Why Shine?

\n2023/02/05 (editted: 08/08/23)\n

\nDid you ever see a naturally-overgrown city on screen and think “huh,\nthat looks pretty nice”? Me too. Let’s just get there without the\napocolyptic bit.\n

Welcome to 2023. The planet is heating up like a kid with a fever, we\nall just got rocked by COVID and civil unrest swells as inflation and\nwealth-divisions grow. All while most people’s dreams of financial\nfreedom quiver like a flame in a rainstorm… not the prettiest picture is\nit?

It’s evident that our current system is struggling to serve\ncommunities or the environment. It puts the power to divide profits and\nmake decisions in the hands of a minory while the hands of many generate\nsaid profit. In a world increasingly run by money this leaves people\nstuck. Stuck working for often questionable organisations in order to\nspend all of their money on more questionable organisations. The hamster\nwheels spins while the owning-class extract value. Is there any\nliberation from this?

This is where food sovereignty comes in. As humans we have\nfundamental needs: sustenance, protection, community, etc. The\nunfortunate truth is that corporations have managed to take almost total\ncontrol of these needs. Need sustenance? Buy it. Need protection? Buy\nit. Need community? Buy it. It is important to note that this is not\npurely a fault of capitalism, I believe this is also the result of a\ndecline in communal identity and action in modern society. Food\nsovereignty means giving people access to food without making them pay\nfor it. Make food a community-enriching experience outside of\ncapitalism, outside of economies of scale and outside of colonial wealth\nextraction.

Sounds nice right? But you probably don’t believe it’s possible. As\npolitics and capitalism have come closer together people and their\nfreedoms have been dragged apart. Divisive technology, under-funded\npublic services and an economy of greenwashing have resulted in a\nconfused and disillusioned public. It does not always have to be this\nway. Shineponics is a project set out to prove that owning our future by\ntaking back control of our food is not just possible, it’s achievable\nwherever you are today! It simply requires sustainable technology and\nresources combined with community effort and care, that’s it. The way to\na technological and socially-empowered age has already been paved. Just\nlook at the internet, an accessible resource full of collective\nknowledge, shared by masses and distributed over standardised data\ntransfer protocols. People can be extremely gracious but most of our\nlives are governed those blinded by the dollar signs in their eyes.

Of course, food sovereignty is just one part of a much larger\nsocietal movement. But food is fundamental, so seems like the natural\nplace to start. Not only do we need to eat it to survive but food is\npart of our community and identity, which only makes it more powerful to\nown for ourselves. This is the beginning of taking back control and\nshowing destructive forces that we do not need them if they don’t serve\nus and our environment.

We all want a better future. This is a deeply important pursuit that\nrequires action and that is what Shineponics is, action. Also it’s\npretty fun to write code that helps plants grow in cities. Just picture\nthat, a city full of urban farms and forests that support local\ncommunities. Epic.

If you would like to see Shineponics in action then check out our\nongoing smart farm projects at shineponics.org/farms.

Please do get in touch via the email below if you are interested in\ncontinuing this conversation.

Many thanks and stay strong!

Seb

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Why Shine?

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