An Ode to Solarpunk
The crisis of imagination has become a common theme in climate circles, and for good reason. In this age of faltering systems and ecological breakdown, many have an easier time imagining the end of the world than one where we get it right. And yet our current reality was once only a set of ideas.
If we are to build a better world, we need to start with better ideas. This is where speculative fiction can play a powerful role. With so many cli-fi (climate fiction) and eco-futurist subgenres to choose from, there is no shortage of inspiration to help us imagine possible futures. Our favorite genre of the moment is solarpunk.
Andrew Dana Hudson defines solarpunk as a “speculative movement: a collaborative effort to imagine and design a world of prosperity, peace, sustainability and beauty, achievable with what we have from where we are.” In contrast to the neon darkness and subjugation of its cyberpunk relative, solarpunk imagines a bright future of collective abundance and care that combines ways of the past with the best of technology in service of a good life for everyone.
But solarpunk is more than arrays of solar panels and bucolic homesteads. We mustn't overlook what makes it punk. Solarpunk takes the punk tradition of direct action and applies it to ecological restoration and community resilience. Punks would occupy venues and create underground scenes. Solarpunks occupy abandoned lots with gardens and fill the gaps left by failing institutions. Punks rejected mainstream culture. Solarpunks reject extractive ways of living in favor of regenerative alternatives. As our current systems falter, solarpunk calls for action at the community level to plant the seeds of new growth in the cracks of decay.
What’s wonderful about solarpunk as a movement is that it makes building the future a grassroots endeavor accessible to anyone. This is an incredible time for creatives to shine by stepping into new roles as leaders, homesteaders, community organizers, artivists, engineers, gardeners, tinkerers.
Solarpunk ideas in action could be:
- Growing food and putting it in community fridges
- Building shared infrastructure with and for your neighborhood
- Learning to fix your stuff at a repair cafe
- Joining local tool libraries, clothing swaps, and buy nothing groups
- Planting animal habitats and pollinator corridors at your house or on your block
- Ripping up concrete for flood control and habitat restoration
- Planting trees in urban heat zones and gardens in overlooked open spaces
What might solarpunk look like in your world? Is there a small action you can take this week?
Now is the time to find your people and start making ideas into reality.
– Marc O’Brien and Natalie Walsh
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