Solarpunk Trailer Parks @ ScuttleCamp One

i hosted a group dialogue on "Solarpunk Trailer Parks".

dinosaur's personal seeds

in the last year, i came to a realization:

• i want to live in a village before i raise a family
• eco-villages are inaccessible (require privilege) and risky (too many ways to fail)
• i want to practice a more solarpunk lifestyle: be able to do more with less, depend on more diy infrastructure, depend on less consumption
• i want to get back into open source manufacturing
• i want to support solutions that are accessible and ready for climate change

trailer parks (aka manufactured home parks) is the boring solution that already exists! what if we evolved this pattern to be more solarpunk, with better open source patterns for local social / governance systems and physical infrastructure?

beachheads

given this is a massive undertaking, a possible social movement on scale with a world war, we need to choose our battles wisely.

a beachhead is an entry point, an initial focus to get started.

here's what came up during the dialogue:

• researching (by living in) existing trailer parks: open auto-ethnography
  • share more case studies
• augmenting existing trailer parks
• build an npm for physical modules
• starting a new trailer park
• building a trailer
• living in a trailer
• designing an open source modular trailer
• documenting relevant regulations
• find a cluster (a few parks in regional proximity), cast magical spells to increase abundance
  • spread good ideas amongst the parks

notes

• what are the systems of life?
  • survival -> thrival
  • breaking down the natural lifecycles and optimizing
  • e.g. water, shelter, food
• start a group with a regular rhythm, build momentum, do short experiments
  • civil disobedience support group?
• live in a trailer park that is more similar to the communities to be served
• don't start with hard problems like group ownership
• potential trailer park in whiteman's valley
• have exit strategies
• have small commitments, let people move in and move on
• kitchens are key
  • if you have a really large kitchen, counts as one dwelling, buses dock
• trailers are manufactured homes
  • portable trailer are closer to tent cities
  • RVs are metal tents
• problems
  • battery charging
  • compost dumping
  • blackwater dumping
• move rural, together
• don't forget liberation, having those who don't choose to live in trailer parks
• commons: can use un-used land (community gardening) to benefit commons
• nomad trailer parks common in Europe
  • problem is finding a place to stay
  • ad-hoc assembly of RVs
• unitary plan in NZ
  • designed for urbanification
  • to get OK for high density rural
    • try retirement homes
    • sea has no laws
• what is the solarpunk future we want?
  • how do we bootstrap from existing?
  • poop is stored solar energy
• "path through utopia"
• community groups (e.g. hackerspaces) give leverage to ask for things
  • not just asking for cheaper, asking to grow a wholesome community
• with portable housing (RVs), hard to give mastery if always moving
• want to give opportunities for people are money poor and time rich to use their time as a source of livelihood
  • e.g. composting & gardening
  • how much food per square meter
• Open Source Ecology
  • cold fusion engineer -> how do we rebuild civ
  • global village construction kit
  • also founder burnt out many people
• legal hack:
  • church laws are great hacks
  • Church of Desmond?
• with laws, subdivide squares
  • no common area
  • want more common areas
  • hack: rent one square as commons
• beg for forgivenees, don't ask for permission
  • councils don't have much resources
  • protect yourself from being easily killed, until you are big enough to survive
  • permaculture founder doesn't get consent, e.g. composting toilets
• understand bio-regional threats
• culture war
  • conservative vs progressive
  • rural vs urban
  • good relationships give power
  • spawn local food markets
• ++ primitive tech videos
  • want to try version of this
  • rent out homes on airbnb, meet in the forest, build new villages
• eco-restoration camp
  • have a solarpunk trailer park camp!

"NPM for structures": Have you seen this? http://www.openstructures.net/

@utunga yes, Gordon is a rad humyn, thanks for the reminder.

if y'all are sending gordon a personal invite to the scuttlepuddle please add my name to the card xo

i recall taking some issue with the way open structures handles IP and licensing. i'm having a hard time finding any actual license information right now, to be honest. i'm inclined to believe that creating public domain or equivalent recipes for manufacturing standard hardware parts will be more useful than creating an entirely new design standard. i'm quite wary of the kickback/royalty model that OS is built around. seems better to simply share designs, parts, and ideas vs. creating a marketplace for selling them, with a little sharing on the side.

although, that is a very "NPM for Parts" kind of business model. so maybe its exactly the same XD

Did you see that there's now a tiny home village in New Zealand? https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/first-tiny-homes-village-launches-in-new-zealand-37502

Might be helpful in figuring out how they managed the legal aspects.