What if you could live in a tight-knit community with people who share many of your values? This is what we want to build with @meridiatown, a solarpunk town near Austin, TX. What values are most important to you? Photo from the recent Meridia Content Jam. 🌱💚

That daily grind of building a solarpunk town near Austin, Texas. Send this to someone who needs to live there! 🌱

We had a great town hall this month, brainstorming ideas for Meridia’s culture. Some ideas included: 🎭 An outdoor amphitheater with trees planted around the outside for shade. There could be a culture of improv and a profit-share model where Meridians or other performers could rent it to host music, dance, comedy, and theater performances. 👚 We could develop clothing unique to Meridia - a style that would be chic, healthy materials, and also made for the hot weather. Someone suggested a brand in Austin that makes metal clothing. 🫙 We could have minimal waste with packaging that can be reused or returned. 🐲 We could come up with a founding myth that captures the ethos of the town and gives residents a unifying narrative. These are just some of the more fun and unquie ideas - many were more practical and we’ll cover them in separate posts. What out-there, fun, or practical cultural ideas do you have for Meridia? Tag a friend you think would vibe with this.

Two founders, one big vision, and a growing circle of friends who keep showing up. 🌱 We’re in the early stages of building Meridia — a new town near Austin that blends technology and nature in wise, human-centered ways. One big question on our mind is: how do we take the town’s population from 2 to 2,000 people? Our latest Substack piece shares what we’ve been learning through in-person meetups (Future Cities Summit, Meridia Militia range days & LAN parties, women’s salons, Content Jams…), our early social experiments, and what it feels like to take on such an ambitious project from scratch. If you’re drawn to solarpunk living, better ways to do housing and community, or just curious about the journey, we’d love for you to read along. Link in bio — and if you’re in Austin, come say hi at an upcoming event.

Want freer cities without waiting for government approval? Discover Freesteads — permissionless voluntary communities using smart legal tools like binding arbitration, private roads & citizen screening. Meridia is making it happen near Austin. 👉 freecitiesfoundation.substac…

This is the famous Ernest Shackleton recruitment ad for his 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on the Endurance. Many of the most worthwhile things in life are not easy. Adventure is often uncomfortable while you're in it. Building a new town from scratch will likely have periods of discomfort, challenge, and struggle. Do you have the grit to build with us? DM us "Build." Send this to a friend you would face challenge and hardship with for a worthwhile cause. Hit the follow button to support our project to build a walkable, solarpunk town near Austin, TX.

Brainstorming sesh for the solarpunk town, Meridia, we're building near Austin, Texas. ✅ Walkable & mostly car free ✅ Healthy by default ✅ Designed for human connection ✅ Blending tech and nature Send this to your friends who like to create rather than complain. Comment below if you have the grit to build a new American town with us. 🇺🇸

This is solarpunk: finding ways to use technology aligned with nature and human flourishing. The path forward for humanity is not backwards, but towards using technology with intention: in ways that make us happier, healthier, and more connected. That’s why we’re working to build a solarpunk town near Austin, TX. (Original video from @reservoirfarms with our text added)

This is solarpunk: finding ways to use technology aligned with nature and human flourishing

It will probably take a long time for the Jetson One and Volonaut Airbike to be able to be flown in existing towns and cities, but in the mostly car-free Solarpunk town we’re working to build outside Austin, Texas we can potentially implement cutting edge technology much faster. This is thanks to our externalities-based governance system and because we’re a greenfield town building from scratch. Would you fly one of these around town? Check out our website to learn more (link in bio)

How much better would your life be if zoning codes allowed stores in residential neighborhoods?

Game changer!

The top researcher on effects of different light wavelengths on mitochondrial health says LED bulbs are a public health concern on the same level as asbestos. The experiment he is referring to may be Kaynezhad et al. (2022) which studied mice exposed to LED lighting at levels comparable to what we're exposed to everyday at work, the grocery store, or gym. They found the LED lighting caused rapid instability in mitochondrial markers, indicating suppressed mitochondrial respiration/function. An even more recent study, Al-Hussaini et al. (2025), showed that 5 hours/day of LED exposure caused rapid weight gain within a week, reduced mobility, and other metabolic shifts linked directly to mitochondrial suppression (reduced ATP production/demand). While LED is cheaper than other lighting options, perhaps, like asbestos, it's not worth the cost to our health. What if we built an American city without LED's, and with intentional attention to circadian rhythm aligned lighting? On a scale from 1-10, how important is preventing frequent LED exposure for you and your family?

We hosted a 200+ person Future Cities Summit and after party during SXSW this year: here's what we learned. meridiatown.substack.com/p/b…