Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revision		Previous revision
writing:solarpunk_work [2026/05/07 13:10] – JacobCoffinWriteswriting:solarpunk_work [2026/05/09 12:44] (current) – [What Work Will Get Done?] JacobCoffinWrites
Line 37: Line 37:
  
 There's also a tremendous amount of work which should be done today, -- especially in environmentalism -- that just //isn't// done because it's not profitable or else it relies mainly on students, or other volunteers. Detecting industrial contamination, tracking and removing invasive species, work like this could easily qualify as a full-time solarpunk calling. There's also a tremendous amount of work which should be done today, -- especially in environmentalism -- that just //isn't// done because it's not profitable or else it relies mainly on students, or other volunteers. Detecting industrial contamination, tracking and removing invasive species, work like this could easily qualify as a full-time solarpunk calling.
 +
 +|  | A Note on Compensation |
 +|  | Compensation as I'm using it here can be a pretty broad category. Money or the luxuries it would buy are perhaps the default to our way of thinking today. Commerce, indepent of capitalism is fine for many settings and can make for an easier understanding by the audience. If your setting is thoroughly post-scarcity, tokens of community acclaim are an interesting option. The book Murder in the Tool Library had a sort of augmented reality cyberspace overlay which most characters saw - and which was used to provide creative modifications/decorations to award people who made important contributions to their communities through their work. |
 +
  
 ==== Decide the circumstances ==== ==== Decide the circumstances ====
Line 141: Line 145:
  
 Even under a system with robust protections, there's no guarantee everything will go to plan or that people will be able to pursue their callings at all times. People may spend time recovering from an injury, or working through trauma or other conditions. They may have to take on caregiving for a loved one [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/denisebrodey/2024/04/25/73-of-employees-have-a-secret-second-job-its-caregiving/|(often called hidden labor, this work often goes untracked/unpaid today)]]. Very much related, they might spend years doing childcare full time. A solarpunk society should recognize that this is valid labor which contributes to the community and common good and provide the necessary supports to do it. Even under a system with robust protections, there's no guarantee everything will go to plan or that people will be able to pursue their callings at all times. People may spend time recovering from an injury, or working through trauma or other conditions. They may have to take on caregiving for a loved one [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/denisebrodey/2024/04/25/73-of-employees-have-a-secret-second-job-its-caregiving/|(often called hidden labor, this work often goes untracked/unpaid today)]]. Very much related, they might spend years doing childcare full time. A solarpunk society should recognize that this is valid labor which contributes to the community and common good and provide the necessary supports to do it.
 +
 +===Individual/community chores===
 +
 +This is a fuzzy category of work that falls short of being most people's calling but which still has to be done (unless your setting has a truly marvelous level of automation). It definitely has some overlap with previously mentioned examples but I think it's worth calling out that most people will labor outside their calling (if they have one) at least some of the time. 
 +
 +When this work falls primarily on (or is dumped on) one member of a household IRL it often //is// full time work or longer, often minus the compensation and prestige of employment. Historically much of this work (such as cleaning house, clothes, and dishes, preparing food, tending crops or at least a garden) was assigned to women. And when the work was partially automated through appliances, societal trends and social pressures often made this labor more elaborate, as if to use up any time saved.
 +
 +In a solarpunk setting, (especially one with more free time overall due to a reduction of unnecessary work, harmful work, and through the equal distribution of benefits from automation) chore labor would likely be divided more equally amongst members of a community (be it at the household/communal living level, neighborhood level, etc, whatever makes sense for your story). 
 +
 +The disbursement of this work will need some flexibility around physical/mental ability, preferences, skills/specializations, etc. But it's important to separate this work from hierarchies. In a solarpunk world it's probably safe to say that no one is 'too important' to clean their own workspace or living space (obviously with exceptions for hazardous/critical cleaning like in medical environments or mold remediation where you need a specialist to do it right). Someone might be too busy with other tasks sometimes, or they might be dealing with sickness or grief etc and being cared for by their community, but the normal expectation would likely be that competent adults tend to their environment and do their part of the community workload (whatever that may be).
 +
 +This could be taking a turn scrubbing down a communal kitchen or weeding a rooftop garden, shoveling snow off a sidewalk, or doing other maintenance tasks. Older folks who can't do the more physical tasks often help with childcare, food prep, fix things, or provide advice/supervision.
 +
 +And again the boundaries with the other work listed above are fuzzy. In real life, picking up litter could be part of a job (for example, with a US state Department of Transportation, or a city Parks and Rec department), a community volunteer event (such as an Earth Day cleanup), a personal volunteer project, or even a chore (if, say, trash keeps blowing into your yard from the freeway). It's very likely you'd see a similar overlap in a solarpunk world.