There’s a real proliferation of pieces on solarpunk happening at the moment – always with a fresh view, but always with the same promise.

Here’s something from this week’s Earth Island Journal:

Solarpunk succeeds where so many have failed: It represents thinking about possibility, of movement from today’s reality toward a gritty, gnarly, pragmatic, better future.

Solarpunk is driven by a need for people to imagine a better future from where we are, not necessarily a fantasy world set in an unfamiliar, unlikely future. Solarpunk pushes against the bleak Bladerunner future of cyberpunk — a speculative genre centered on urban dystopias dominated by corporations and technology. Solarpunk provides a shining vision of a positive future, grounded in our existing world, one that emphasizes the need for environmental sustainability, self-governance, and social justice. Solarpunk imagines an inclusive, sustainable, possible future, where renewable technology meets ecological enlightenment.

Befitting its science fiction lineage, solarpunk has influence on the present. Researchers at the World Academy of Science, Engineering, and Technology, for example, have begun research on vermicompost (the product of decomposition by worms) to produce energy, an innovation straight out of solarpunk.

The site Anarchosolarpunk explores ways that computer science and technology enable radical forms of political organization. One way to do this, the site’s founder Andre writes, is by creating an open-source network that makes software free to access, establishing communal ownership of technology (as opposed to the private ownership of billion-dollar software companies).

There is even a place for solarpunk in the world of fashion, as designers incorporate sustainable materials. For example, Svitlana Bevza, a designer based in Kyiv, Ukraine, presented an entire winter collection of materials made from recycled plastic bottles — a “love letter to the Earth,” Bevza called it. Such ideas are solarpunk.

Solarpunk Imagines a Future Where Renewable Tech Meets Socio-Ecological Enlightenment

This painting illustrated the piece:

Should Sidmouth look anything like this in a century’s time…?!?

An AI-generated image of a futuristic, green utopia. Solarpunk provides a shining vision of a positive, green-tech powered future that is grounded in our existing world, and that emphasizes the need for environmental sustainability, self-governance, and social justice. Image by Yamonstro.