As a New York living wall installer we are basically greening the concrete jungle. In a place where there is nowhere to build but up, our living walls are perfect for the NY environment. Putting plants on a wall requires a lot of technical skill. We are also very idealistic about how what we do makes the world a better place.
Enter Solarpunk.
Solarpunk is a recent concempt, and thus evolving quickly, but the basic idea is that “Solarpunk is a somewhat promiscuous adjective, used to describe a vision of the future that we actually want. That means a future where high technology is put in service of humans and the environment. Which is to say, a solarpunk future is one that is “sustainable” at a not-just-for-rich-people level, a human-friendly future that can scale.”
Living walls are the embodiment of the solarpunk ethos. Part technology, part ecology and a huge part futuristic idealism, living walls are a tool to transform the urban society into a biophilic world.
Biophilic. Bio, life. philic, love of. Love of life. Love of the living organism. Love of plants, animals, and all other creatures of our planet.
Living walls, like Solarpunk are about embracing the cyborg we have become and making it ecologically sustainable. We take these amazing structural accomplishments that NYC buildings are and slap plants on them in a feat of technological hubris. The concrete jungle, becomes, well, a jungle.
But this isn’t a back to the land concept. This jungle is fed by complicated timers and monitored by electronic sensors. Like everything else in advanced society, it looks simple but behind the screen is technological wizardry.
When I first heard of the concept solarpunk I immediately resonated with it. A living wall installer, especially a a New York living wall installer, is creating the future now. We are solarpunk totale.
Google “utopian city” and you’ll see lots of the same: big futuristic buildings draped in living walls! Our idealistic future is covered in living walls. So to those of you who want to see the future, for those of you who want to understand the great concept of solarpunk, go check out a living wall. Its the future now.
