Is anyone in this sub or instance a remote worker? I have been one first partially and then completely for a few years now and I began to think as a kinda of solarpunk way of live that has the potential to propel humanity to a more decentralized and sustainable way of life, specially since I plan to move to a smaller town because of it. What do guys feel about it? Do you do it? Don’t do it but would like to? Do it it but miss interaction?
Not exactly what you mean, but I’m a traveling wind tech. It’s pretty remote most of the time. I live in a camper, which I haul with a 20 year old diesel truck, so it ain’t ideal. But between my job and no kids, I suspect my carbon footprint is negative. I hope to buy land and build a small solarpunk earthship community in the deserts of New Mexico near a wind farm where I can work. Maybe an RV park too.
Yes. My company decided to shut down the local office to save money (kept by the bosses rather than being distributed to us, of course). So some of us became remote indefinitely.
Generally, I love it. I can “commute” in my PJs, and avoid spewing a lot of carbon into the climate just to ship around my sack of flesh. I can take breaks throughout the day to tend my garden, and play music to help myself think. I don’t have to worry about packing a lunch, or wasting time and money and social energy eating out in the middle of the day. Hell, I can go take a nap when I don’t have any meetings scheduled and feel the need.
However, it does take its toll. Not having a direct, face-to-face, human connection with folks throughout the day harms the associations that build solidarity. And finding ways to do one-on-ones and continue organizing the workplace is proving next to impossible. So I’m honestly not sure it is worth it at this stage of labor struggle. In a more ideal world—once we’ve won a few crucial victories over capital (and perhaps state)—I see no reason why many of us couldn’t work from home, and even move those jobs that require more direct, physical labor closer to those homes.
I agree with the aspect of losing human connection which I think is the greatest downside. Did you ever considered sharing your space with a friend or someone you know that’s also a remote worker to provide at least a source of companionship? I’m not saying daily but weekly or biweekly. I do that with my brother and sometimes friends and it helps a lot. And it creates a kinda of community even though we work for different companies.
Hmm. Yeah, that’s a possibility. I do other stuff that’s similar, like working on community gardens and helping comrades who are interested in learning technical skills I’m practiced in. But collective remote work situations…that’s an interesting think to ponder!
Yes and no - I’m remote and I’m happy with it, it’s fairly recent but I’m planning on finding a nice coworking space to keep social links and community, which is foundational to making a better world. I’m a bit afraid that being remote will damage my ability to organize with other workers and to build a strong foundation for my life on the local scale.
I don’t think remote work is solarpunk in itself, if only because most of our jobs that can do remotely are not very useful to the world. I just try to see it as freeing the commute time so we can spend it building community and building alternatives for the future; it’s not an end in itself.
I agree that remote work isn’t the end and that it helps to allow time and energy to be used for community-driven interaction. We won’t truly be at “an end” for solarpunk since we always want to keep making life better for everyone, so any opportunity we have to reduce our impact on the climate and work with the people around us is cause to celebrate if only a little.
I currently work at a place where I could do 90% of my job remotely, but because one department has to be in the building our director requires everyone to work on-site. I lose a lot of time that could be used for self improvement or forging social bonds just sitting at a desk waiting for a phone call. If I could work remotely, I feel like I’d have the time and energy to bike to a community garden and help grow food for people at the very least.
There is a solarpunk festival happening soon near me and there will be some job fair stuff as well. I’ll go and see if there’s something I can do that helps our planet as well as myself if I can. Any improvement is nice.
