I live in the US where aging is shameful, grieving is rude, and death is commodified. I don't think this perspective should be carried over. So, how could solarpunks do things differently?
My current vision involves a lunarpunk monastery. Gone are sterile funeral homes, silent graveyards, dogma and taboo. Instead, an eclectic community of death doulas serving others through the finality. The bodies of the dead become part of an ever expanding ancestral forest. A living cemetery for the living.
Housed would be thanatologists of every flavor: bookworms, artists, health practitioners, naturalists, mystics, and more. Maintaining libraries, gardens, and temples for public use. Facilitating psychedelic rituals for those with terminal illness and the bereaved. Providing funeral rites and hospice care. Hosting moonlit festivals, discussions, and support groups.
Wearing mothlike robes. Playing chimes at sundown corresponding to the phase of the moon. But I digress...
How do you imagine death and dying in a solarpunk society? Is the great unknown in the realm of lunarpunk?
I have thought about a community/funeral forest idea. It's already a thing in Germany to be buried in a forest landscape (although privately owned there I believe, and not really a place where you can go to die).
Where I live, we urgently need land restoration to cover the areas destroyed by wildfires. I could see a possibility to have forests where people can be buried, tied to reflorestation and land restoration with native species. There are also plenty of people here who deal with the spiritual, with wellbeing, with psychedelics. Plus, it's already an area where people send their old ones to die, often in nasty and depressing senior homes.
So I've carried the idea of places where people can age in dignity (involving children, animals, plants, social life, not the zombie homes I see now), plus places where people can be laid to rest close to nature if they wish so.
Possible obstacle: the law here doesn't permit to bury people outside of cemeteries (some stupidly restrictive law inherited from 19th century) - but I'm sure I can find a way around it.
If anyone is carrying similar seeds, I'd be happy to exchange ideas.
I've too seen many awful nursing homes. Stark, empty places with stretched thin medical staff and sparse activity calendars. Given what's happening in my neighborhood, setting up sketchy assisted living facilities in rundown homes is the new cash grab.
Years ago, I'd visit clients in nursing homes and rehabs. The buildings were usually surrounded by a large parking lot and manicured lawns. They'd tell me how rare visitors were, no wonder given the vibe of the place. I'd end up talking for hours with them and their friends who gathered at the sound of a new voice. People need medical treatment, but that's just one sliver of the human experience.