Solarpunk is a movement which has been growing since about 2014 but which acknowledges ideas from much earlier. Some people see it as a cause which underpins forms of activism but it is possible to be solarpunk without being political.
Many of the ideas and themes can be found in earlier Sci Fi novels from the 60s and 70’s which look forward to a future where people, ecology and technology work in harmony; as well as in the ideas of Buckminster Fuller. It is not doom laden like many of the current Climate Change protesters who decry technology whilst being big consumers of it but instead looks for ways of keeping the best of all worlds. It faces the reality of what humans have inflicted on the earth but is optimistic that human ingenuity can and will prevail.
The Vision Group for Sidmouth feel that this is a movement whose time has come and which is a natural fit with Sidmouth and Sidmothian attitudes. Extinction Rebellion was not a good fit so let’s all go SolarPunk!