As part of the Dare to Discover the Fringe 2025 programme at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Rise of the Solar Punks asked ‘what can we learn from ancient cultures regarding climate adaptation, and how can we fuse this with technology and AI?’.

The show had come all the way from Adelaide – looking at Adapt and Thrive:

Adapt and Thrive

Award-winning producer-turned-performer Mark Ashmore of Future Artists talks about his return to the Fringe with his new show, Rise of the Solar Punks – a one-hour performative lecture that turns hard climate data into a guerrilla call-to-action

Tell us about Rise of the Solar Punks. Where and when was this show born? What can audiences expect?

I had just spent a year travelling around the world with my award-winning Adelaide Fringe show Terms & Conditions, and one day I was doomscrolling the climate apocalypse, as I melted in 45 degree heat in Australia, trying to see why it was so hot. Turns out, it was a heat dome caused by climate change. I came across a manifesto entitled ‘Solar Punk’ – everything up until that point had been about climate doom, but the solar punk manifesto talked of adapting, hope and resilience through a nature-first, and a technology and capitalism-second approach. This spiked my interest. It’s the third summer in a row that we have hit heatwaves in the UK and Europe and so, this is the new normal – the show is about how we got here and where via solar punk we might go.

What are your main hopes for this year’s Fringe and what do you hope people will take away from seeing your show?

I did a preview of the show in Brighton, and found that Meta wouldn’t serve my ads for the show on either Facebook or Instagram, because it has the phrase climate change in the write up. Already, the climate conversation is being cancelled by big tech and corporate America, and so we are now in a race to get the word out that we must adapt, whilst the billionaires profit. So I am going to share my story – about how I did not have a clue on how to grow any food, and realised I needed to learn new skills beyond Netflix! I’ll be sharing these adventures (as well as gardening tips).

Based on the show, what’s one piece of advice you’d have for people wanting to get more engaged with climate action?

Don’t ignore what’s happening all around you – you can’t bury your head in your phone. If your job is being taken by AI, and you’re stuck in a heatwave and your government is not listening to you – check in with yourself and ask: why is this happening? I think my mission is to bring critical thinking back, and Rise of the Solar Punks is part performance, part essay, part seminar about all our futures, via my lived experience so far. Let’s start a conversation – come and see something different at the Fringe this summer. Solar punk is about hope, so bring the noise.

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