What is solarpunk, one vision or many worlds?
We look at what solarpunk is and why it matters
We’ve added a lot of subscribers since we first published our deep-dive on what solarpunk is back in 2022. That’s why we’re sharing a concise explanation of our scene in this post. It’s for all of you who’ve come more recently to this newsletter and as a refresher for those OGs who have been with us for a long time (love you guys).
What is solarpunk?
Solarpunk is a movement made up of stories, art and activism.
For something to be solarpunk in fiction or art it must be:
Desirably sustainable - These are visions of the future we can get excited about living in, not nightmares to avoid.
More socially just - Broadly speaking these are more equal, fair and inclusive worlds than the one we live in now.
Inspire action - The greatest promise of solarpunk is its power to motivate more people to make these better futures a reality.
Is there just one type of solarpunk?
We argue that around the core definition above there are many different shades of solarpunk. When it comes to visual aesthetics the main ones are;
🏡 Cottage Solar (rural low tech)
🙆🏻♀️ Kawaii Solar (children’s anime style)
🌇 Metropolis Solar (shiny skyscrapers and flying cars)
🌱 Rooted Solar (based on real places and more believable)
Some artworks mix or blend these shades together like the famous Chobani advert.
What types of solarpunk fiction are there?
A couple of extra shades we feel apply here. These are if tales are more thrilling or happy.
Happy or cozy solarpunk types of stories have low or no conflict, action or violence in them.
Thrilling solarpunk stories show deliciously sustainable worlds where conflict, violence and even murder still exist. These aspects of life tend to be much lower than in our current society.
What about solarpunk activism?
There is a whole other part of our scene that is more about trying to start building a solarpunk world today. Things like community food growing, mission-led enterprises and renewable energy co-ops.
There are also groups like our friends The London School of Solarpunk, Solarpunks Club and solarpunk dc to name just three.
We call all of this type of activity Now Solar or ‘solarpunking it’.
Why does any of this matter?
We believe solarpunk’s greatest potential is to inspire you with visions of futures that motivate you to make them a reality. We feel it’s the most important missing ingredient to help mobilise enough people to create the deliciously sustainable world that is possible if enough of us work together to make it so.
If you’d like to read more about the different shades of our scene, see more examples of them and also learn which things we think commonly get mislabelled as solarpunk, then check out our deep-dive blog here.
What’s your shade?
What are your favourite shades of solarpunk? Can you share examples of them?
Which shades would you like to see more of in fiction, movies and art?
Please let us know in the comments below.
Help build solarpunk
The main way this newsletter grows is people like you sharing it. Let’s bring a deliciously sustainable future a little closer by passing this onto anyone you think might enjoy a dose of inspiration.
See you in the sunshine,
Alex Holland
Founder, SolarPunk Stories
I like the aesthic/shade split. Suggest you can have cozy metropolis, fantastical metropolis, thrilling cottage ect.
Rooted rooted might need some wordsmithing :) Activist rooted?
Really loved this breakdown of solarpunk and the different shades you describe – especially the cozy vs. thrilling distinction. It’s super helpful language for figuring out where a project sits.
With NUVAGAIA, a bilingual (ES/EN) sci-fi universe I’m building, I’ve been wrestling with that exact question. It probably lives somewhere between Rooted Solar and Metropolis Solar, definitely on the thrilling side: a post-collapse world where three human civilisations – Solarnati, Hydrovelan and Nanocodax – are trying to build socially just, desirable futures… while dealing with very weird, cosmic-scale entities in the background.
Your “desirably sustainable, more socially just, and inspiring action” definition really hits home – NUVAGAIA leans into the horror and tension, but the point is still to imagine futures worth fighting for. Thanks for putting this together and for the questions at the end, it’s given me much better words to talk about what I’m doing.
In terms of “shade”, I’d call NUVAGAIA “Rooted, thrilling solarpunk-adjacent with cosmic horror”.