Tiny Glimmers #7 - Dark Sky, Bright Future
Could planned blackouts foster community through nighttime walking groups? Let's imagine it!
✨ Happy Friday lovely Glimmerers (do we like this name?)
Are you ready to stretch your imagination?
💌 In today’s Letter from the Future, we’ll go for a nighttime neighbourhood stroll during a planned blackout - will you join me?
Let’s take a trip to the year 2034…
[Wednesday, April 12th, 2034, Frome, UK]
Dark Sky, Bright Future: Night Walks with Neighbours
Today is Wednesday which means Dark Sky night in our neighbourhood, but it was a special one for me: I just got back from my very first shift as a volunteer night warden!
I was so nervous all day but there was absolutely no need to be. The role basically entails chatting with neighbourhood strollers, handing out fresh iced tea and recharging the odd solar fairy light or torch.
When life hands you lemons… or power cuts
The ‘Dark Sky, Bright Future’ grassroots campaign was started in the late 2020s to put pressure on the UK government to include energy conservation in their climate change plans. Of course, nobody wanted scheduled blackouts, but people knew they were a small sacrifice to pay on the path to net zero. And you know, survival of humanity.
In the spring and summer, the 1-2 hour-long power cuts are usually in the evenings, so we could either sit around in our dark, hot homes waiting for the wifi or TV to come back on, or we could embrace evenings as community time. And embrace we did.
Fairy Lights and ice cream
It all started with neighbours forming nighttime walking groups, to take a stroll around the block together, enjoy the cooler evening temperatures and have a chat. It quickly sparked a whole movement.
People started decorating their porches and homes with solar-powered fairy lights to shine a light for the walkers and offered them free refreshments. Women got together to reclaim the nights safely.
Solar talking benches popped up for those who weren’t able to walk but wanted to be out and about too. Volunteers opened ‘cool spaces’ for older and vulnerable people who were at higher risk of the heat.
Soon, ice cream vendors drove their electric trikes through neighbourhoods. People organised potlucks, picnics and silent discos in the dark.
Kids decorated the streets with glow-in-the-dark chalk and organised games and plays.
Cool cities
As the movement grew, city governments around the world started taking notice. They planted trees along boulevards to cool down urban centres. London installed hundreds of mist fountains in green spaces and on squares for people to cool down. And many major cities banned driving during the blackouts which meant skaters, roller bladers and cyclists took over the streets.
No more empty streets
It’s hard to remember how empty and lonely neighbourhoods used to be not so long ago. You could walk around and not meet a single neighbour, we were all cooped up in our little homes, glued to the TV or our phones. Now it feels like we’re a real community and it keeps spreading.
It feels like when the lights went off people’s spirits were sparked.
We turned a big sacrifice into a beautiful opportunity. And it’s working. Not only are emissions down, but the 1-2 hours of screen-free time has improved our mental and physical health, air pollution and the loneliness pandemic. Urban forests and green spaces are on the rise and keeping us cool.
I’ve always been a night owl, but it’s never been more fun than now.
Ok, it’s off to bed for me now!
Now let’s travel back to the present, April 2024…
What inspired today’s future?
This week’s story was inspired by fellow Substack writer Caterina who wrote a beautiful story about giant chairs in her newsletterFreedom Focus. She’d noticed how empty her neighbourhood is, that while people had beautiful chairs on their lovely porches, nobody was sitting in them.
This made me think of a world where neighbourhoods were full of life again and how walking groups might play a part in that.
Ever since I read ‘The Future We Choose’ I’ve been thinking about power cuts as they are very likely a part of the energy transition, even if we manage to transition to net zero.
I find it curious that it’s not something people talk about a lot, even in climate circles. I don’t like the idea of sitting in the dark, so I challenged myself to imagine what they could look like instead. That’s when the Dark Sky, Bright Future idea was born.
✨ Let’s imagine together! ✨
How did reading about this future make you feel?
What aspects can you imagine?
What do you like or dislike? What ideas would you add to it?
Reply in the comments or hit reply to this email - I’d really love to hear from you!
🍄 Signals of Change 🍄
Climate change related blackouts are on the rise already.
Many European countries are encouraging energy-saving measures, from fewer sauna trips in Finland, to Christmas lights being switched on later.
Some countries already use planned power cuts (or load shedding) to reduce pressure on their grids.
Trees can keep cities cooler by up to 12 C.
Paris is installing misting features in fountains and London (amongst many cities) has opened dozens of Cool Spaces to help people during heat waves.
Like many towns, Frome where I live already has a
Take Back the Night is a global movement addressing sexual violence. They’ve organised night walks since the 70s.
During heatwaves, it’s safer to exercise or go for walks in the evenings.
All in all, this seems like a very likely future scenario to me. What do you think?
Do you have a story or theme/topic you’d like me to imagine and write about? Please let me know!
Have a lovely and imaginative week!
Jenny
Last week I wrote a letter from the future about Book Clubs as the future of democracy, you can read it here if you missed it:
This idea really appeals to me (as have the previous glimmers). I love walking in my neighborhood, or anybody’s neighborhood, and there’s something magical about those evening hours. Of course, here in Minnesota the summer evenings are prime mosquito time so it could be a very itchy walk, but at least there would be good conversation to distract from the bugs! We have a problem with copper theft in our city so a number of streets end up being dark anyway when the wiring is stolen from the streetlights; we might as well go that extra step and have all the electricity off and get people outside away from their screens.