A History Of Plastic And The Lobbying That Surrounded It.

Hey solarpunk community! In light of several posts that have been going around, I was thinking it would be worthwhile to talk about the real, physical things we can do to make this world a more solarpunk place. Because speculation and aesthetics and thinkpieces are awesome, but a movement isn’t a movement without real action behind it. So what are things we can all do to make the present closer to our solarpunk future?

“my favorite thing about you is your smell

you smell like

earth

herbs

gardens

a little more

human than the rest of us”

- rupi kaur, milk and honey

knight

Hand Felted Accessories

Folk Owl on Etsy

See our #Etsy or #Felt tags

How to Turn Shoe Pockets into a Vertical Vegetable Garden

High End landscape architecture for a mixed-use complex features organic-shaped wooden footbridge | Singapore See the full project http://bit.ly/1H42HSO

Mushrooms aren’t just for psychedelic trips, they can clean the planet too

Whether you love Funghi Trifolati or you are utterly grossed out by the mould on brie cheese: mushrooms are extremely important in many ways, like saving our planet from drowning in plastic waste.

~ the pondering muse🌙

Did you know you can grow mushrooms to eat by feeding them plastic? Or that mushrooms evolved this capability themselves? It’s true, plastic eating fungi has been found in landfills in Pakistan and it’s so prolific that it can break down polyester polyurethane in a matter of weeks.  Mushrooms are great at bioremediation, so good at it fact, that they can suck radiation and heavy metals from the soil, eat plastic, petroleum, and remove CO2.  

The mini farm designed to grow these amazing plastic eating fungi is called the “Fungi Mutarium” and it allows for the cultivation of Schizophyllum commune and Pleurotus ostreatus. The steps to degrade the plastic are simple and can be found below:

- UV sterilize the materials and chambers.

- Place the plastic into a “growth sphere” an egg shaped pod of agar agar.

- Add diluted mycelium culture to the “growth spheres” within the incubator.

It’s simple isn’t it? And the end product resembles an edible food bowl or cup that you can put salad in. Research is still being done to make sure it’s 100% safe to consume and no doubt free of micro-plastic residue, but even if this doesn’t get the green light for edibility, it would be a great way to process plastics at home with our current recycling issues here in the U.S. 

You can read more here.

I wish A Christmas Carol had an even stronger influence on Christmas tradition and ghosts became a symbol of the holiday 

Clean & Restore: Vintage Dr. Martens — Dr. Martens are one of my favorites because of their durability. Although, I think just as important as durability is taking the care to clean, restore and repair items that have led long and reliable lives. 

Follow us on Instagram too: https://www.instagram.com/yup.that.exists