What Is Solarpunk?
Solarpunk is a hopeful and inspiring vision of the future where people and nature live in harmony. Imagine cities full of plants, powered by the sun, with clean air, shared gardens, and strong, caring communities. It’s about building a world that’s fair, green, and creative—where technology helps us take care of each other and the Earth. Solarpunk invites us to dream big and take small steps toward a brighter, more beautiful future.
We are solarpunks because optimism has been taken away from us and we are trying to take it back.
We are solarpunks because the only other options are denial or despair.
At its core, Solarpunk is a vision of a future that embodies the best of what humanity can achieve: a post-scarcity, post-hierarchy, post-capitalistic world where humanity sees itself as part of nature and clean energy replaces fosil fuels.
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.
Solarpunk is a movement as much as it is a genre: it is not just about the stories, it is also about how we can get there.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“. . . a major difference between solarpunk and steampunk is that solarpunk ideas, and solarpunk technologies, need not remain imaginary, and I indulge a hope of someday living in a solarpunk world. “
—Republic of the Bees:
