What is Solarpunk?
There are many subgenres of science fiction. One emerging subgenre is “solarpunk.”
It’s so new that when pressed to offer an example more often than not I’ll suggest this yogurt commercial called “Eat Today, Feed Tomorrow.” It portrays a utopian farming scene combined with distinctly modern technology. A serene narration hints at a future in which progress has achieved intergenerational balance and technology has solved looming existential problems. Think Star Trek without the space travel. Though this commercial is undeniably twee, it does some quality worldbuilding very quickly. It’s a very optimistic vision of the future.
One that nearly anyone would want to live in.
I can’t wait to mess it up.
The suffix -punk genres tend to be subversive.
Steampunk pairs retro-futuristic technology with the 1900s to create an alternate version of history in which steam power dominates. One drawback of steampunk is that the strong Victorian influence can sometimes be too western dominated. Ken Liu recently coined a new subgenre, silkpunk, which is rooted in East Asian antiquity and alternate technology.
Cyberpunk explores the social alienation and degradation incumbent (presumably) of a high-tech future.
Cli-fi (climate fiction) deals with the effects of climate change. It can take place in the present of the near future. Often imagining potential future scenarios based on how humanity chooses to mitigate (or not) and adapt (or not) to the impending climate crisis. Dystopian literature centered on environmental change is not new but the focus on global warming specifically makes this subgenre unique.
Solarpunk is sort of a mixture of the “-punks” and a form of cli-fi that is inherently optimistic.
The solarpunk world assumes that humans have adjusted their primary energy source to renewables (including, solar power, of course, but can also include the widespread adoption of wind, wave, tidal, geothermal, etc.) and rejects the doom and gloom of climate themed dystopia.
Solarpunk is not necessarily utopian, but it rejects the inevitability of the apocalypse.
I’ve heard it described as “counter-dystopian.”
The technology in solarpunk is more sustainable, less extractive, and appropriate. Moreover, high-tech solutions exist harmoniously with low-tech lifestyles, including DIY, gardening, open-source systems, resilient design, circular economy, living buildings, multi-modal transportation, etc.
If all this sounds a little boring, I don’t blame you. I wasn’t sure it appealed to me at first. But then I remembered about humans. We’re messy. We’re emotional. We make terrible choices and then double down. Everything that makes a good plot: relationships, tension, characters, challenges, conflict, and resolution--those can exist in a world where everything looks pretty good.
Characters will still get murdered. The exciting question now is why? What is the MMO of a solarpunk criminal?
I’m excited to venture deeper into solarpunk. I may have been letting my real world climate anxiety dictate the doomerism of my writing and things were feeling pretty dark. I wasn’t very inspired by the dystopian climate predictions (how could I be?), but to portray the future as anything but bleak seemed naïve.
Then I remembered that this is fiction.
A good story has to feel honest, but it doesn’t have to be true.
(Better not, actually.)
Do you have any solarpunk recommendations? Books, TV, Movies, Art? I’d even take another commercial.
