{{Short description|Literary, political and artistic movement}} {{Fantasy}} [[File:Earthship Community home 2 - panoramio.jpg|thumb|241x241px|Solarpunk may take practical inspiration from Earthships, which are an example of sustainable architecture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Claire |date=2022-04-04 |title=Do you believe in climate solutions? You just might be a solarpunk. |url=https://grist.org/fix/climate-fiction/do-you-believe-in-climate-solutions-you-just-might-be-a-solarpunk/ |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Fix |language=en-us |quote=For practical inspiration, solarpunk looks to permaculture and Indigenous agriculture, sustainable architecture like Earthships and Arcosanti, as well as the maker movement and DIY culture.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Earthships: The sustainable buildings made from trash |url=https://www.freethink.com/environment/earthships |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=Freethink |date=10 January 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>]] '''Solarpunk''' is a literary, artistic, and social movement, closely related to the hopepunk movement,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lithub.com/hopepunk-and-solarpunk-on-climate-narratives-that-go-beyond-the-apocalypse/ | title=Hopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse | date=22 November 2019 }}</ref> that envisions and works toward actualizing a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community.<ref>{{harvnb|Reina-Rozo|2021}}: "Solarpunk is a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion, and activism that seeks to answer and embody the question 'what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?'"</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson-Nathe |first1=Ben |last2=Charles |first2=Grant |date=2020 |title=The Radical Potential of the Imaginary |journal=Child & Youth Services |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=105–107 |doi=10.1080/0145935X.2020.1789297 |issn=0145-935X |quote=Solarpunk might be easiest understood as a response to environmental degradation and social conflict that centers hope and possibility rather than futility and despair. It is a relatively new expression and has popped up across genres: in art, literature, and activism. |s2cid=221051729|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gillam |first1=William Joseph |title=A Solarpunk Manifesto: Turning Imaginary into Reality |journal=Philosophies |date=2023 |volume=8 |issue=4 |page=73 |doi=10.3390/philosophies8040073 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The "solar" represents solar energy as a renewable energy source and an optimistic vision of the future that rejects climate doomerism,<ref name="Johnson2">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Isaijah |date=May 2020 |title="Solarpunk" & the Pedagogical Value of Utopia |url=http://www.susted.com/wordpress/content/solarpunk-the-pedagogical-value-of-utopia_2020_05/ |journal=Journal of Sustainability Education |volume=23 |quote="Solar" is itself a reference to solar energy, from photovoltaic cells to passive heating—clean, sustainable, renewable energies with minimal carbon footprint. In the darkness of climate anxiety, solarpunk is a beam of hope showing the way toward a livable future.}}</ref> while the "punk" refers to do it yourself and the countercultural, post-capitalist, and sometimes decolonial aspects of creating such a future.<ref>{{harvnb|Reina-Rozo|2021}}: "The 'punk' in Solarpunk is about rebellion, counterculture, post-capitalism, decolonialism and enthusiasm. It is about going in a different direction than the mainstream, which is increasingly going in a scary direction."</ref>
As a science fiction literary subgenre and art movement, solarpunk works to address how the future might look if humanity succeeded in solving major contemporary challenges with an emphasis on sustainability, human impact on the environment, and addressing climate change and pollution. Especially as a subgenre, it is aligned with cyberpunk derivatives, and may borrow elements from utopian and fantasy genres.<ref name="Johnson2" />
Solarpunk serves as a foil to the cyberpunk genre, particularly within the fashion industry.{{sfn|Reina-Rozo|2021}} Both genres create and consolidate post-industrial countercultures; Solarpunk incites rebellion through its depiction of protoenvironmental socioecological relationships, whereas Cyberpunk advances the theme of rebellion through detached secondary environments, which often takes place in tangible dataspheres, virtual landscapes, and dystopian urban environments. Solarpunk draws inspiration from Bohemian style. The convergence of environmentalism and art serve as a framework for both subgenres. Solarpunk's interpretation of social collectivism strongly contrasts the individuality of Bohemian counterculture; Solarpunk recognizes individuality as an integral component of progressivism and identifies sociocultural distinctions as an impetus for change, though solarpunk encompasses these elements within the greater socioecological scaffolding in a manner that contrasts the Bohemian assertion that individuality alone acts as the sole impetus for change.<ref>Wilson, Elizabeth. "Bohemian dress and the heroism of everyday life". Fashion Theory 2.3 (1998): 225-244.</ref>
==Background== The term ''solarpunk'' was coined in 2008 in a blog post titled "From Steampunk to Solarpunk",<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 30, 2008 |title=From Steampunk to Solarpunk |url=https://republicofthebees.blogspot.com/2008/04/from-steampunk-to-solarpunk.html|publisher=Republic of the Bees}}</ref> in which the anonymous author, taking the design of the MS ''Beluga Skysails'' (the world's first ship partially powered by a computer-controlled kite rig) as inspiration, conceptualizes a new speculative fiction subgenre with steampunk's focal point on specific technologies but guided by practicality and modern economics.<ref name="Williams">{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Rhys |date=September 2019 |title={{-'}}This Shining Confluence of Magic and Technology': Solarpunk, Energy Imaginaries, and the Infrastructures of Solarity |journal=Open Library of Humanities |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=1–35 |article-number=60 |doi=10.16995/olh.329 |s2cid=194629261|doi-access=free }}</ref> Along a similar vein, in 2009, literary publicist Matt Staggs posted a "GreenPunk Manifesto" on his blog describing his vision of a technophilic genre focused on knowable, do it yourself technologies and with emphasis on positive ecological and social change.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Lauren |date=2009-08-19 |title=Could Greenpunk be the New Steampunk? |url=https://gizmodo.com/could-greenpunk-be-the-new-steampunk-5340958 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704132842/https://gizmodo.com/could-greenpunk-be-the-new-steampunk-5340958 |archive-date=2021-07-04 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hageman |first=Andrew |date=July 2012 |title=The Challenge of Imagining Ecological Futures: Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl |journal=Science Fiction Studies |volume=39 |issue=2 |page=301 |doi=10.5621/sciefictstud.39.2.0283}}</ref>
After visual artist Olivia Louise posted concept art on Tumblr of a solarpunk aesthetic in 2014,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Louise |first=Olivia |date=2014 |title=Land of Masks and Jewels - Here's a thing I've had around in my head for a... |url=https://missolivialouise.tumblr.com/post/94374063675/heres-a-thing-ive-had-around-in-my-head-for-a |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141123135235/http://missolivialouise.tumblr.com/post/94374063675/heres-a-thing-ive-had-around-in-my-head-for-a |archive-date=2014-11-23 |website=Land of Masks and Jewels |language=en}}</ref> researcher Adam Flynn contributed to the science fiction forum Project Hieroglyph with further definition of the emerging genre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flynn |first=Adam |date=2014-09-04 |title=Solarpunk: Notes toward a manifesto |url=https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628114055/http://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/ |archive-date=2015-06-28 |website=hieroglyph.asu.edu |publisher=Project Hieroglyph}}</ref><ref name="grist">{{Cite web |last=Jacobs |first=Suzanne |date=2015-11-10 |title=This sci-fi enthusiast wants to make "solarpunk" happen |url=https://grist.org/business-technology/this-sci-fi-enthusiast-wants-to-make-solarpunk-happen/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151111033907/http://grist.org/business-technology/this-sci-fi-enthusiast-wants-to-make-solarpunk-happen/ |archive-date=2015-11-11 |website=Grist |language=en-us}}</ref> Based on Flynn's notes and contributions on the website solarpunks.net, ''A Solarpunk Manifesto'' was published in 2019. It describes solarpunk as "a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion, and activism that seeks to answer and embody the questions 'what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?{{' "}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Solarpunk Manifesto |url=http://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012233135/http://www.re-des.org/a-solarpunk-manifesto/ |archive-date=2019-10-12 |access-date=2021-07-04 |website=re-des.org |publisher=Regenerative Design}}</ref> In 2024, ''solarpunk'' entered The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Here, James Machell points to ''Songs from the Stars'' by Norman Spinrad as the subgenre's first text, and goes on to contrast solarpunk with cyberpunk, stating, "It is a rebellion against a rebellion, born out of dystopia fatigue."<ref name="sf-encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Machell |first=James |editor-last1=Clute |editor-first1=John |editor-link1=John Clute |editor-last2=Langford |editor-first2=David |editor-link2=David Langford |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |entry=Solarpunk |entry-url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/solarpunk |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/ |access-date=2024-08-17 |date=2024-08-05 |publisher=Ansible Editions |location=Reading |quote= }}</ref>
==Themes and philosophy== ===Renewable energy=== While solarpunk has no specific political ideation, it does by default embrace the need for a collective movement away from polluting forms of energy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamilton |first=Jennifer |date=July 19, 2017 |title=Explainer: 'solarpunk', or how to be an optimistic radical |url=https://theconversation.com/explainer-solarpunk-or-how-to-be-an-optimistic-radical-80275 |website=The Conversation}}</ref> It practices prefigurative politics, creating spaces where the principles of a movement can be explored and demonstrated by enacting them in real life. Solarpunks practice the movement in various ways, including creating and living in communities (such as ecovillages), growing their own food, and a DIY ethic of working with what is available, including the thoughtful application of technology.<ref name="rewire">{{Cite web |last=Peskoe-Yang |first=Lynne |date=23 November 2018 |title=What You Can Learn From the Solarpunk Movement |url=https://www.rewire.org/our-future/learn-solarpunk-movement/ |access-date=7 May 2019 |website=Rewire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stępień |first=Katarzyna |date= |title="THE FUTURE'S [NOT] OURS TO SEE"—VISIONS OF FORTHCOMING HUMANITY IN SOLARPUNK |url=http://www.currents.umk.pl/files/issues/7/stepien-future.pdf |access-date=9 September 2022 |website=CURRENTS. A Journal of Young English Philology Thought and Review}}</ref>
===Refusing pessimism=== alt=A Solarpunk illustration of a middle-aged woman in an orange jacket, holding a miner's helmet and a flyer. She's looking at a monument of a wind turbine engineer holding hand and helping a miner get out of a hole, a symbol of the respecialization of workers which took place in the community center below them. The building is clearly made of several different styles, a fancy solarpunk architecture covering two top floors above much simpler, glass two on the ground. The whole scene is bathed in warm light of dawn. |thumb|Solarpunk works often include visions of positive social change, like the above illustration of a respecialization center for former miners who lost their profession as the world abandoned fossil fuels.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 November 2022 |title=The Community Center episode of the Solarpunk Prompts podcast |url=https://podcast.tomasino.org/@SolarpunkPrompts/episodes/the-community-center |access-date=23 August 2024 |website=Solarpunk Prompts podcast}}</ref> Stories set in the far future or in fantasy worlds often portray societal failures recognizable to contemporary audiences.<ref name="sciphijournal">{{Cite web |last=Hunting |first=Eric |date=September 30, 2021 |title=On Solarpunk |url=https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php/2021/09/30/on-solarpunk/ |work=Sci Phi Journal}}</ref> These failures may include oppressive imbalances of wealth or power, degradation of natural habitat or processes, and impacts of climate change. Evidence of injustices, like social exclusion and environmental racism, may be present. Disastrous consequences are not necessarily averted but solarpunk tends to present a counter-dystopian perspective. Their worlds are not necessarily utopian but rather solarpunk seeks to present an alternative to a pessimistic, consequential dystopian outcome.<ref name="Johnson" /> To achieve this, themes of do it yourself ethics, convivial conservation, self-sustainability, social inclusiveness and positive psychology are often present. This perspective also more closely embeds the ideals of punk ideologies, such as anti-consumerism, egalitarianism and decentralization, than cyberpunk which typically includes protagonists with punk beliefs but in settings that are used more as a warning of a potential future.<ref name="Johnson" /><ref name="singularity">{{Cite web |last1=Ism |first1=Carin |last2=Leyre |first2=Julien |date=2020-09-06 |title=Solarpunk Is Growing a Gorgeous New World in the Cracks of the Old One |url=https://singularityhub.com/2020/09/06/solarpunk-is-growing-a-gorgeous-new-world-in-the-cracks-of-the-old-one/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906190805/https://singularityhub.com/2020/09/06/solarpunk-is-growing-a-gorgeous-new-world-in-the-cracks-of-the-old-one/ |archive-date=2020-09-06 |access-date=2021-08-18 |website=Singularity Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Sustainable technology === The integration of technologies into society in a manner that improves social, economic and environmental sustainability is central to solarpunk.<ref name="Johnson" /> It is starkly contrasted to cyberpunk which portrays highly advanced technologies that have little influence on, or otherwise exacerbate social, economic, and environmental problems. Whereas cyberpunk envisions humanity becoming more alienated from its natural environment and subsumed by technology, solarpunk envisions settings where technology enables humanity to better co-exist with itself and its environment.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
Solarpunk is more similar to steampunk than cyberpunk. Both steampunk and solarpunk imagine new worlds but with different primary sources of energy; respectively, the steam engines, and renewable energy.<ref name="longreads">{{Cite web |last=Boffa |first=Adam |date=12 December 2018 |title=At the Very Least We Know the End of the World Will Have a Bright Side |url=https://longreads.com/2018/12/12/solarpunk-review/ |access-date=7 May 2019 |website=Longreads}}</ref> Though, whereas steampunk focuses more on history and uses Victorian era aesthetics, solarpunk uses more Art Nouveau style and looks to the future. Solarpunk also shares some elements with retrofuturism, Afrofuturism, Bionics and Arts and Crafts. The retrofuturist reevaluation of technology, its desire for understandable mechanics, and rejection of mysterious black box technology, and in favor of appropriate technology,{{sfn|Reina-Rozo|2021}} are found in solarpunk works. As is the Afrofuturist's counter to mass-cultural homogeneity, the reckoning of injustices, and use of architecture and technology to correct power imbalances and problems in accessibility.<ref name="Johnson" />
===Do-it-yourself ethos=== Although solarpunk is concerned with technology, it also embraces low-tech ways of living sustainably such as gardening, permaculture, regenerative design, tool libraries, maker spaces, open-source, positive psychology, metacognition, and do-it-yourself ethics. Its themes may reflect on environmental philosophy such as bright green environmentalism and social ecology, as well as punk ideologies such as anarchism, socialism, anti-consumerism, anti-authoritarianism, anti-capitalism, civil rights, commoning, and decentralization.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 July 2018 |title=Solarpunk: A decentralized society |url=https://solarpunkstation.com/2018/07/12/solarpunk-a-decentralized-society/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-24 |title=What is solarpunk? Inside an audaciously hopeful environmental movement that's thriving in the Bay Area |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/24/solarpunk-environmental-movement-bay-area/ |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Decolonization=== Solarpunk acts as a future imaginary to subvert climate fatalism. It tends to advocate for the decolonization of energy, challenging eco-capitalism where renewable mega-products, also called green veils, harm indigenous communities. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Art, energy, and technology: the Solarpunk Movement |url=https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/IJESJP/article/view/14292/9521 |access-date=2026-04-21 |website=Engineering, Social Justice and Peace |language=en-US}}</ref> By prioritizing energy democracy and non-hierarchal governance, the movement promotes the reintegrations of human and ecological systems, replacing commodification with community-oriented environmental optimism. <ref>{{Cite web |title=A Solarpunk Manifesto: Turning Imaginary into Reality |url=https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/8/4/73 |access-date=2026-04-21 |website=MDPI}}</ref>
===Social equity=== Solarpunk often includes elements of racial and gender equality, drawing this theme from earlier utopian works.<ref name=leguin /> Ursula K. Le Guin's 1969 book ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' included gender fluidity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Solarpunk Imagines a Future Where Renewable Tech Meets Socio-Ecological Enlightenment |url=https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/solarpunk-imagines-future-renewable-tech-socio-ecological-enlightenment/ |access-date=2024-12-25 |website=Earth Island Journal}}</ref> Her book ''The Dispossessed'' eliminated compulsory monogamy.<ref name=leguin>{{Cite journal |title="Solarpunk" & the Pedagogical Value of Utopia |journal=Journal of Sustainability Education |url=https://www.susted.com/wordpress/content/solarpunk-the-pedagogical-value-of-utopia_2020_05/ |date=2020-05-01 |access-date=2024-12-25 |language=en-US}}</ref> Becky Chambers' 2021 solarpunk novel ''A Psalm for the Wild-Built'' included a main character who is non-binary.
==Art movement and aesthetics== As an art movement, solarpunk emerged in the 2010s as a reaction to the prevalence of bleak post-apocalyptic and dystopian media alongside an increased awareness of social injustices, impacts of climate change, and inextricable economic inequality. As post-apocalyptic and dystopian was ubiquitous in media, solarpunk became an attractive alternative.<ref name=singularity/> Solarpunk is optimistic yet realistic in confronting contemporary problems.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strong Hansen |first=Kathryn |year=2021 |title=Optimistic Fiction as a Tool for Ethical Reflection in STEM |journal=Journal of Academic Ethics |issue=19 |pages=425–439}}</ref>
The solarpunk visual identity, as expressed by Olivia Louise and subsequent artists, is compared to Art Nouveau with its depictions of plants, use of sinuous lines like whiplash, and integration of applied arts into fine arts. The ornamental Arts and Crafts movement, an influence on Art Nouveau, is present<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Heer |first=Jeet |date=2015-11-10 |title=The New Utopians |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/123217/new-utopians |magazine=The New Republic |issn=0028-6583 |access-date=2019-05-08}}</ref><ref name="e-flux">{{Cite web |last=Wilk |first=Elivia |title=Is Ornamenting Solar Panels a Crime? |url=https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/positions/191258/is-ornamenting-solar-panels-a-crime/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411161910/http://www.e-flux.com/architecture/positions/191258/is-ornamenting-solar-panels-a-crime/ |archive-date=2018-04-11 |access-date=2019-05-08 |website=e-flux.com |language=en}}</ref> and its built forms reflect Frank Lloyd Wright's organic architecture.<ref name=sciphijournal/> The solarpunk aesthetic typically utilizes natural colors, bright greens and blues, and allusions to diverse cultural origins. Examples of this aesthetic include Boeri Studio's Bosco Verticale in Milan, the depiction of Wakanda in Marvel Studios' ''Black Panther'' and Auroa in ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint'', ''Cities: Skylines'''s Green Cities expansion, and some Studio Ghibli movies, particularly ''Castle in the Sky'' and ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind''.<ref name=PCGamer/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Praise |first=Zee |date=2021-01-13 |title=The definitive guide to solarpunk: fashion, movies, aesthetic & more |url=https://imposemagazine.com/bytes/cinema/the-definitive-guide-to-solarpunk-fashion-movies-aesthetic-more |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113011324/https://imposemagazine.com/bytes/cinema/the-definitive-guide-to-solarpunk-fashion-movies-aesthetic-more |archive-date=2021-01-13 |access-date=2021-07-04 |website=Impose Magazine |language=en}}</ref>
In contrast to cyberpunk, which is portrayed as having a dark, grim aesthetic surrounded by an artificial and domineering built environment reflective of alienation and subjugation, solarpunk is bright, with light often used as a motif and in imagery to convey feelings of cleanliness, abundance, and equability. However, light could alternatively be used to symbolize something that "subsumes everything beneath it, [an] emblem of tyranny [and] surveillance".<ref name=Williams/>
==Fiction== ===Literature=== thumb|An aerial view of a futuristic, sustainable Berlin—with rooftop solar power, trees and greenery, airships, walkable streets, and clean water In literature, solarpunk is a subgenre within science fiction, though it may also include elements of other types of speculative fiction such as fantasy and utopian fiction. It is a cyberpunk derivative, contrasted to cyberpunk for its particular extrapolation of technology's impact on society and progress. Cyberpunk characters are typically those marginalized by rapid technological change or subsumed by technology, while the solarpunk archetype has been described as a "maker-hero"<ref name="sciphijournal" /> who has witnessed environmental disaster or failures by central authorities to adapt to crises or injustice, often in defense of nature<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levin |first=Annie |date=2024-03-25 |title=How Solarpunk Fiction Defies Dystopian Doomerism |url=https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2024/03/how-solarpunk-fiction-defies-dystopian-doomerism |access-date=2024-12-28 |work=Current Affairs |language=en |issn=2471-2647}}</ref> and in ways that allow the story to illustrate optimistic outcomes.<ref name="PCGamer">{{Cite web |last=Ong |first=Alexis |date=April 28, 2021 |title=Enough cyberpunk—it's solarpunk's time to shine |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/enough-cyberpunkits-solarpunks-time-to-shine/ |publisher=PC Gamer}}</ref> Its fictions illustrate feasible worlds that do not ignore the mechanics or ingredients of how it was arrived at.<ref name="e-flux" />
Previously published novels that fit into this new genre included Ursula K. Le Guin's ''Always Coming Home'' (1985)<ref name="Wenstrom">{{Cite journal |last=Wenstrom |first=Emily |date=March 2021 |title=An Introduction to The Solarpunk Genre |url=https://bookriot.com/solarpunk-genre |journal=Book Riot}}</ref> and ''The Dispossessed'' (1974), Ernest Callenbach's ''Ecotopia'' (1975), Kim Stanley Robinson's ''Pacific Edge'' (1990), and Starhawk's ''The Fifth Sacred Thing'' (1993), largely for their depictions of contemporary worlds transitioning to more sustainable societies.<ref name="Johnson">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Isaijah |date=May 2020 |title="Solarpunk" & the Pedagogical Value of Utopia |url=http://www.susted.com/wordpress/content/solarpunk-the-pedagogical-value-of-utopia_2020_05/ |journal=Journal of Sustainability Education |volume=23}}</ref> However, the first explicit entries published into the genre were the short stories in anthologies ''Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World'' (2012) (which was the third part of the publisher's trilogy of short story collections preceded by ''Vaporpunk'' and ''Dieselpunk''),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cogbill-Seiders |first=Elisa |date=September 2018 |title=Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2018/september/solarpunk-ecological-and-fantastical-stories-sustainable-world |publisher=World Literature Today}}</ref> ''Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragons Anthology'' (2015), ''Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation'' (2017) and ''Glass and Gardens'' (2018).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cameron |first=Rob |date=October 30, 2019 |title=In Search of Afro-Solarpunk, Part 2: Social Justice is Survival Technology |url=https://www.tor.com/2019/10/30/in-search-of-afro-solarpunk-part-2-social-justice-is-survival-technology/ |publisher=Tor.com}}</ref> In 2018, author Becky Chambers agreed to write two solarpunk novellas for Tor Books and published ''A Psalm for the Wild-Built'' (2021) and ''A Prayer for the Crown-Shy'' (2022).<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 16, 2020 |title=Introducing Monk & Robot, a New Series by Becky Chambers |url=https://www.tor.com/2020/04/16/introducing-monk-robot-a-new-series-by-becky-chambers/ |publisher=Tor.com}}</ref>
In a 2019 ''Slate'' article, author Lee Konstantinou stated that solarpunk authors "...proclaim their commitment to "ingenuity, generativity, independence, and community", while going against the "nihilistic tendencies of cyberpunk and the reactionary tendencies of steampunk." He argues that solarpunk is aspirational, as it aims to provide "suggestions for the kind of science fiction or fantasy we ought to be writing".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Konstantinou |first=Lee |date=15 January 2019 |title=Something Is Broken in Our Science Fiction Why can't we move past cyberpunk? |url=https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/hopepunk-cyberpunk-solarpunk-science-fiction-broken.html |access-date=20 May 2022 |website=slate.com |publisher=Slate}}</ref> Solarpunk can include elements of mundane science fiction. In a ''Solarpunk Futures'' interview with Nina Munteanu about her solarpunk novel ''A Diary in the Age of Water'', Munteanu said she incorporated elements of mundane science fiction to add "the gritty realism of the mundane" to the story.<ref name="Munteanu">{{Cite episode |title=Interview with Nina Munteanu |format=podcast |episode-link= |url=https://shows.acast.com/solarpunk-futures/episodes/interview-with-nina-munteanu |access-date=15 August 2024 |series=Solarpunk Futures |first1=Justine (host) |last1=Norton-Kertson |first2=Nina |last2=Munteanu |author-link2=Nina Munteanu |station=Android Press and Solarpunk Magazine |date= 22 November 2021 |season=1 |number=6 |minutes=6:45}}</ref>
===Film=== In a study of the 44 most popular American science fiction films, nature was found to be ignored in visions of the future, depicted in cities with monoculture lawns and ornamental gardens. Nature is never portrayed in these films in an innovative or integrated way with future human civilization. At best, nature is simply portrayed as a background motif. The study suggested for artists to "collaborate to imagine how to integrate nature and biodiversity into the depictions of future cities".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hedblom |first1=Marcus |last2=Prévot |first2=Anne-Caroline |last3=Grégoire |first3=Axelle |date=2022-08-01 |title=Science fiction blockbuster movies – A problem or a path to urban greenery? |journal=Urban Forestry & Urban Greening |language=en |volume=74 |article-number=127661 |doi=10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127661 |issn=1618-8667|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022UFUG...7427661H }}</ref>
==Criticism== Some, like solarpunk researcher Adam Flynn, worry that solarpunk can risk being greenwashed through aesthetics that give the appearance of sustainability without addressing the root causes of actual environmental issues.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Resilience |date=2022-12-20 |title=Solarpunk: Radical Hope |url=https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-12-20/solarpunk-radical-hope/ |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=resilience |language=en-US}}</ref> Flynn characterizes depictions such as luxury condominiums with green roofs that price out existing communities and may ultimately cause greater environmental harm as examples of "fake solarpunk urbanism".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Solarpunk Is Not About Pretty Aesthetics. It's About the End of Capitalism |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/solarpunk-is-not-about-pretty-aesthetics-its-about-the-end-of-capitalism/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=Vice.com |date=2 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * {{anl|Anarcho-primitivism}} * {{anl|Back-to-the-land movement}} * {{anl|Climate fiction}} * {{anl|Cottagecore}} * {{anl|Degrowth}} * {{anl|Ecocriticism}} * {{anl|Ecofiction}} * {{anl|Environmental art}} * {{anl|Environmental justice}} * {{anl|Green anarchism}} * {{anl|Noor (novel)|''Noor''}} * {{anl|Open Source Ecology}} * {{anl|Rewilding (conservation biology)|Rewilding}} * {{anl|Social ecology (academic field)|Social ecology}} * {{anl|Technogaianism}} * {{anl|The Venus Project}} * {{anl|Wakanda}} {{Clear}}
==References== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== * {{Cite journal |last=Reina-Rozo |first=Juan David |date=2021-03-05 |title=Art, Energy and Technology: the Solarpunk Movement |url=https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/IJESJP/article/view/14292 |journal=International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=47–60 |doi=10.24908/ijesjp.v8i1.14292 |issn=1927-9434 |s2cid=233805052|doi-access=free }}
==Further reading== * {{Cite web |last=Förtsch |first=Michael |date=2019-06-13 |title=Fridays for Future treffen Science Fiction: Was ist eigentlich Solarpunk? |url=https://1e9.community/t/fridays-for-future-treffen-science-fiction-was-ist-eigentlich-solarpunk/1021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922111119/https://1e9.community/t/fridays-for-future-treffen-science-fiction-was-ist-eigentlich-solarpunk/1021 |archive-date=2019-09-22 |access-date=2021-07-04 |website=1E9 |language=de}} * Marshall, Alan (2019). [https://theconversation.com/using-beloved-works-of-literature-to-predict-the-futures-of-cities-109724 "Using beloved works of literature to predict the futures of cities"], The Conversation, March 15, 2019. * {{Cite magazine |last=Williams |first=Rhys |date=March 10, 2018 |title=Solarpunk: Against a Shitty Future |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/solarpunk-against-a-shitty-future/ |magazine=Los Angeles Review of Books}} * {{cite book |last1=Lynall |first1=Gregory |title=Imagining Solar Energy: The Power of the Sun in Literature, Science and Culture |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |location=London |isbn=978-1-350-01097-0 |pages=133–156 |edition=1st |language=en |chapter=Bright Futures: Solar Science Fiction Takes Off}} * {{cite book |last1=Lynall |first1=Gregory |editor1-last=Johns-Putra |editor1-first=Adeline |editor2-last=Sultzbach |editor2-first=Kelly |title=The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Climate |date=2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51216-6 |pages=191–200 |doi=10.1017/9781009057868.013 |chapter=Solarpunk}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Wagner |editor1-first=Phoebe |editor2-last=Wieland |editor2-first=Brontë Christopher |title=Almanac for the Anthropocene A Compendium of Solarpunk Futures |date=2022 |publisher=West Virginia University Press |location=Morgantown |isbn=978-1-952271-50-2 |edition=1st}} * {{cite journal |last1=Crosby |first1=Phillip M. |title=Towards an Anti-Antiutopia |journal=The ARCC Journal of Architectural Research |date=2023 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=46–75 |doi=10.17831/enqarcc.v20i2.1159 |doi-access=free}}
==External links== {{sister project links|d=yes|wikt=solarpunk|c=Category:Solarpunk|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|f=no|q=no|species=no|s=no}} * [https://wvupressonline.com/almanac-for-the-anthropocene Almanac for the Anthropocene: A Compendium of Solarpunk Futures] * [https://medium.com/solarpunks/solarpunk-a-reference-guide-8bcf18871965 Solarpunk: A Reference Guide] * [https://solarpunks.net/ Solarpunks.net] * [https://www.reddit.com/r/solarpunk/ reddit.com/r/solarpunk]
{{Cyberpunk and derivatives}} {{Science fiction}} {{Fantasy fiction}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Solarpunk Category:Bright green environmentalism Category:Climate change in art Category:Fiction about climate change Category:Science fiction genres Category:Steampunk Category:Hope Category:Optimism Category:Adventure franchises Category:Adventure genres