Hey, this is the art I borrowed my PFP from! Love how it captures the concept of mutual aid and the ways that communities overcome disaster and misfortune through cooperation, far more common than successfully making it through on "rugged individualism."

Absolutely, keep it up! ✊

What can the average person to weather the storm? Grit their teeth and pay?

I stocked up on enough motor oil to do my next couple of changes, in hopes that it's still available down the line.

Would love to see something like this in the US, the booming e-bike market seems to imply the appetite is there for agile, higher-powered two wheel EVs, but it seems like what we have here is overpriced and underperforming compared to elsewhere in the world.

Unfortunately many have to finance even for modestly priced vehicles. Saving just a few thousand dollars is unfeasible at lower incomes, depending on your situation. Right on for Toyota though, hard to find a more reliable car (maybe Honda).

Option two certainly is better, for those who can swing it! Being able to go carless and just use public transit/bike/walk everywhere is the new American dream honestly.

You telling me I can eat my cat's food in times of need? I don't think he'd forgive me if he saw me do that.

Iterating and innovating isn't just for tech bros, you'll know better next year and get an even better crop. Beautiful plants! I also love those air balloons, are those lights? Or just meant to reflect the sun?

Hell yeah! That's part of what drew me to solarpunk too, the hopefulness of it. I see the world drifting further and further into a cyberpunk dystopia and it makes me want to say "nope, we can do better." To me, solarpunk is that vision (even if it starts out as fiction) and the acts (small or large) of creating that brighter future in spite of the forces pulling in the opposite direction.

In a culture increasingly addled with AI slop and sanitized "commercially viable" visions of the future, taking the time to create art like yours for yourself and for its own sake is an act of defiance. That AND choosing an electric bike over oil-powered propulsion AND making tea with the power of the sun? Solarpunk as hell. ✊

For real though, get your auto loans through credit unions. Checking and savings there too. And mortgages. Actually, just don't use big banks.

I hear you. In just the last month we've had a run of bad luck: tree branch tearing down our service line (some siding repair $$ + tree needs trimmed & cabled $$$$), failed water heater (upgraded to heat pump $$$$), and overwhelmed sump pump causing slight basement flooding ($$$ DIY plus a lot of headache). We'd hoped to progress with our plans more this year but it's just not in the cards.

However, something I'll say that saves a lot of money is propagation instead of buying new plants. Get cuttings from friends and neighbors, some rooting hormone, and just make new plants. Even adding a few to your yard can make a big difference for the pollinators!

🤘

I will come back and share my findings if/when it happens.

Could make everything within ~3ft of the road non-edible natives, either companion plants for the food or native cultivars to help pollinators (which in turn, will help the edibles closer to the house). So there's still a way to make this work!