If anything I'll try to sneak my class OUT, haha. I have been thinking of making a video about my school's greenhouse I got set up. There is so much research that sustainability in schools has tangible effects on the attitudes and environmental education of students.@@mywholedarname
I especially appreciate you including the disadvantages of each material. It's easier to be optimistic when the place you're getting your info has looked at their proposals with nuance.
Yes!
Love the video, as always. Minor thing - "tree" is just a growth habit, while grass is an actual plant family, so bamboo is both a grass and a tree.
It's a grass tree.
Thanks for the info!
this isn't true, trees are woody plants with secondary growth. bamboo doesn't have secondary growth. similarly, palm trees also aren't technically trees, but woody herbs
@@fwompwomp I had never heard the addition of secondary growth as part of the definition. I looked it up and it says that "in some situations a narrower definition may be used including secondary growth" so this is just newer or older than my books it seems. So, I'd say we're both right.
Cannabis grown by crazy hippies are trees. The rap group Mendo dope have grown literal 20 foot tall cannabis plants.
a grass tree :D!
Love the Solarpunk concept. In a world full of stories of destruction Solarpunk is a ray of light. C+O2 is using kelp as a soil amendment, the results are very encouraging.
Basically like how rotting salmon feed our forests but without the middle man? (and presumably less heavy metals)
Kelp could easily replace industrial fertilizer with almost no artificial energy input.
Kelp also naturally helps plants create more branches, as well as help prevent damp off, sometimes an issue when transplanting younger seedlings into larger containers that are too moist for that stage of their growth.
Kelp is an amazing soil amendment to or nutrient, especially for anything like a food source. It's impossible to use too much (you don't get nute burn if your numbers are off, so it doesn't damage anything), and it naturally stimulates plants to create more branches, therefore more food. It's fascinating stuff IMO.
@@d.w.stratton4078 *using livestock dejection as fertilizer*
Tbh we have A LOT of environmental friendly fertilizer, and not adding a kind of production and functioning like our practice of agriculture was the ecosystem it should be seen has will probably be better
Solarpunk reminds me of ecobrutalism as an aesthetic
Mushrooms and fungi have lots of uses too. There have been trials of using fungi to make lightweight building materials and there's a company who currently uses mushrooms as a polystyrene replacement. What's awesome about fungi is they can grow on almost any form of cellulose including agricultural waste.
U mean one day I might live in a mushroom house like a gnome or fairy in the woods 😮
Mushrooms can also be used to make leather replacements, can be used in pure foam form for insulation or in textiles, and that same foam made by Oyster mushrooms is also edible. Many species of mushrooms also have suprising medicinal uses, especially against cancer and other tumors, but also as immunity boosters, antioxidants and much more. I also read about a mushroom that has basically the same protein composition as meat and can be grown industrially, though for some reason it has not taken off yet. Not to mention all the uses of yeast fermentation. And the best part is how there is so much space for innovation, since there are just about 20 mushroom species that are properly utilised and researched (mostly Oysters, Reishi, Shiitake, Maitake, Chaga, Jelly Ear and some others), while there are thousands more with undiscovered properties and benefits. For example, those polystyrene replacements I know of are mostly made with the use of Oysters or Reishi, but their use is kind of limited since both of those mushrooms have trouble growing on sawdust of conifers, even though conifer sawdust is by far the most abundant waste material in European and north American timber industry. But there are species of Ganoderma (Reishi), for example Ganoderma carnosum, that should in theory grow really well on coniferous wood and potentialy enable a whole new industry. And yet, I literally found only one scientific article from 2022 researching that mushroom, so you can imagine just how much potential of fungi might be flying completely under our radar.
I’ve been reading Entangled Life and even as someone who was raised to appreciate fungi, I never realized just how incredible they are
@@panellmann1461 I would love to hear more about those things you're researching, where can I find out more about it?
They're also trying to make computers that use mushrooms to make calculations
Should be fixed now, had an "8D audio" issue the first time😮💨
The Solarpunk database was hacked. The first video was hosted by DrewGPT.
Maybe we could use used concrete crumbled like how they uses slate stones for stone walls in shepard pastures in England. That sounds potentially neat, just a lil way into the video but unfortunately or fortunately we have to try compromise. With a clay slurry maybe to make the concrete walls adhere or a new kind of cement, I like micro plastics. Could use big used oil or water plastic 5l jugs for it with cotton or plastic string and Lemongrass synthetic or natural oil to attract swarms of social bees and fungi like reishi or turkey tail or oyster or winecap mushroom surrounding?
Kelp is cool and all but we know the way it is currently manufactured and shipped off to be consumed is pretty fucked. How about groundcover like nasturtiums too and chamomile, then fungis like oyster and reishi, to hazmat sad Mr beast style, clean up a landfill after all gases methane carbon dioxide ect have been extracted, one pile mostly organic waste for plants and fungi, one pile for mostly plastics that can't be used anymore like crushed milk jugs, bottle caps can be reused, let fungi and sunflowers deal with that. Then hydrolyse the plastics into petrol.
The still useful pile for wood, clothes, jewelry, concrete ect landfill diving in hazmat suits. Then metal and glass recyclables like glass bottles and tincans, unshatteres beer glass bottles could be reused and I'm sure there's technology to be discovered and relearned that lets you reuse glass bottles and opened tincans.
We don't like being shoved into little boxes and labels right. I'm sorry for what you feel you have to do to be accepted.
@@baumi8125 what?
Name a more iconic beef than Drew and Concrete.
Your video actually reminded me in a weird way just how possible this future is. I remember reading about hempcrete and kelp back in the early 2010's and yeah 10-15 years later is bang on for when that tech would finally be reaching maturity! This is really hopeful news! Thanks for sharing, plenty of good vibes going around!
Solarpunk seems to offer most solutions to humanities problems of coexisting with itself, but how do we move this idea outwards?
Can a Solarpunk political party exist? Can we build independently by communities and then let it spread naturally as people see its benefits?
Seeing just how dire things are getting recently, it really feels like we're on a timer to start making these changes a reality
I think solarpunk is beyond the current political paradigm. There’s no way to have a solar punk party in the same way there’s no way to have an eco-friendly share market.
Solarpunk happens from the ground up, as the grass grows. Once it is big enough, it may be noticed by the politicians (if such a class will still exist by then), but the people figuring out clay chemical reactors probably won’t care all that much
🙂IMO, you start locally and lead by example. If you're not already, watch some stuff from The Post Apocalyptic Inventor. He's a German dude who re-uses, repairs, and re-purposes various motors, gadgets, tools, and so forth. These skills would be needed in a solarpunk future, _and_ are useful in the current recession. For example, I started doing my own work on my truck, repairing my garage and house, etc. My fence especially will save me big-time, and I'm still going to convert my old truck to electric over the next few years, since it's already too inefficient for road-trips, so I can start with something small like a 50 km to 100 km battery, and expand as battery tech improves, which would also include used batteries. That would also be good as the biggest backup in a household, with a smaller one for use when you're out and about just to keep a few lights on, and keep the place from overheating or freezing. Heat pumps, insulation, and specific paints can also provide good energy benefits - for example, see Night Hawk In Light's video on his white, thermally-emissive paint experiments, to replicate the commercially available stuff. If you're a home-owner, re-organize and rebuild it for more room-mates or collaborative living, and if you're not an owner try to find a place that is. (Even my small city has _one_ co-op, collectively-owned set of town-houses.) Always keep learning and trying new things, too! 👍
The good news for that timer is that it was recently found that what basically look like display boxes filled with liquid algae can help draw 50x the carbon out of the air that a tree can, and it doesn't take 40 years to do it. There are actually ways of cultivating various algaes at home, and over the years a few places have even experimented with gardening it on vertical surfaces as both a form of art and and something like a natural air carbon filter.
I think acting locally in a way that takes advantage of this could help a lot. Even if it's just the almost display cases of liquid algae "soup" being installed in areas like public transportation stops or good sized parks with lots of sunlight. They're not the only solution, obviously, but they improve things as whole lot more than most people would assume at first.
Well, the best step forward would be to start growing your own solarpunk stuff (most likely bamboo would be easiest) and after a few years you'll probably have more than you need so share it with some neighbors. could even connect with a youth group and have them weave bamboo baskets if you have enough materials harvested (or could even invite them out to harvest). point is things that don't currently exist are hard to get support for, but if it's already existing it's much easier to. The same holds true for getting bike infrastructure, while at first it's hard once you have a decent network of bike paths it can be much easier to argue for expansions.
@@nightpups5835 Be careful with bamboo. Some varieties can grow like the plague in the proper environment, and suddenly you end up with an invasive species of you aren't careful. Thankfully, there are a whole lot of varieties of bamboo for almost every environment and there are ways to keep it from spreading too far.
Just be careful with planting bamboo in the ground, I guess would be my point. Container gardens or even blocked off areas in the ground are pretty common in certain places.
Great video, these always fill me and my friends with so much hope. Also, always good to see real sustainable building discussed like cob and hempcrete.
I think the most frustrating part for me is knowing that we already have the materials we need to build a better future. We already have literally everything we need, we just lack the will and some of the understanding.
Yes, but also the right (horizontal and decentralized) social structures for it to undfold properly.
We lack the money
We have the resources, and we do have the will, but our most elite classes, whom live in and control every country on the globe, have an intrest in keeping things the way they are and making sure people and uninformed, divided and think a better world isn't possible
Another material which is under utilized is fungus, there are a couple companies which have developed methods of turning mycosynth walls in the styles of fiberglass panels
I've been growing mushrooms for more than a decade already, mostly as food and as a way to reuse certain wastes (coffee grounds, newspapers, even corrugated cardboard). Spent subs can really do wonders in a compost pile, too. So I'm really glad to see all the work that has gone into researching and developing more sustainable alternatives to building materials these last few years.
I was just about to comment about mushrooms and other fungi.
Fun-gi! Fun-gi! Fun-gi! Mushrooms are too cool.
I humbly propose that Fungi might be able to out do them all. However it isn't a contest. Every hands on deck is needed. Would adore to see you do a video like this on our fungal friends. As they can handle everything from climate change, pollution remidiation, medicine, building materials, packing materials, and more!
You right as mushrroom decompose feces at the best time but like you said its not competition but you have to add the mushrrom to the list
I like the idea of all hands on deck. We should aim to diversify our resources and not depend on one thing, probably make the whole system more resilient.
Love the actionable framing. Just started grad school for Environmental, Science, and Technology Policy. Always love your content. I feel that you and I are kindred in that you and I focus on the rubber meeting the road in our scholarship.
How do we balance urban planning for density and the use of bamboo and other sustainable resources? How do we keep building taller, not wider? Bamboo and wood can do a lot, but there's still a catch-22 with the amount of density that we need to plan for. Someone should study cost-effective bamboo construction limits and model the most efficient density that it could achieve!
Hemp is dope. That's an easy win for textiles and stationary. Kelp is delicious and nutritious. I wonder how much of any of these 3 materials could be produced without monocultures?
Steel should not have to be necessarily carbon-intensive. With green steel recycling (because rust is a far better resource than ore for refining) bamboo and hempcrete sustainable reinforced concrete could become a reality. Overlay that with a pine wood floor or linoleum, insulate it with silica wool, and window it with bioplastic or biofilm windows, and sustainable skyscrapers could become a reality. If we pair this up with limited use of roman concrete (which has recently been rediscovered) buildings could last for millennia, outlasting the population peak of this century.
I also wanted to add that it's not a requirement to have skyscrapers or hugely tall structures in all cities. Even cities like London are mostly made up of smaller buildings, and often it is considered good city planning practice.
@@BenRose60 Definetely, I am myself a huge proponent of Dutch-style city planning, with 5 level streets instead of single family homes and skyscrapers. It was just an indication of how sustainable does not have to be limited.
@@BenRose60 for sure, great point, I think that avoiding hardcore Suburbia is the first goal and bamboo and wood could easily achieve multi-family housing.
@@zep4814 would love to learn more about applied material science stuff like this. I'm glad that young environmentalist students are starting to see construction, architecture, project management, other built-environment stuff as Environmental Study material and not just ecology, biology, forestry, conservation, etc.
Alage is also pretty useful for waste water treatment (obviously not for consumption, mainly for fertilizer) or already polluted rivers/lakes.
I went to the Hash, Marijuana and Hemp Museum in Amsterdam recently. The use for hemp is so fascinating throughout european history (of which the most surviving sources were preserved in that museum), as well as more ancient documents of the cannabis plant throughout Asia and the Middle East. The museum is not very big, only 5 rooms, but there is no issue spending over an hour listening to the different parts of the exhibition. I would recommend bringing a headset with audio jack, as the guide devices are not bluetooth compatible, and it can be hard to hear their speakers if the museum is full. They had hempcrete there, as well as instances of hemp used in car parts, clothes and ropes.
I think another thing a lot of people get wrong about solarpunk is the reliance on solar power (i don't know a lot about solarpunk but i imagine most people view it as the dominant source of energy in a solarpunk world just because it's in the name). A much better option to power the world without damaging the environment would be with nuclear power plants. Extracting the material to build and maintain (solar panels need to be replaced every 25 years) enough solar panels to power the entire world would greatly damage the environment, a lot more than building nuclear plants and making fuel for them, and because the amount of uranium we can extract can satisfy our current energy needs for about 5 billion years when used in modern breeder reactors, nuclear is effectively a renewable energy source. wind and hydro power also are worse, wind turbines for the same reason as solar panels, and hydroelectric dams emit greenhouse gasses, less than fossil fuel power plants but that is still pretty bad when compared to nuclear plants, which do not release anything harmful into the atmosphere.
Solar panels can be infinitely recycled and changed our to create a zero-waste future and can be seamlessly integrated into already-existing buildings without the need to destroy the environment any further. Nuclear is cheap and long lasting, but solar is cheaper and again, infinitely recyclable. Nuclear can help but it's not the primary source of power for a solarpunk future. We'd have to routinely launch all the nuclear waste into space every few hundred years or so, and accidents while rare can still happen. But we do need nuclear.
I've wanted to make this exact video for years, excellent work as always! I filmed a bunch of dope stuff about bamboo in colombia, incredible plant! I lived in a bamboo treehouse and toured some of the most incredible architecture I've ever seen, from cathedrals to youth hostels. They call it "the vegetable steel" because it can be used for scaffolding and even foundations and bridges. The ability to make viscose fibers as soft as silk out of it is a huge leap too. The fact that it has to be cut after 6 years just makes it necessitate abundance too, a truly renewable resource and a mfin solarpunk superstar! Hemp can also be used to make carbon fiber stronger and lighter than steel and even fckn rebar. Making graphene out of it makes it an incredibly enticing component for high technology too. The other contender for sp superstar is absolutely algae which can even be made into solar panels. Resistance is fertile my friends!
ua-cam.com/play/PLt4gMAxKI9nbEUzgWh46LBkjd8XAMvYmd.html&si=31xAapLsxEXqi91E
"Resistance is fertile" is a wonderful phrase. Great comment all around
Through the Eyes of a Stranger by Will Bonsall is a really good book. It's about a moneyless society with sustainable and renewable everything!
If I may add another plant, the coconut would be a great candidate. I was born and raised in the tropics and I can tell you, the coconut tree is known as the tree of life in my part of the world. From its roots to its leaves, they all have uses. Some probably uncommon uses of the coconut are:
1. its sap can be turned to sugar, vinegar and alcohol
2. its husk and bark as rope
3. the coconut juice can be used as an alternative to IV fluid in hospitals
4. its dried husk, if burned, is effective against driving away mosquitoes.
I wasn't expecting this to be about literal seeds lol
I think one important thing to remember with all these sustainable solution is they need to be diversified and local. No solution will solve every problem or be healthy to rely on solely. But also a solution can be good somewhere and hard to implement elsewhere or not be as useful elsewhere ( construction material will have to be different in morocco and in norway, because the climate is different which affects both the ressources available and the needs in term of properties ).
That was pretty much your conclusion but I think it's really the most important part to take away from it
Solarpunk-Channel: Not Just Bikes, Edenicitiy, Strong Town
Cool video! I appreciate you showing that there are many solutions and creative ways to use our environment, without naively clinging to singular solutions. It’s refreshing and hopeful! A diversity of solutions to support the diversity of humanity!
damn, this was such a good video. I'm a South Africa and I didn't even know about the hempcrete building in CPT, really cool. You're voice is lovely and the video was well put together and informative, can't wait to see more
Generally great video. My only concern is that in many parts of the world, bamboo is highly invasive and extremely difficult to contain. I think as long as it is cultivated mindfully, it can be a really great option.
1:48 you build with the materials that are renewable in the geography that you are building in. Check out the natural architecture of Sigi Koko. Cordwood, strawbale, earthship etc. Also, how about hempcrete vs concrete? Kirsten Dirksen is cool also.
I've been yearning for more solarpunk ideas! I want to do more research into sustainable production practices, as I want to get better at understanding how to be more self-sustaining as well as ways to serve my community better. I've started by learning how our ancestors make and grow their food so I can attempt to incorporate those traditions into my own lifestyle. I'm hoping as time goes on, I'll be able to grow and make food to share with the people around me and solidify my community. I've recently been putting thought into how things are made and how they can be made more sustainably. One of those thoughts was paper, since it is used in writing and art and packaging and much more. So hearing that hemp is an alternative for making paper makes me want to look into that and see if I can learn how to make it and what local hemp farms I can buy from.
I also have been wanting to learn how to grow kelp since I make a lot of japanese food and its a core ingredient in dashi. This video has encouraged me to look more into what it would be like to farm kelp, since it has far more uses than I would've thought!
This is cool! Growing food is a great form of direct action. Making paper out of hemp would be cool too!
Check out permies, a permaculture hub. They've got all sorts of sources and info for you. The forum is also full of nice people with lots of knowledge.
As always, great video. I love hearing about solutions rather than JUST problems. I mean, gotta learn about the problems too to know how to fix them, but that gets depressing fast.
As always, such a great video. The future can be inspiring, we must act. This channel often changes my perspectives on a lot of subjects. Thank you!
Solarpunk-Channel: Not Just Bikes, Edenicitiy, Strong Town
Thank you, as always, for the light and perspective.
As an ecological construction worker I can also vouch for straw as a contender. It's a byproduct of the food industry and is a great insulator.
At the company I work at we use it to create prefab elements together with wood to make structurally sound buildings with vapour permeable walls and roof which drastically lessens the amount of HVAC needed.
You can then use loam (clay sand mixture) to finish off the inner walls and potentially use hempcrete for use as an insulating, fireresistant outside layer.
This dovetails nicely with the video I just watched on tiktok yesterday about a small Palestinian fashion brand that is making textiles and clothes out of banana tree fiber. The banana fabric holds die better than cotton!
With respect to kelp; due to the extreme levels of sewage off the coast of CA sea urchins are able to migrate between kelp beds without suffering the usual losses and show up in numbers that decimate the kelp beds to the point where they can't recover. That would have to be fixed before kelp could be a solution.
A healthy Sea Otter population can keep Sea Urchins in check. Endangered from the fur trade era, their numbers have rebounded and they've helped bring back northern California kelp forests.
SEE - USA, California, "Monterey Bay Aquarium"
yep, too bad that's not what happened.@@benrudolph5582
Reminds of how one of the first things the Martian settlers in Kim Stanley Robinson's _Red Mars_ did was build a greenhouse to grow as much bamboo as possible, which was used as scaffolding for their bigger habitat.
One thing I highly recommend: Look into "engineered timber"! Turns out, with a little heat and pressure treatment, you can make wooden materials up to the task of building even ultra-heavy or ultra-tall buildings! Of course the treatment takes some energy input, but this paves a potential way to replace some concrete and steel usage.
The first time I heard about solarpunk I actually got a little emotional because it was the first time Id seen a realistic possibility for the future that wasn't a dystopia and it incorporates a positive relationship to nature and fellow humans. The vision of such a future was not something Id ever really imaged as being possible and for the first time ever I can imagine a positive future. PS I love your channel Im a big supporter of your work I will like share and subscribe keep up the good work!
I'd love to see more videos on the materials of Solarpunk. Great work!
One of the coolest hempcrete projects i've heard of is in the Lower Sioux Community in Minnesota where an indigenous owned company is growing the hemp, processing it, and constructing low cost homes for tribal members from it. Building permanent structures in a steppe environment is really resource intensive as well are the energy costs of cooling and heating them. This is why steppe people's have traditionally lived in tents because they're a flexible way to live with the extreme weather of the steppes. But hempcrete really provides an actual viable solution from the resource problems of static urbanism in steppe's environments. If I ever have some money I'd love to build a hempcrete home.
Also the southeast of the united states used to be bamboo country. Pre-colonization there were canebrakes growing in every river bottom in the region. That land was highly prized for farming by settlers who also knew that removing the bamboo would negatively impact the indigenous people they wanted to displace. If the south started growing and building with bamboo it would be an amazing change.
These are always super interesting. As someone who tends to get lost in the theory and isn't very practical, I love seeing how you extend these to address wide ranges of material changes we can make to make a better future
Great video!
A concept I learned recently was that if "founding crops", that is, crops domesticated by the very earliest human civilizations. In Mesopotamia, for example, a few of those were wheat, chickpeas and flax, all of which have been domesticated there over 7000 years ago (that is quite literally prehistoric). A carbohydrate rich grain, a protein rich grain and a structural/building crop.
The same happened where other notorious early civilizations existed, like Mesoamerica (Mexico and neighbouring Gulf coast countries), Northern India and the Chinese plains, where crops like corn, rice, hemp and bamboo were also domesticated thousands of years ago. Humanity built their first cities on these plants.
That said, by studying plants that fit the necessities of humanity then, we could find plants that can fit humanity today. They WILL be local/native plants, of course, but it would be worth the effort to save resources.
of the three my mind completely danced over Kelp, I knew Bamboo and Hemp could be useful but never thought about the uses of kelp.
Thank you so much for continuing to make videos about Solarpunk! You are so so inspiring!
just wanted to say i am really happy to see your channel growing brother. when i discovered you were at about 70k subs or something. your videos are very well made and what you are talking about is the probably the most important stuff in the world.
This is fantastic! Kelp needs more love. One thing I would add is the potential of fungi for construction.
I love that your channnel goes from politics, to philosphy to talking about nature resource uses and more. All with the unification of envisioning a realistic and livable future.
When I really think about the biggest limitation of hempcrete (not as strong as regular concrete) I imagine that that doesn't have to be that big of a problem.
We don't need skyscrapers. If we were actually smart about our land use, then we shouldn't need any one building to be higher than 10 or so stories. And so no building would have *that* much load to bear.
I really love this idea of a solar punk world. I can see a future like that and it sounds awesome. It sounds like a peaceful life too.
There's not gonna be one silver bullet solution for future biofabrication etc so I'm glad to see you using "seeds" and putting emphasis on the multiplicity of the solutions out there! Thanks for another great video - Ariel
Concrete has extremely high thermal insulation properties actually, you just need to choose the right mixture. There are several different types of thermal concrete, and its one of the best thermal conductivity materials for sustainable building.
Thanks for the correction!
thanks for all your stuff much love many thanks
Sounds like the 3 sisters method. A type of farming where you plant 3 types of vegetables in such a way that they help each other grow better.
I love to see more poly culture gardening like the three sisters method. The world of companian planting in general just feels rife for rediscovery to me.
@@Waitwhat469 yup
@@Waitwhat469
I was just watching a video on a permaculture orchard the other day where this guy interplanted his fruit trees with nitrogen-fixing trees (not unlike planting beans with corn), and then created an understory with berry bushes and perennial vegetables, and had fruit vines climbing up the non-fruiting trees. You can add additional "forest layers" to an orchard like that, too, like an occasional nut tree towering far above the fruit tree canopy, or growing mushrooms in mulch or mushroom logs on the ground, or even underground in a symbiotic relationship with some of your trees' roots. It's an awesome method of agriculture with so much room for new ideas.
I love bamboo and hemp. Helpful plants and usually require so little from us. Bamboo furniture is beautiful and can be bent to make furniture in low tech ways. Hemp fabric can make the cushions. We’re good!
Really enjoyed this! Gives a little spark of hope.
Bamboo is also an excellent candidate for biochar. Biochar is a great amendment for supporting/improving soil microbiology and locks in the carbon sequestered by the material that’s burned to create it for hundreds of years (and possibly longer). Definitely just a small piece of the solution, but the potential for bamboo to be utilized for carbon sequestration in this way seems really promising.
I love the way you say Wöld.
What a great video! Love how you have such a critical, nuanced take on each of these plants :)
Lovely video
Kelp and bamboo are kind of localized solutions, for certain climates. But hemp grows literally everywhere. It's a weed...and you can make all sorts of things with it: lether, clothes, bags, plastic, bricks, medicine, etc
I love the inspiring and hopeful solutions! Similar to hempcrete, I recently learned about seaweed bricks made from invasive seaweed and recycled plastic bricks.
Yup, we need to deversify in everything.
Love your videos. I’m usually the choir ,looking to find confirmation bias to be preached to me, when I watch. However, you recharge my batteries and help me keep from sliding into apathetic inaction.
Just here to say thank you. Would also like to let you know the information is great, but the inspiration is it for me.
Another random use for dillisk (kelp) is it’s good for quitting smoking, have a bit of that every time you crave a cig and you’ll be off them in no time
Yo! Peace! Breddah, I love hearing the sounds Trini tropical birds in the background. I love what you’re doing, bro. “Just as a diverse garden thrives…” 🙏
Good job. Informative and well rounded.
Super glad more people are getting put onto Solarpunk
Good video, but I do see some biases coming through. The cattle industry for example isn't destructive by nature, only the industrial side of it is... however regenerative cattle ranching is actually carbon negative, creates biodiversity, captures rainfall to replenish aquifers, and helps reverse desertification. Kelp recently has raised some health concerns as high levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury have been found in both wild and farmed Kelp. Bamboo is awesome, but it does require binders for some of its applications which sometimes adds toxic chemicals into the mix. Hemp shares the similar thermal inefficiencies of Concrete which is why hempcrete walls are made really thick, also they cannot meet structural standards without a standard timber frame, and hempcrete still requires lime which has its own carbon impact. That's not meant to diss hempcrete because it has a ton of amazing properties, but it's not necessarily the best option. All that being said, a Solarpunk future would optimize each for their best designated use. As for construction materials, Concrete shouldn't be ruled out, it should just be used more like a Blini Shell design. When used in a monolithic dome structure with insulation like a Blini shell, you can create an extremely thermally efficient building using a fraction of concrete compared to other methods. Stabilized Rammed Earth shouldn't be overlooked either as it is made of 90% dirt, 10% concrete and is the strongest and most insulating of everything on the list. A Stabalized Rammed Earth wall will last 1,000 years without issue. Also earth ships, Cobb, and earth bag constriction methods should be considered as well.
I was informed to seek you out to discover SolarPunk. Im glad i did. New subscriber. Thanks for your imagination, intelligence and inspiration for the future. Love from Scotland. ❤
I like this video a lot. Not only does it inform but it fills the niche which I rarely see from the left, which is to off potential solutions to problems! Keep it up
So cool! Thanks for the vid. Really interesting to hear about the hempcrete, I've never heard of it before.
This is invaluable information, thank you always for your work!
YES I ganja (hemp) is a plant that been sooo helpfull for years and not only in medecine !! love it
Awesome video! Super inspiring and informative❤❤
I need someone to create a big brutalist-style building out of hempcrete, because I love cursed imagery/jokes 😂 At the very least, I need there to be a punny name for the concept. Bluntalism? Nah there's a better portmanteau out there somewhere
@@SoftBoyMonsterTrucks Hahahahaha you're definitely right about that 😂 amazing pun wow
Its not anymore about just being ”sustainable” but regenerative. We as ecosystem engineers have to create a livable habitat for all species and turn back the destruction we have created. This is much more than just being sustainable.
10:19 eyyyy new Smokey Saint Drew face, love it😂
This is so fascinating! Thank you so much!
Just came across your channel - I was explicitly looking for solarpunk content that spoke to capitalism and anti-Blackness in our world today. I wanted to view an essay that had an anti-colonial lens. Incredibly grateful for your channel and the very very visible hard work you put into creating and editing these essays. You have a new subscriber!
Bamboo is so good at growing its actually an invasive species in many parts of the world
It is too late for good options, we now have the choice before us between :A lots of genocide and B: lots and lots and lots of genocide.
I don't know yet whether bamboo can help us shift from B to A, but I know for certain that the current traditional construction materials aren't going to help so we might as well start trying it, worst case: status quo.
@@bramvanduijn8086 could you elaborate on the "genocide" part?
@@bramvanduijn8086 What are you talking about?
@@ashleybyrd2015 yeah I have no idea. Maybe by "genocide" they just mean lots of people dying as a natural consequence of climate change?
Thanks for this. Essential to get away from the concrete and plastic skyscraper style of solarpunk
I am very literally using bamboo knitting needles while i watch this, so there's that. They're pretty good. Thanks for this...i think about bamboo a lot, and hemp some, for whatever reason kelp hadn't come up.
Fantastic video again, comrade. I really appreciate the optimistic yet clear-eyed overview of subjects like these, you make me want to learn more while understanding that there are pitfalls to any solution which must be accounted for. It helps us all remember the law of unintended consequences as we work together to build the future we know is possible.
I would really appreciate you making the video you referenced in the hemp section about racial capitalism hating weed and the value of cannabis in our future. It is a fascinating subject and would love to hear your perspectives. Thank you for your work, friend.
when i was in middle school i did a report on hemp and read The Emperor Wears no Clothes. mind was blown...
eating too much kelp can make you overdose on iodine so just check the dosage so interesting to know how proteins packed it is
mycelium is also showing a lot of promise in packaging, and construction materials
Great stuff, Andrew, well researched, nicely presented. Thanks.
this was exactly the kind of climate optimism i’ve been needing. thanks!
Lovely video! I did a lot of research in college for sustainable textiles and Hemp denim when done right is amazing!🌼Speaking about textiles specifically, cork could be a runner up, even though the trees take a while to age, harvesting cork can increase it's co2 absorption (at least I think) and create a carbon sink. I also did some studies in Andean textiles and found out how sustainable alpaca wool and vicuna is vs sheep wool. I'll have to look into what a solarpunk animal industry looks like.
Another great video, very good work
I'm studying to be a mechanical engineering student and I think my ideas are captured pretty well by something the railway engineer Gareth Dennis said in his presentation to the PWI (Permanent Way Institution) "Sustainability probably isn’t what you think it is" which can be found on youtube
he said - "Solutions must be people-led, not technology-lead"
we have the technology what we need are the social and industrial plans and the ability to enact them.
i like the positive videos they help keep my motivated in my work.
Awesome video with some great ideas. Much to ponder.
Thank you so much for making this.
Another fire vido from st. Andrew. IDK hempcrete was a thing! Also I'd love to see you do one about what solar punk public transit could look like
Great breakdown of our options for a solar punk future!!! Super informative.
Feeding the algorithm, thank you for helping make a better world
Really interesting to learn about this
this is incredible info, thank you
.Good video .The bark of baoba with is meristema is a good option in tropics for walls.The corks of same trees ,straw breeks with mud ...
Very good and balanced information here!
Excellent presentation. Kudos
These are fantastic ideas! I hope that the people who have the means can help make this our future, Earth depends on it and so do we, her people.