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Solarpunk Anarchy

Sean Bodley
Illustration CC BY-SA 4.0 People
Solarpunk Anarchy
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Author
Sean Bodley
he/him | creating Climate Change Concept Art

Original on Patreon

One of my heroes Charlie Munger said that “If you don’t destroy one of your most closely held ideas each year, then you’re not learning enough.”

Well, I’ve learned a lot by listening to Andrew Sage on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Andrewism

(FYI We collaborated on a previous piece about How to Build a Solarpunk City.)

First off, I had a blast creating this vibrant picture with Andrew. I hope you enjoy the close up details and I’ll share the process down below :)

But first, Anarchy, or Free Association as he describes in the video that this picture is for,

Without getting too complex, I started asking myself “What would make Free Association/Anarchy really possible”

Since I already believe that:

A. People are inherently collaborative overall

B. Trust is a key part of human nature,

C. Creativity emerges from combinations of freedom and constraints:

With that said, I believe that governments are formed as the path of least resistance to solve all of the problems we face. Most governments aren’t created on the spot, they evolve over a long time. There are also many many people who would gladly sacrifice freedom for security.

So thinking on this, I believe that the most free societies will be possible in:

  1. A nearly scarcity-free world

  2. A rewards based society, very little punishment, very good rewards.

Both of these ideas tie into Solarpunk. I believe humanity’s ability to survive climate change is linked to our ability to problem solve creatively and collaboratively, under pressure.

That’s it! I don’t have any solutions of how to get there, but I really enjoyed thinking about these topics and I’ve definitely changed my mind on Anarchy more than I expected to.

Thanks again to Andrew for inspiring the work and art directing throughout.