# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Utopia should be understood as a method rather than a goal. This book rehabilitates utopia as a repressed dimension of the sociological and in the process produces the Imaginary Reconstitution of Society, a provisional, reflexive and dialogic method for exploring alternative possible futures.

# data[].attributes.headline
Link to photo folder with photos of the Humumenting exercise

# data[].attributes.subject
Link to photo folder with photos of the Humumenting exercise

# data[].attributes.headline
Utopia as Method - A response to education in crisis

# data[].attributes.subject
Utopia as Method - A response to education in crisis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ABSTRACT
Claims of crisis in education are not new though their orientation has changed over time. This paper is concerned with the contemporary discourse surrounding an apparent global learning crisis, examining the dominant logics through which education and its concomitant crises are imagined and operationalized. In this conceptual essay, we take "crisis" as representing both challenges faced by society and as an opportunity to interrupt the current order. We suggest that a key crisis facing education currently is not a learning crisis, but the dominant evidence-based approach and "what works" logic. In response, we argue for utilizing Levitas' utopia as method as a way for educational researchers and practitioners to engage in imagining alternative futures. The method involves excavation of conditions that have resulted in the current moment, critical questioning of being for both humans and the institutions we construct, and imagining alternative ways of being and doing education. We illustrate briefly how the method can be used in applying it to an analysis of the OECD's Global Competency Framework. This method is not presented as a solution, but as a crisis response that is imaginative and attempts to create possibilities and spaces of hope.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elke Van Dermijnsbrugge
Elke Van Dermijnsbrugge is Lecturer in the Department of International Education at the Education University of Hong Kong. She researches in the area of curriculum studies, philosophy of education and alternative education. She is interested in the application of utopian studies to (re)imagine educational policy, research and practice.

Stephen Chatelier
Stephen Chatelier is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Education at the Education University of Hong Kong. He is interested in political and ethical questions concerning education, especially in the context of globalization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Utopia as method: a response to education in crisis?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ABSTRACT Claims of crisis in education are not new though their orientation has changed over time. This paper is concerned with the contemporary discourse surrounding an apparent global learning crisis, examining the dominant logics through which education and its concomitant crises are imagined and operationalized.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An online repository of drawings, pastels, paintings, sculptures, textiles and other artworks, as well as writings by and about Tom Phillips RA, together with a studio blog, news blog and shop for the online purchase of prints, silkscreens and etchings

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Painting with data: Alternative aesthetics of qualitative research - Andrew Balmer, 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Painting with data: Alternative aesthetics of qualitative research - Andrew Balmer, 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this article I outline an original creative method for qualitative research, namely the painting with data technique. This is a participatory methodology whi…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
From “education for sustainable development” to “education for the end of the world as we know it”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this article, we address the limitations of sustainable development as an orienting educational horizon of hope and change, given that mainstream development presumes the possibility of perpetua…

# data[].attributes.headline
The Commoner's Catalog for Changemaking

# data[].attributes.subject
The Commoner's Catalog for Changemaking

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Commoner’s Catalog for Changemaking | The Commoner’s Catalog for Changemaking

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to turn pages.

# data[].attributes.body
Where are the other-than-human beings in the document's emphasis on 'valuing nature' and promoting 'sustainable teaching and learning'? How to teach with and for local flora and fauna?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Common Ecologies is a movement school, a platform for movement learning. We work with people, groups and movements that struggle for socio-ecological transformation and justice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Common Worlds Research Collective | Worlding, Commoning, and Inheriting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Common Worlds Research Collective | Worlding, Commoning, and Inheriting

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Common Worlds Research Collective takes up questions of living well with children within complex worlds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Browse our multi-format work output FILTER BY TYPE Other Studies & Articles Tools & Methods FILTER BY TOPIC Culture & Creativity Education & Skills Energy Environment & Biodiversity Food & Agriculture Livelihood & Entrepreneurship Materials & Circularity Production & Infrastructures Public Spaces & Land Use Social Care & Health Sports & Leisure Technology & Society

# data[].attributes.body
From Amy and Sally, Nottingham School of Art & Design: Our project invites people to imagine, explore and enact enticing alternative fashion worlds. There's an open invitation for people to contribute and/or organise their own activities in formal and informal education settings - lots of resources on the website (in 'Organise' section) if you'd like to get involved :)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fashion Fictions invites you to imagine and explore enticing alternative fashion Worlds.

# data[].attributes.body
“Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.”

―Eduardo Galeano

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Is The Use Of Utopy - Eduardo Galeano

# data[].attributes.body
Check out Ch. 2. The Ontoshift of the Commons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Free, Fair and Alive. The insurgent power of the Commons

# data[].attributes.body
Interesting take by Klein on teh techno-capitalist elites' 'utopias'.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Naomi Klein on Trump, Musk, Far Right & "End Times Fascism"

# data[].attributes.body
Extrativism: Food?

# data[].attributes.body
Either abandoned or used as fungi farms

# data[].attributes.body
Regional and local supply chains

No plastic wrappings or packaging

# data[].attributes.body
Equitable resource distribution brings a post-class society.

Deliberative/truly democratic

Decolonial/pluriversal

Energy - heat, airships, repurpose mines for storage of renewable energy.

Forest cities, eco-system, human population stabilises, multi-faceted kinship groupings.

Non-violent democratic revolution.

# data[].attributes.body
George Monbiot on the 'redestribution' of luxury to the public and the lifting of enclosures/exclusivity for the few

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In his lecture at the Schumaker Center, George Monbiot explains how the myth of land ownership was proliferated in a way that is undermining the wellbeing of our society. According to Monbiot, common land use is the only way to… Related Share with a friend

# data[].attributes.body
Meat

Pharmacy

Military and surveillance

Fossil fuels

# data[].attributes.headline
Excraction practices: What kind of things are mined/quarried?

# data[].attributes.subject
Excraction practices: What kind of things are mined/quarried?

# data[].attributes.body
Are we still mining the below?

Oil

Diamonds

Precious Metals

Chalk & Marble

Limestone

Q: Is there a limit to how much we can extract, according to the carrying capacity of the environment?

Q: How can we recycle/reuse extraction products?

How often are we buying/producing new devices?

Upcycling/circular economy

Systems of reclamation

# data[].attributes.headline
What/How are we growing/harvesting food?

# data[].attributes.subject
What/How are we growing/harvesting food?

# data[].attributes.body
Robin Wall Kimmerer draws on indigenous wisdom to suggest the practice of asking for permission from non-human beings before we cut/harvest/consume them. She explores how we can learn to 'listen' to the asparagus, for example, and whethere it gives us the consent to consume it to sustain life.

# data[].attributes.body
A feeling of messiness instead of order/sanitization

Less linear sense of time/production line

Slowing down

Contemplating the volumn of products already available

Visualizing 'waste' production and processing in public spaces

Quiet sound-scapes

# data[].attributes.body
People walking more

# data[].attributes.body
We're no longer producing new tech devices at the same rate

Luxury should be sth that is prevered for common/public spaces and is not exclusive to some --> redestribution of 'luxuries', lifting of enclosures

# data[].attributes.body
All humans are skilled in repairing technology that has been designed to last (no more planned obsolescence)

Powered by self regenerating solar panels

Type of academic research focused on post-extraction, has led the way into this and beyond.

Teaching and learning focuses on approaches that promote post-extractive worldviews (interdisciplinary, place based, collaborative, intergenerational)

Campus buildings are maintained and repaired with green infrastructure, e.g. replace roads with wildflower meadows, green roofs

# data[].attributes.body
1). Public luxury/private sufficiencies

2). Circular economy: Repair culture, repair culture competencies

3). Future Chronicles: spider web - clothes; kinetic energy

4). Non-humans: we will notice them more

5) Devices: light weight

6). Finance: the rich will not be venerated

7). Worldviews: multifaceted

8) libraries: ancient knowledge; places of learning; open mines - farms

9) quieter, collaborative and less competitive; no more neoliberalism; we can see the night sky clearer

# data[].attributes.body
positive real-world examples

# data[].attributes.body
more positive real-world examples

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Daily adventures in a better tomorrow. Discover the FutureHeroes solving the world's challenges.

# data[].attributes.body
Tzoumakers is an open lab in rural Greece, the mountains of Tzoumerka, for communities to cooperatively design and manufacture tools for small-scale agricultural production.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tzoumakers is an open lab for communities to cooperatively design and manufacture tools for small-scale agricultural production. Our vision is to create such sites in both villages and cities where citizens may seize technology into their own hands. These sites may be supported by municipalities and / or by multi-stakeholder cooperatives.

At this stage, however, we are primarily focusing on empowering the local communities to ensure the viability of our pilot. Hence, our website is mostly in Greek. We shall enrich it in due time.

In the meantime, you may check out the documentary about one of our actions which encapsulates our ambition.

Tzoumakers are located on the region of Tzoumerka, in the cultural center of the Kalentzi village (location on the map here).

To reach us, please feel free to write us at tzoumakers@protonmail.com. If that doesn't work, call us at (+30)6932124260 (you can also use Signal, Telegram etc and ask for Alekos).

(We would like to thank our friend Nicolas Garnier for the photo 🙂 )

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tzoumakers is an open lab for communities to cooperatively design and manufacture tools for small-scale agricultural production. Our vision is to create such sites in both villages and cities where citizens may seize technology into their own hands. These sites may be supported by municipalities and / or by multi-stakeholder cooperatives.

# data[].attributes.body
Acknowledge the harm that the university has historically been complicit in, and still is today, as well as aspirations for change

# data[].attributes.body
Carbon Ruins at Man Museum is a fantastic project

# data[].attributes.headline
Facilitate networks of ecotopian colleagues 

# data[].attributes.subject
Facilitate networks of ecotopian colleagues 

# data[].attributes.body
Provide institutional support, funding, etc. to support ecotopian pedagogical, research, etc. initiatives within and beyond the university. Matching rhetoric of 'sustainability' with action.

# data[].attributes.headline
Stories we live by, a free online course

# data[].attributes.subject
Stories we live by, a free online course

# data[].attributes.body
At the University of Liverpool, I introduced this course as part of our Sustainability in Education Strategy and I also use it in my own teaching. The course is accessible to and for all and it places emphasis on the positive alternative ways that we can reimagine our future. A second version (also adopted by UNSD) is in the making and should launch soon. https://www.storiescourse.org

# data[].attributes.body
Give space and voice to all communities in and outside the institution

# data[].attributes.body
A collective (and a book) that ventures a different take on ecoutopian pedagogies and social change through football as a means for public pedagogy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
AnotherFootball is a fellowship of friends. We build the football (and world) we desire, within the football (and world) we aim to transcend. Our vision: a sport rooted in solidarity, cooperation, sustainability, and the sheer joy of play.

# data[].attributes.body
Ecopoetikon aims to offer equal voice and representation to established ecopoets from around the world. Based in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Gloucestershire in the UK, Ecopoetikon is a developing research project that showcases a diverse international network of ecopoets through an online mapping project. We make available inspirational and thought-provoking work from ecopoets demonstrating commitment and creative innovation in their practice. Our accessible online interface aims to engage a wider audience with ecopoetry and to offer free teaching resources when you sign up to our online community.

# data[].attributes.headline
Explode teaching and learning outside the university 

# data[].attributes.subject
Explode teaching and learning outside the university 

# data[].attributes.headline
'Solarpunk and the pedagogical value of utopia' 

# data[].attributes.subject
'Solarpunk and the pedagogical value of utopia' 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Link to the JSE Ecomedia Literacy Issue Table of Contents Johnson JSE April 2020 Ecomedia LIteracy PDF
Abstract: This paper examines the ecologically oriented speculative fiction genre known as "solarpunk" and its value for the cause of environmental justice. This article argues that the status quo is characterized by relative inaction on the issue of fighting climate change and that this inaction is the result of an inability to imagine a "green" future. As a form of speculative fiction which explicitly depicts such green futures, solarpunk may be a valuable tool in promoting action by overcoming widespread cynicism about the future. Solarpunk fiction is thus a useful tool for sustainability educators because it encourages critical examination of one's environmental impact. This article details the ways in which solarpunk stories function as counter-hegemonic media by intertwining issues of race, gender, sexuality, class, and colonialism with an ecological ethic.
Keywords: solarpunk; speculative fiction; environmental justice; sustainability education; social imaginary; media
"It is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism." (Fisher, 2009, p. 2)

Day by day, the dichotomy between the end of the world and a fundamental change in our way of life becomes increasingly relevant. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published Global Warming of 1.5°C, a special report predicting both the consequences if warming reaches the threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and possible responses to warming. In it, the IPCC affirms that we are currently on track to pass 1.5°C warming in the next few decades, such that "ambitious mitigation actions are indispensable to limit warming to 1.5°C" (IPCC, 2018, p. 51). The consequences of such warming include "extreme drought, precipitation deficits, and risks associated with water availability... local species losses and, consequently, risks of extinction," and, for coastal areas, "sea level rise and changes to the salinity of coastal groundwater, increased flooding and damage to infrastructure" (pp. 178-181). The report strongly recommends that we limit warming to this threshold, as 2°C warming or above would produce substantially worse outcomes (p. 178).

Faced with these facts, how is one to react? For those aware of this information, and of the fact that we are not on track to limit our warming to 1.5°C, it can feel as though the clock is ticking and we are willfully ignoring it. The contrast between the action-inspiring energy which comes from the IPCC's report and the sheer immobility of our response mimics the energy of someone who knows they ought to stop procrastinating, but continues to do so regardless. How better to describe anxiety than energy in an actionless body? Thus, the contradiction between the idea that we ought to act, and the fact that we are not doing so, produces a special kind of anxiety. In Swedish, it's called klimatångest-climate anxiety, or climate despair. Increasingly, this describes the state of young people who get to watch the next several decades unfold. If we surpass 2°C of warming within the century, there will be some alive who will be able to recall a time when there was hope of averting climate disaster.

If we wish to avoid climate catastrophes, we must pursue a different future than the one we are on track for today. However, there is a problem: How do we move toward a future that we cannot imagine? Inspired by this problem, there is a unique task which accompanies fighting climate change: imagining what the world looks like in which we do succeed. Without direction, we cannot make demands. Without an image of what a changed world looks like, where does hope lie? If we persist in thinking that positive change is impossible, we will prove ourselves right. If we are to commit ourselves to consequential change, we need a positive vision. One such vision can be found in solarpunk. For media literacy educators, solarpunk is an example of alternative media texts that challenge ego-centric narratives with more sustainable counter-hegemonic paths for eco-centric possibilities.
What Is Solarpunk?
Solarpunk is a genre of ecologically-oriented speculative fiction characterized both by its aesthetic and itsunderlying socio-political vision (Sylva, 2015). In many ways (down to the name), solarpunk is the inverse of its moodier older sister, cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is perhaps most succinctly summed up in the phrase "high tech, low life," referring to the immense technological development imagined by the genre and its insurmountable social problems (Neon Dystopia). By contrast, solarpunk can be said to be "low carbon, high life." Pointedly, solarpunk has no commitment to "low tech" as such (as, for example, anarcho-primitivism does), but rather rejects technologies which are not in harmony with the environment. Indeed, many solarpunk stories imagine clever, high tech yet low carbon solutions to environmental problems (see Grzyb & Sparks, 2017). Where cyberpunk explores problems tackled by an ever-accelerating arms-race of digital technologies, solarpunk points toward a world where problems are solved in the most carbon-efficient and environmentally harmonious way possible (Dincher, 2017). Cyberpunk stories are filled with the bleak hopelessness of shady corporations and immense income inequality, while solarpunk offers worlds where people are learning to live in balance with one another in the process of learning to live in harmony with the world (Ulibarri, 2018b).

Within this more optimistic perspective, solarpunk is not homogenous-each author explores their own vision of the future. As such, many stories which are termed solarpunk take place in a period of transition from here to utopia, embodying a world where the fight for climate harmony is still ongoing. While there is a consensus from theorists that solarpunk ought to be hopeful, or depict a world on the path to eco-harmony, not all stories labelled solarpunk do so (Dincher, 2017; Ulibarri, 2018b). In part, this is because solarpunk (and related strains like eco-punk, climate fiction, etc.) is such a young genre: it is not particularly well-defined, and it does not yet have its definitive text. Surveying the literature, there can hardly be said to be many necessary or sufficient conditions for inclusion in solarpunk (Dincher, 2017; Ulibarri, 2018a). However, it is the notion of solarpunk as forward-looking, counter-dystopian, and hopeful which persists most clearly in the descriptions of the genre (Grzyb, 2017; Ulibarri, 2018a). In this sense, the pure idea of solarpunk-as espoused by its theorists and the editors of anthologies-tends to diverge in practice from the details of many of the short stories available (Dincher, 2017; Sylva, 2015; Ulibarri, 2018a; Ulibarri, 2018b).

Perhaps the first work of solarpunk fiction, broadly conceived, is Ernest Callenbach's (1975) Ecotopia. It reflects the economic revisions of a solarpunk world, the rejection of polluting forms of transportation in favor of walking, and the fundamental shift in a culture of consumption-and-waste. While it preceded the advent of the term solarpunk, Ecotopia hits many of the major chords which solarpunk hopes to tackle (although, it also lacks many of its more social-justice oriented features). In another oft-cited antecedent of solarpunk (Heer, 2015), Kim Stanley Robinson (1990) provides a look at an ecologically harmonious Orange County, California in Pacific Edge, depicting the structural and political changes necessary for a transition to eco-harmony. The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk (1993), of all of solarpunk's antecedents, is perhaps closest to the genre proper, with its emphasis on ecofeminism, sustainable economics, and local agriculture.

In her examination of solarpunk, author RoAnna Sylva (2015) breaks down the name "solarpunk" to illuminate its meanings. "Solar" is meant to evoke light, both the broad daylight in which life happens, and also the tone of the narrative. Where cyberpunk stories, such as Blade Runner, persist in a permanent, rainy darkness, solarpunk narratives feed on the warmth and beauty of a sunny day. "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. "Punk" evokes the rebellious and countercultural aspects of the genre. Fundamentally, solarpunk imagines an overturning of the status quo-challenging ecological and social injustices. Punk has a long history of anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian, and anti-capitalist thought. Solarpunk proudly carries this tradition into the twenty-first century. "Punk" also evokes individuality, although not individualism. By aligning with the marginalized, solarpunk resists the stifling taboos which promote uniformity. By depicting empowered, autonomous communities, neither the sameness of Soviet brutalism nor the false diversity of fifteen different potato-chip brands persist in a solarpunk world. Rather, communities are able to decide their own dress, speech, architecture, life-style, etc.
The Aesthetic
Aesthetically, solarpunk is heavily influenced by Afrofuturism, retrofuturism, and various strains of utopianism. From Afrofuturism, solarpunk takes an orientation toward diverse cultural forms (where the present, especially in the West, tends toward mass-cultural homogeneity), and acute concern for issues of racial and gender equality (see Goh, 2018). For an example of cultural diversity as a key theme, Yilun Fan's (2017) story "Speechless Love" features a protagonist aboard a hovercraft (over a semi-destroyed world) preserving the Chinese cultural heritage passed to them by their father. For an example of gender and representation, T.X. Watson's (2017) "The Boston Hearth Project" features a protagonist who explicitly uses "zie/zir" pronouns-the linguistic equivalent of "he/him" or "she/her" as used by those in the gender binary-offering representation for non-binary gender identities. Unique and diverse architecture and clothing, often reflective of cultures denigrated by Western hegemony, are elements of a solarpunk aesthetic with their roots in Afrofuturism. Olivia Louise's now-classic solarpunk concept art perhaps best exemplifies this, with its prominent depiction of people of color in clearly non-Western attire. As speculative fiction concerned with ecological harmony, solarpunk stories often take place in worlds with a past (or a collapsing present), like our own, of mass consumerism, environmental degradation, and colonial exploitation that the characters must deal with (Ulibarri, 2018a). This, too, grounds similarities between Afrofuturism and solarpunk, with an in-universe or thematic reckoning with these injustices.

Yet solarpunk also shares a lineage with retrofuturism, in more ways than one. It is worth mentioning that retrofuturism was once simply futurism, until that future failed to arrive. What the people of the 1950's imagined the future would look like is, quite often, the essence of retrofuturism. Similarly, solarpunk can be described as (one vision for) what the optimists of our time imagine the future to be. However, the stakes are much higher here. Adapting a phrase from Joel Kovel (2014), the future will be solarpunk, or there will be no future. Many of the aspects of the futures imagined in the 50's, because they never arrived, can still persist in solarpunk futures: monorails, dominantly glass architecture fused with greenery, etc. Much of retrofuturism is rejected by solarpunk: all things nuclear (both family and energy), the reliance on individual transportation (i.e., cars), and the glorification of consumerist culture.

One of the greatest influences on solarpunk is the utopian tradition: it imagines what the future can be, beyond what it is today. In this sense, it shares much with the work of Ursula K. Le Guin, perhaps the most oft-mentioned influence on the solarpunk genre (Heer, 2015; Ulibarri, 2018b). Le Guin's The Dispossessed is thoroughly a sci-fi story-it features interplanetary travel and a physicist pursuing the method for faster-than-light communication. Yet, its main claim to fame is its depiction of a planet guided by anarchist principles. Le Guin makes a good-faith effort to depict this society, explaining its difficulties and drawbacks. It is utopian, yes, but does not simply wish away its problems. It contains an critical reflection on what a society espousing economic and gender equality looks like-utopian, but not perfect. This notion of an "ambiguous utopia" is also something that solarpunk shares. A shift in relation to the environment, and even the socio-economic system, does not ameliorate all of the conflict in the human condition.

Having established its influences, what are some particular aesthetic components one might expect from a solarpunk world? With its concern for ecological harmony, solarpunk is often defined by its sustainable architecture-indeed, the solarpunk-architecture movement is well-established in concept-art. A real life example of solarpunk architecture might be Milan's Bosco Verticale, a pair of residential buildings whose facade is covered in plants. A solarpunk city, then, might be composed entirely of buildings-designed from scratch or adapted from older buildings-in the mold of Bosco Verticale. In imagining a sustainable world, solarpunk emphasizes sustainable materials and an efficient use of renewable resources. For example, Jerri Jerreat (2018) describes "skycities" in the story "Camping with City Boy." These are huge skyscrapers covered in lush greenery, growing crops or trees on every available surface, and fixing wastewater for the purpose of irrigation. Where solarpunk depicts urban settings, surfaces might be covered in plants (ideally crops) or solar panels. Both of these components reduce carbon consumption through a combination of passive cooling, renewable energy, and locally-sourcing food. Buildings may be constructed mainly from glass, as this enables passive heating and lighting and can also accommodate "solarglass" (Goh, 2018, p. 115): translucent, stained-glass-esque solar panels. As an aesthetic, solarpunk often chooses a world which radiates "ecological harmony," a fact which is beautifully depicted through the designed-space of the city itself.

The solarpunk aesthetic is not limited to the architectural. Natural colors, bright greens and blues, along with flowers of all kinds, often adorn the bodies of those living in a solarpunk world. Clothing reflects diverse cultural origins, or is homemade (or homemended) rather than mass produced. Musically, anything upbeat or acoustic can be solarpunk, especially if it is hopeful, ecological, counter-hegemonic, etc. Take, for example, the song " Greens" by independent artist Be Steadwell -who refers to her work as Queer Pop-which evokes ecological justice, hope, and love all at once:
I wanna keep you here for one hundred years I wanna run through trees I want you running right in front of me let's go and play with dirt let's go and save the earth ooh this love is so alive, alive, alive, alive!
That the liner-notes for her album quote bell hooks ("The practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination") and that her songs fit so well with the solarpunk aesthetic, is no coincidence. One strength of solarpunk is its insistence upon promoting and including the voices of those who are so often excluded in the present. That a woman of color's song about ecological justice and queer love could be an anthem of solarpunk reflects its aestheticcommitment to overturning prejudices and encouraging fun at the same time.
The Vision: Solarpunk and/as Justice
While solarpunk is described here as an aesthetic, it is just as substantially a vision of the society of the future. By engaging issues related to the environment, urbanism, and representation, solarpunk stories-implicitly or explicitly-take positions on political issues. The growing awareness of the relationship between overproduction, hyper-consumption, and economic growth on one hand, and environmental degradation on the other encourages people to recognize capitalism and environmental harmony cannot coexist (Klein, 2014). With its utopian influences, it thus makes sense for many solarpunk stories to take place in a post-capitalist world, or to contain explicitly anti-capitalist elements (Hudson, 2015). When it comes to the environment, the infinite growth on which capitalism depends becomes an enemy rather than an ally. Where the logic of capitalism centers on growth at all costs, solarpunk fits much better with an ethic of compassion and temperance in economics. Perhaps Gregory Scheckler (2018) phrases it best, "Grow. Give. Repeat" (p. 215). Wherever growth is fueled by environmental degradation, domestic and international exploitation, or a disregard for the well-being of humans or animals, solarpunk rejects growth. The rejection of infinite growth opens up the possibilities of an unconditional income (in kind or in cash), of ten-hour work weeks, and an approach to economics which generally puts people before profits.A solarpunk world might be lighter than our own because its people are not crushed by the demands of the corporate world and are free from the alienation of modern life. In a sense, the compassion which marks a solarpunk world is inherently antithetical to the logic of capitalism-for example, it is hard to imagine homelessness in a solarpunk world. Solarpunk, recalling the "punk" in its name, encourages depictions of autonomous communities (often urban) with non-hierarchical organization (Solarpunk Anarchist, 2018). Indeed, many of the solarpunk anthologies available in print are themselves crowd-sourced, funded by their readers rather than a centralized publishing house. Building from real-life examples, these take the form of urban-garden communes and energy co-ops, recognizing the relationship between community control of resources and environmental harmony. Incorporating the insights of social ecology, solarpunk tends to reflect an ethos that "the very notion of the domination of nature by man stems from the very real domination of human by human" (Bookchin, 1982, p. 1).

The vision of solarpunk is one which mirrors the growing sense that the issues of climate change and environmental degradation are interrelated with all other social issues. When imagining the future, is there any reason to imagine a future with such massive technological and cultural change while preserving old prejudices? Given the inherently political nature of environmental justice-especially its anticapitalist elements-it often becomes impossible to imagine progress in one sphere without extending it to others. Solarpunk is a chance to imagine what the future could be, and this means imagining what a world would look like which addressed its injustices (rather than the simply-utopian path of imagining them away without a plan) (Mills, 2005; Mills, 2009). Three issues that solarpunk is particularly well-suited to address, to be discussed here, are: environmental racism, ability and disability, and representation. To say that solarpunk can "address" these issues is to say that it offers a depiction of a future where these concerns are recognized and then tackled by the communities affected by them. In this sense, it can serve as a guiding-light, depicting a path to the resolution of these problems.

Perhaps the most fruitful of these topics from the perspective of solarpunk is environmental racism. Environmental racism refers to situations of environmental access, hazard and degradation which disproportionately harm people of color. In particular, this often occurs at the intersection of racialized housing and urban planning, where environmental hazards are relocated away from wealthier, primarily white neighborhoods toward poorer communities of color. Because these communities often lack the institutional power of white neighborhoods, hazards such as factories or waste facilities will often be constructed near these communities. The utopian and architectural background of solarpunk infuses an imminent concern for urban planning, particularly the distribution of access to resources and/or exposure to hazards. High-quality, safe, and clean-energy public transportation is a mainstay of the worlds solarpunk evokes. For example, the public "ziptrains" in Jerreat's (2018) skycities are depicted as an explicit alternative to the "solo cars" found in our current cities (p. 85). Today, in car-dependent cities such as Los Angeles, public transportation generally accesses the poorest neighborhoods, while freeways pass through them. In stories such as Jerreat's, solarpunk reimagines the relationship between transportation, race, and poverty, by abolishing the class-distinction between those who drive and those who ride. Indeed, that there would be cars in a solarpunk world is a suspect notion, with bicycles taking center-stage along with public transportation (Jerreat, 2018). The justice-oriented architectural and urbanist elements of these narratives recall Adam Flynn's (2014) formulation regarding solarpunk: " infrastructure as a form of resistance."

Quite similar to the issue of transportation and race is the issue of food-access, race, and wealth. This issue is summed up in the notion of a food desert-an urban area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, often on lines of race and poverty. Solarpunk frequently depicts communities where gardens are built into the architecture (à la Bosco Verticale), are added onto existing buildings (i.e., rooftop gardens), or incorporated into urban planning (i.e., large community gardens in otherwise empty plots of land) (Goh, 2018; Jerreat, 2018; Scheckler, 2018). That locally-sourcing food is an effective way to combat food deserts fits well with the general solarpunk ethic of minimizing powered-transportation, maximizing community autonomy, and glorifying the beauty of plants. The rejection of environmentally harmful forms of production, and of exploitative corporations, leads to a transition away from highly processed ("junk") foods. This pairs well with a glorification of culturally diverse cuisines, especially when the growth-oriented time-economy which encourages fast-food is transcended.

Solarpunk also has much to say about the global expression of environmental racism that is the disproportionate impact of climate change on those who least contributed to it. The wealthiest 10% of people in the world are responsible for nearly 50% of global carbon emissions, while the poorest 50% are responsible for only around 10% of the same emissions (Oxfam, 2015). Due to the ongoing history of colonialism, the wealthiest 10% of people are primarily to be found in Europe and North America. To transition from the status quo to a solarpunk world makes the greatest demands on these people to reduce their carbon footprint (to net zero) and pursue a generations-long project of carbon sequestration. In the language of environmental ethics, solarpunk may take a "beneficiary pays" approach to global climate change, charging those whose lives have most benefited from burning carbon with the duty to sacrifice comforts in pursuit of justice (Atkins, 2018). Thus, in the Global North solarpunk may manifest as a detechnologization, as a transition away from an addiction to fossil-fuels or amenities such as air-conditioning and always-on electricity. Again, Jerreat's (2018) "Camping with City Boy," taking place in Ontario and Quebec, represents a quintessential example. In the Global South, however, solarpunk might appear as (ecologically and economically) sustainable industrialization, brought on by some combination of reparations for colonialism, debt-reversal, and monetary compensation for the disproportionate impacts of global warming (Islam & Winkel, 2017). Antonio Luiz M. C. Costa's (2018) "Once Upon A Time in a World" tackles these issues, including direct reference to the demands made by the Global South onto the Global North. Similarly, solarpunk may seek to imagine a future where settler-states (such as the United States, Canada, or Australia) reckon with the reality of settler-colonialism, through a meaningful recognition of the demands for ecological justice, autonomy, and reparations made by indigenous activists. Arguably, Jane Rawson's (2017) "The Right Side of History" takes a sci-fi approach to this question, implanting the consciousness of settlers into the bodies of native Australian species. Indeed, the potential for indigenous influence in solarpunk should not be underrated as the environmental justice movement is increasingly cognizant of the importance of indigenous ecological knowledge (Four Arrows, 2019; Kimmerer, 2015). For an example of indigeneity in solarpunk, Andre S. Silva's (2018) "Xibalba Dreams of the West" depicts a technologically-advanced, never-colonized Mayan culture.

In addition to issues of environmental racism, solarpunk worlds serve as a space to depict ability-conscious societies. Solarpunk demands the reorganization of an entire lived-space, which allows for the integration of questions of accessibility at the level of the basic structure of society. The question of accessibility is at the core of solarpunk's vision. As observed by T.X. Watson, the Art Nouveau fonts common in the solarpunk aesthetic have been compared to fonts designed for those with dyslexia, demonstrating the potential incorporation of accessibility into the very structure of the world. A solarpunk world, like that depicted by Jerreat (2018), must at some point examine the question: how does one accommodate mobility-related disabilities in a low-carbon environment? Imagine a society where each person has an energy budget, such that they are only allocated so much electricity-usage per week. Those who cannot take the stairs, and thus must use elevators, will be at an unjust disadvantage in such a society (Sen, 1999). Thus, an exception may be necessary-solarpunk societies aim not only to be ecologically harmonious, but also to be humane. The rejection of the automobile means there must be robust accessibility accommodations on public transportation for people with visual impairments and mobility-related disabilities. These are the requirements of any just society, not simply a solarpunk one, but they are made solarpunk by the fact that they additionally intertwine with the vision of eco-harmony.

As a genre of fiction, solarpunk is subject to the discussions which surround any piece of literature. Few genres have as one of their core principles the topic of representation (Afrofuturism being a notable exception), yet if any do, solarpunk is one of them. For example, the well-circulated solarpunk concept art of Olivia Louise consciously and pointedly features women of color in prominent roles. The relationships between race, ability, and environment are fertile ground for diversity of representation, especially of people of color (including people from the Global South). Notably, one of the few solarpunk anthologies to date was published in Brazil, originally in Portuguese (Lodi-Ribeiro, 2018)-in this sense, it constitutes not only the representation in-fiction of people of color, but also the direct representation of voices from the Global South. Solarpunk has been a space for the representation of women, trans folks, and non-binary people, with the promise that the future will be one which overcomes its history of misogyny and patriarchy. By the same token, solarpunk provides a space for the depiction of a future free of heterosexism, a future beyond compulsory monogamy (like the one Le Guin depicts in The Dispossessed), or a future beyond gender altogether. In a notable example, Daniel Jose Older's (2017) "Dust" plays with gender and sex, depicting a character whose sexual anatomy changes with increasing frequency. Solarpunk, as a genre imminently concerned with justice, makes representation central to its structure and message-representation of various levels of mental and physical ability, of various genders, races, and sexualities.
Conclusion: Solarpunk as Pedagogy
For young people today, there is a persistent and creeping threat. This threat is, paradoxically, not climate change, but climate grief. That is, a well-organized and conscious society could quite easily address the issue of climate change in the next few decades-by transitioning to all renewable energy, dramatically cutting down on consumption, and shifting away from an economic system that glorifies limitless growth. However, a society which believes that climate change is inevitable-that "things cannot be otherwise"-is a doomed society. I am reminded of the opening lines of Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism:

A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization.

A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken civilization.

A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization.(Césaire, 1972, p. 9)

These words may as well have been written specifically for the issue of climate change-indeed, that they were written for colonialism serves to underscore the relationship between the two. Every moment that climate change is not fought, with every available tool, is a moment that we, namely those in the Global North, are choosing convenience over justice. To confront climate change as an inevitability-to give in to climate grief-is to renounce the cause of justice just when it is most crucially thrust upon us. While there is no silver-bullet to fight the growing nihilistic resignation of climate grief, there are good reasons to believe that solarpunk is an important part of the fight.

As speculative fiction that is imminently concerned with ecology, solarpunk literature lies at the intersection of sustainability education and ecocriticism. Roughly, ecocriticism refers to the study of literature through an environmental or ecological lens, with particular emphasis on the depiction of "nature" in the text (Cohen, 2004; Glotfelty, 1996; Howarth, 1995). In his landmark piece of ecocriticism, William Rueckert (1978) infuses ecological principles into literary criticism, arguing that the creativity inherent to literature is "part of the energy pathways which sustain life" (p. 108). Just as energy from the sun flows through ecosystems, from photosynthesizers to apex predators (and back again), so too does engaging with literature enable creative energy to flow through the human community. The creative energy of literature is "the sun upon which life in the human community depends," the force which inspires thought and enables action (p. 109). Rueckert's literary ecology draws a direct and literal connection between pedagogy, literary criticism, and ecological harmony. He explains:

Literature in general and individual works in particular are one among many human suns. We need to discover ways of using this renewable energy-source to keep that other ultimate energy-source [the sun]...flowing into the biosphere. We need to make some connections between literature and the sun, between teaching literature and the health of the biosphere... One of the reasons why teaching and the classroom are so important (for literature, anyway) is that they intensify and continue this process [of energy-circulation] by providing the environment in which the stored energy of poetry can be released to carry on its work of creation and community. (pp. 109-111)

Rueckert encourages us to view the teaching of literature as a mechanism by which to disperse creative energy among a community (the classroom), for the purpose of producing change within and without that community. Solarpunk worlds are imbued with the kind of energy that Rueckert is talking about-not only the empathy that inspires a better world, but also visions of the practical solutions which enable it. The genre of solarpunk is perhaps the peak manifestation of "an ecological poetics," a literary vision for the future of the human-environment relationship (p. 114).

Sustainability education seeks, among other things, to encourage the "development of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes necessary for transitioning to a more sustainable and just society for all" (Evans, 2019, p. 11). That this could be considered the mission-statement of solarpunk itself is no accident. Science fiction has frequently been cited as a source of inspiration for new technologies and social developments, from Asimov's "robots" to the increasingly identifiable figure of the cyborg (Haraway, 1991; Idier, 2000). Indeed, the promise of prefigurative fiction is not simply that it may predict the future, but that it will produce it. Just as someone inspired by the mechanical men in Asimov's stories may pursue robotics, the sustainable technologies, societies, and architecture of solarpunk hold the potential to inspire their own existence. In this way, solarpunk fiction can be considered pedagogical: through depiction and sparking the imagination, the knowledge, skills, and creativity necessary for producing an ecological future make their way into the hearts and minds of readers. This is a virtue which can be brought out either through reading solarpunk fiction or writing it-indeed, writing solarpunk demands that students consider what aspects of the socio-economic structure contribute to environmental harm and imagine how they can be overcome or improved. Similarly, the emphasis on climate justice which is baked into the genre promotes the specific values and attitudes necessary for a transition to sustainability, in part because that is solarpunk's raison d'être. As Ursula Le Guin (1974) writes, "if science fiction has a major gift to offer literature, I think it is just this: the capacity to face an open universe. Physically open, psychically open. No doors shut" (pp. 24-25). Solarpunk worlds leave open the physical (read: economic and technological) door for sustainability in their physicality, illuminating readers with the knowledge and skills of its inhabitants; solarpunk worlds leave open the psychic (read: ethical and cultural) door for sustainability in their commitment to racial, gender, and climate justice. Le Guin emphasizes the way that science fiction teaches readers to consider the sheer possibility facing them, the fact that the future is not yet spoken for. In this sense, science fiction provides fertile ground for literary teaching or analysis which alters the social imaginary of its readers. As Buckles (2018) explains, "the social imaginary is the common understanding that makes social practices both possible and legitimate" (p. 16). As detailed above, science fiction has the ability to alter the landscape of what readers believe to be possible, either technologically or socially. Solarpunk proudly advances this pedagogical tradition, itself contributing to the production of an "ecological social imaginary"-that is, one which is "based around a global, future-oriented and ecocentric view of the world" (Buckles, 2018, p. 125).

Solarpunk comes to us as a "message from the future," as stories from the perspectives of people who have succeeded in mobilizing against climate change. In what will inevitably be considered a core, politically-important piece of solarpunk fiction, " A Message From the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," an older Ocasio-Cortez explains what the future looks like, and how they got there (Ocasio-Cortez & Lewis, 2019). The video describes the role of wealth redistribution, the fundamental changes to employment, lifestyle, planning, etc.-in short, it offers a roadmap to a solarpunk future. The frame on which the video ends displays the caption "we can be whatever we have the courage to see," reflecting the relationship between hopeful fiction and climate justice. Behind the caption is a group of racially and culturally diverse people in a solar-paneled, greened city. This combination of hope, gardens, diversity, and high-quality public transportation is definitively solarpunk. Because solarpunk comes from the future, it breaks the illusion that things cannot be that way. If today it is "easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism," then, solarpunk aims to imagine the beautiful future which climate catastrophe threatens to take away from us. Perhaps, by doing the heavy-lifting of imagining the future for us, solarpunk can change the formulation, can break our self-induced coma and spur us to action. As Strazds (2019) puts it, "when we inspire hope, we inspire action, and we see change."

Fiction can teach us what the future might be by showing us that, against the "trickery and deceit" which makes it difficult to imagine a better world, things really can change. Fiction offers understandings of the world (or its possible future) which are novel, which have never been expressed before. In this sense, fiction offers a new vocabulary in which to understand the present and the future. Solarpunk fiction is "a tool for doing something which could not have been envisaged prior to the development of a particular set of descriptions, those which it itself helps to provide" (Rorty, 1989, p. 13). Those who do not see a future of successfully combating climate change are not likely to take the steps to get there. Climate anxiety emerges not in the face of climate change, but in the face of our collective unwillingness to act on it. To avoid the trap of nihilistic climate grief, we need to genuinely and deeply understand that we can and will make the necessary changes. Solarpunk, with its aesthetic beauty and poignant vision, demonstrates that the changes required of those living in the Global North need not be sacrifices-that the future holds more wonder if it is solarpunk than if it persists as the pseudo-cyberpunk world we live in today. If resistance to action on climate change comes from fears of losing one's standard of living, solarpunk demonstrates that these changes are worth it, from the perspectives of justice and well-being. Solarpunk's commitments to justice, to love, and to beauty are empowering. It is an antidote to climate grief; it is the kind of energy that can propel action. As a culture, we are "unable to make clear exactly what it is that [we want] to do before developing the language in which [we succeed] in doing it" (Rorty, 1989, p. 13). If that language is anything, it is the aesthetic and narrative language of solarpunk.

Recommended Solarpunk Literature

1. Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

2. Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers edited by Sarena Ulibarri

3. Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-speculation edited by Phoebe Wagner & Brontë Christopher Wieland

4. The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

5. Suncatcher: Seven Days in the Sky by Alia Gee

References
Atkins, S. (2018). Have you benefited from carbon emissions? You may be a "morally objectionable free rider." Environmental Ethics, 40(3), 283-296.

Bookchin, M. (1982). The ecology of freedom. Palo Alto, CA: Cheshire Books.

Buckles, J. (2018). Education, sustainability, and the ecological social imaginary: Connective education and global change. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.

Césaire, A. (1972). Discourse on colonialism. (J. Pinkham, Trans.). New York, NY: Monthly Review Press. (Original work published 1955)

Cohen, M. P. (2004). Blues in the green: Ecocriticism under critique. Environmental History, 9(1), 9-36.

Costa, A. (2018). Once upon a time in a world. In G. Lodi-Ribeiro (Ed.), Solar punk: Ecological and fantastical stories in a sustainable world (pp. 83-115).(F. Fernandes, Trans.). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Dincher, A. (2017). On the origins of solarpunk. In P. Wagner & B. Wieland (Eds.), Sunvault: Stories of solarpunk and eco-speculation (pp. 7-8). Nashville, TN: Upper Rubber Boot.

Evans, N. (2019). Teacher education and education for sustainability. In J. Ferreira, N. Evans, J. M. Davis, & R. Stevenson, Learning to embed sustainability in teacher education (pp. 7-21). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Fan, Y. (2017). Speechless love. In P. Wagner & B. Wieland (Eds.), Sunvault: Stories of solarpunk and eco-speculation (pp. 26-31). Nashville, TN: Upper Rubber Boot.

Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist Realism: Is there really no alternative? Hants, UK: Zero Books.

Flynn, A. (2014, September 4). "Solarpunk: Notes toward a manifesto," Hieroglyph. Retrieved from https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/

Four Arrows (2019, May 20). The media have missed a crucial message of the UN's biodiversity report. The Nation. Retrieved from https://www.thenation.com/article/biodiversity-un-report-indigenous-worldview/

Glotfelty, C. (1996). Introduction: Literary studies in an age of environmental crisis. In C. Glotfelty & H. Fromm (Eds.), The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology (pp. xv-xxxvii). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

Goh, J. (2018). A field of sapphires and sunshine. In S. Ulibarri (Ed.), Glass and gardens: Solarpunk summers (pp. 107-118). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Grzyb, L. (2017). Ecopunk! In L. Grzyb & C. Sparks (Eds.), Ecopunk! Speculative tales of radical futures (pp. 15-16). Greenwood, Western Australia: Ticonderoga Publications.

Haraway, D. (1991). A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century. In Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (pp. 149-181). New York, NY: Routledge.

Heer, J. (2015, November 9). The new utopians. The New Republic. Retrieved from https://newrepublic.com/article/123217/new-utopians

Howarth, W. (1995). Some principles of ecocriticism. In C. Glotfelty & H. Fromm (Eds.), The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology (pp. 69-91). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

Hudson, A. (2015, October 14.). "On the political dimensions of solarpunk." Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/solarpunks/on-the-political-dimensions-of-solarpunk-c5a7b4bf8df4

Idier, D. (2000). Science fiction and technology scenarios: Comparing Asimov's robots and Gibson's cyberspace. In Technology in society, 22(2), 255-272.

IPCC, (2018). Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. In Press.

Islam, N., & Winkel, J. (2017, October). Climate change and social inequality. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2017/wp152_2017.pdf

Jerreat, J. (2018). Camping with city boy. In S. Ulibarri (Ed.), Glass and gardens: Solarpunk summers (pp. 84-106). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Kimmerer, R. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.

Klein, N. (2014). This changes everything: Capitalism vs. the planet. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Kovel, J. (2014). The future will be ecosocialist, because without ecosocialism, there will be no future. In F. Goldin, D. Smith, & M. Smith (Eds.), Imagine: Living in a socialist U.S.A. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.

Le Guin, U. K. (1974). On teaching science fiction. In J. Williamson (Ed.), Teaching science fiction: Education for tomorrow (pp. 21-25). Philadelphia, PA: Owlswick Press.

Lodi-Ribeiro, G. (Ed.). (2018). Solar punk: Ecological and fantastical stories in a sustainable world.(F. Fernandes, Trans.). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Mills, C. (2005). "Ideal theory" as ideology. Hypatia, 20(3), 165-184.

Mills, C. (2009). Rawls on race/Race in Rawls. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 47(S1), 161-184.

Neon Dystopia (2018). What is cyberpunk? [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.neondystopia.com/what-is-cyberpunk/

Ocasio-Cortez, A., & Lewis, A. (2019, April 17). A message from the future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Intercept. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9uTH0iprVQ

Older, D. (2017). Dust. In P. Wagner & B. Wieland (Eds.), Sunvault: Stories of solarpunk and eco-speculation (pp. 58-70). Nashville, TN: Upper Rubber Boot.

Oxfam (2015, December 2). Extreme carbon inequality. Oxfam. Retrieved from https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/extreme-carbon-inequality

Rawson, J. (2017). The right side of history. In L. Grzyb & C. Sparks. Ecopunk! Speculative tales of radical futures (pp. 39-46). Greenwood, Western Australia: Ticonderoga Publications.

Robinson, K. S. (1990). Pacific Edge. New York, NY: Tor Books.

Rorty, R. (1989), Contingency, irony and solidarity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Rueckert, W. (1978). Literature and ecology: An experiment in ecocriticism. In C. Glotfelty & H. Fromm (Eds.), The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology (pp. 105-123). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

Scheckler, G. (2018). Grow, give, repeat. In S. Ulibarri (Ed.), Glass and gardens: Solarpunk summers (pp. 201-223). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Sen, A. (1999). Justice: Means and freedom. In Philosophy of Rawls: Development and main outlines of Rawls' theory of justice (pp. 193-203). New York, NY: Garland Publishing.

Silva, A. (2018). Xibalba dreams of the west. In G. Lodi-Ribeiro (Ed.), Solar punk: Ecological and fantastical stories in a sustainable world (pp. 155-186).(F. Fernandes, Trans.). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Solarpunk Anarchist (2018, May 15). Solarpunk as anarchist infrapolitics. Retrieved from https://solarpunkanarchists.com/2018/05/15/solarpunk-as-anarchist-infrapolitics/

Sparks, C. (2017). Science fiction and climate fiction: Contemporary literatures of purpose. In L. Grzyb & C. Sparks. Ecopunk! Speculative tales of radical futures (pp. 17-20). Greenwood, Western Australia: Ticonderoga Publications.

Starhawk (1993). The Fifth Sacred Thing. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Strazds, L. (2019). Radical hope: Transforming sustainability. The Journal of Sustainability Education, 21. Retrieved from http://www.susted.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Strazds-JSE-December-2019-General-Issue-PDF.pdf

Sylva, R. (2015). Solarpunk: We are golden, and our future is bright. Sci-Fi Ideas. Retrieved from www.scifiideas.com/writing-2/solarpunk-we-are-golden-and-our-future-is-bright/

Ulibarri, S. (2018a). Introduction. In S. Ulibarri (Ed.), Glass and gardens: Solarpunk summers (pp. 1-2). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Ulibarri, S. (2018b). Preface. In G. Lodi-Ribeiro (Ed.), Solar punk: Ecological and fantastical stories in a sustainable world (pp. 1-3).(F. Fernandes, Trans.). Albuquerque, NM: World Weaver Press.

Watson, T. X. (n.d.). Solarpunk thoughts - accessibility [web log post]. Retrieved from https://txwatson.tumblr.com/post/97088763563/solarpunk-thoughts-accessibility.

Watson, T.X. (2017). The Boston hearth project. In P. Wagner & B. Wieland (Eds.), Sunvault: Stories of solarpunk and eco-speculation (pp. 26-31). Nashville, TN: Upper Rubber Boot.

| | PRINT:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"Solarpunk" & the Pedagogical Value of Utopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Link to the JSE Ecomedia Literacy Issue Table of Contents Johnson JSE April 2020 Ecomedia LIteracy PDF Abstract: This paper examines the ecologically oriented speculative fiction genre known as "solarpunk" and its value for the cause of environmental justice.

# data[].attributes.headline
When engaging in teaching and learning activities…

# data[].attributes.subject
When engaging in teaching and learning activities…

# data[].attributes.body
Do not just critique, but also explore and share alternatives

Consider the language you’re using

Consider what you and your students can resist, refuse, reimagine right here and now

# data[].attributes.body
Imagining the university as a place where decolonised methods are intertwined with the Eurocentric methods

# data[].attributes.body
Be clear about who 'we' is in the document

# data[].attributes.body
Recognise, understand and feel, deeply, that the status quo is eroding the socio-ecological conditions necessary for the continuation of the university.

Find a way to treat this as 'real', rather than as an add-on to university operations that can be used as a marketing tool.

# data[].attributes.body
Focus on the level of transformation that is needed and keep the appropriate level of intensity throughout the plan. Ditch the metrics! (or at least think what should be done even if there were no metrics to chase)

# data[].attributes.body
Arscoil na Mara - school in Tramore, Co. Waterford in Ireland who (with help of dedicated teachers and management) Environmental Development Leadership Programme with an Outdoor Classroom to learn topics focusing on sustainability, extractivism, colonialism from their peers. A group of Student Leaders each year apply to be part of the programme and teach younger years the topics of interest each week, all student leaders carry on the programme throughout their school career. The students learn outside and learn practical skills such as planting, building bat boxes while they are given mini-lectures on the topics of the week.

# data[].attributes.headline
Where is the more than human in the ‘collaboration and deep learning’ referred to in the ESS introduction?

# data[].attributes.subject
Where is the more than human in the ‘collaboration and deep learning’ referred to in the ESS introduction?

# data[].attributes.body
Are there things that happen already that reflect/tap into this?

Is there more that could be done?

What cultures do we learn from to do this better/more?

Where do we take inspiration from?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Robin Wall Kimmerer: Author, Speaker, Teacher

# data[].attributes.headline
Using backcasting & the story cube method 

# data[].attributes.subject
Using backcasting & the story cube method 

# data[].attributes.body
An activity to create a vision of a sustainable future that is playful and insightful. Students take it in turns to roll a dice to choose which part of the story they will imagine (e.g. a place, a character, the 'atmosphere', an event). Overtime to story builds from each students ideas. Then work backwards to critically explore how the imagined future could be made reality. Here is an example written from the MA Education for a Sustainable Environment course.

The Piano Tree

At the edge of town, where streetlights flicker and brambles push through fences, an old woman stepped into the woodland. Autumn wrapped around her—amber air, crunch of conkers underfoot, acorns tumbling like tiny thuds of memory.

Then: piano music.

Rising through mist and mycelium, the melody curled through the trees. She followed it to the clearing where the piano stood—half-wood, half-wild. Moss bloomed on its legs. Ivy threaded the keys.

The town began to arrive. Children with muddy cheeks. Teenagers rolling their eyes, then softening. Grandparents with stories folded into their skin. They gathered round the piano as foxes slipped through ferns and owls blinked from above.

And the worms began to sing—yes, the worms—low, vibrating rhythms from beneath the earth.

They wiggled with joy, spreading love in the soil. “Lovers,” someone laughed, “the Viagra of the woodland!”

They danced. They sang. They shared stories of foggy mornings, broken hearts, and hedgehogs no one had seen in years. Someone whispered the name of a moth now rare, another spoke of toads, of beetles, of songs lost with the nightjar.

Acorns cracked open near their feet. Life, still daring.

In that moment, under the tree’s old gaze, the forgotten were remembered. The forest, the people, and the worms hummed the same tune.

And the woman smiled. “This,” she said, “is how we protect what matters.”

# data[].attributes.body
r.marron@mmu.ac.uk

# data[].attributes.body
The social ecological storytelling game where you and your friends build a better world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Order Now!

Our Kickstarter campaign for an expanded second edition reached over 200% of our goal! You can still use the link below to place an order.

Build the Future

Solarpunk Futures is a storytelling game where players imagine the pathways to a desirable world from the perspective of a utopian future. Players use a deck of cards to remember Ancestors and work together using Tools and Values to overcome a set of real-world Challenges. Through dialogue and collaborative worldbuilding, collective and visionary narratives emerge of a new society, along with plausible scenarios for how to get there.

Solarpunk Futures is a project by Solarpunk Surf Club, led by members Nick Lyell & Max Puchalsky

Get Updates from Solarpunk Surf Club

Featured In

Watch a livestreamed playthough hosted by Veterans for Peace: with Solarpunk Surf Club and one with Centro Solidario and Debt 4 Climate

"- Justine Norton-Kerston, Get this game, play it, tell stories, build utopias." Solarpunk Magazine

"A great set of concepts and tools for playfully cracking open the too-oft-foreclosed possibilities for better futures. - Andrew Dana Hudson, Author of Working with these cards will expand your visionary vocabulary and sharpen your ability to imagine how we might individually and collectively tackle the massive challenges we face on our way through the existential bottleneck of the 21st century." Our Shared Storm

"- Rob Thomas, Flying in the face of dystopian fiction and doom-and-gloom predictions is a new game from Madison arts collective Solarpunk Surf Club." The Cap Times

Solarpunk Futures is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Read more.

You can download and play our free print & play version.

Solarpunk?

Solarpunk is a visionary utopian politics and aesthetic that critically engages the reality of capitalist catastrophe while maintaining a radical optimism about humanity's hopes for a communal, ecological future.

It's a restorative justice process at a planetary scale - among people and between humans and non-human nature. That means reclaiming pieces of pre-capitalist culture, material accountability for old practices and radical adaptability toward new ones, all while maintaining a utopian and ecological vision for the potentialities of our interrelations in the present.

Solarpunk is being actively defined by the artists and activists co-creating it. Here are links to some of the amazing and inspiring work in and around the Solarpunk genre:

How it works

The primary game, called the Festival of Remembrance, revolves around four sets of cards. Each player gets an Ancestor and at least one Tool and Value. Over a series of four phases, the players collectively "remember" how their Ancestors faced and overcame a Challenge. Examples of Ancestors include Grower, Engineer; Values include care, responsibility, usufruct; Tools include recycled materials, equipment library, off-grid energy; and Challenges include borders, ableist infrastructure, climate refugee crisis.

The players are guided through a collaborative storytelling process, imagining the pathway to their utopian future. In a conversation that can range from solemn to comical in tone, the players decide collectively how they worked together and why it took all of them to overcome the Challenge.

Ancestor

Who were you and your friends during the great transition from capitalism to utopia.

Tools

What knowledge, resources, skills, or institutions did you draw on in your struggle.

Values

What visionary ethics guided you.

Challenges

What aspect of the world before was reformed, transformed, or abolished.

Solarpunk Futures is an artist's game for collaborative utopian visioning, working in (and against) the conventions of tabletop role-playing. The game employs backcasting, where players reverse engineer presupposed utopian outcomes by grounding them in present material realities. Solarpunk Futures is designed to create conditions of collective, rather than individual, utopian imagining, and avoid the banal extrapolation of present trends into dystopian imaginaries. The game challenges people to envision a utopian future and to collectively engage in the real planning around what it might take to get there.

The game's visual language engages the iconographic traditions of Art Nouveau stained glass, German expressionist woodcuts, and Japanese karuta through a pastel palette informed by palliative design. Computer augmented printmaking techniques involving a robotic drawing arm and AI-image processing concretize a microcosmic example of technology integrated within democratic social processes and emancipatory goals. The entire game is free to play forever and released under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. The game's social structure enables players to approach the seemingly insurmountable challenges of today's material world through serious play, interdependence, and radical possibility. This unity of means and ends in design, production, practice, and distribution is intended to sublate the game's politics of utopia-as-process, in which each component forms a supportive aspect of the holistic body of work.

Solarpunk Futures can therefore be conceived as a processual system-a dialectic between the printed matter, technics, design, and illustration as well as the relational arts of gameplay, utopianpolitik futuring, and dialogue itself. Through the collaborative performance of memory, visionary narratives emerge of a free and ecological society-rooted in the limitless potentialities of our interrelations in the present.

Solarpunk Futures will be played in public spaces, among an intergenerational audience of teens and adults. Particularly, Solarpunk Futures will be relevant to activists and organizers, educators and librarians, artists and performers, nonprofits, and existing community groups as a fun and engaging way to bring people together and inspire immediate action toward compelling visions of the future.

The project is supported in part by grants from the Madison Arts Commission and Dane Arts, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board, Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our Kickstarter campaign for an expanded second edition reached over 200% of our goal! You can still use the link below to place an order. Build the Future Solarpunk Futures is a storytelling game where players imagine the pathways to a desirable world from the perspective of a utopian future.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ecotopian pedagogies_Uni of Manchester_June 2025