My association with Solarpunk began on the mailing list that organised weirdshitcon 2012.
Shortly after, Adam Flynn began posting to solarpunks.net and published the essay: ‘On the Need for New Futures‘. Laying the foundational questions Solarpunk continues to explore.
I later joined solarpunks.net as a co-admin in 2014 and have (along side many others) been an articulate voice and steward of the Solarpunk community ever since.
This page collects various writing, interviews and talks I have given about Solarpunk over the years.
If you are looking to contact me about Solarpunk, or my involvement in movement’s early years you can do so here.
Solarpunk Essays
Solarpunk
A Container for More Fertile Futures
Solarpunk Magazine 2022:
There is no one fixed future, given the choice between ‘the only solution’ and ‘possible options,’ solarpunk will always choose the latter.
DIY Punk, Cultural Fracking, The Chrome Of Yestermorrow, Cyberpunk, Solarpunk, Visions of the Future and the Anthropogreen at Unsound 2019
Solarpunk
A Grand Dress Rehearsal
A brief history of Solarpunk, Cyberpunk and Visions of the Future, Narrative Stategies and Strategic Narratives
Transcribed by Open Transcripts
Solarpunk
A Reference Guide
Link repository compiled by me collating important contributions to Solarpunk movement up to 2018.
Press
- Solarpunk Is Not About Pretty Aesthetics. It’s About the End of Capitalism
Interview – Vice/Motherboard - Why “Solarpunk” Gives Me Hope for a More Sustainable Future
Interview – Yes Magazine - Solarpunk Is a Tumblr Vibe. It’s Also a Practical Movement
Interview/Article – Builtin - This is All Happening Right Now: Solarpunk, cultural fracking and the real Jurassic Park with Jay Springett
Podcast/Interview – Interdependence.fm
- Solarpunk – The Sunny Therapy Against The Endtimes – [German’]
Interview – arte.tv - ‘Solar Punk, a framework for hopeful futures’
Interview – Clot Mag - Anthem of the Sun Interviewed
Interviewed – Real Life Mag - Is Ornamenting Solar Panels a Crime?
Interviewed – E-flux
Solarpunks.net is a blog dedicated to the emerging subgenre of science fiction premised on the separation of economies from fossil fuels.
Solarpunk explores what free energy sources and decentralised energy infrastructure could mean for future society. A movement that seeks to answer and embody the question “what does a sustainable civilisation look like, and how can we get there?”
I have described Solarpunk as a memetic engine – a tool to power the ‘re-futuring’ of our collective imagination.
My Solarpunk short story ‘In The Storm, A Fire’ was long listed for the BSFA Award for Short Fiction.
Since 2012 the tag line of Solarpunks.net has been “At once a vision of the future, a thoughtful provocation, and an achievable lifestyle .. in progress”
Fiction
📚 In The Storm, A Fire
- Long listed for the BSFA 2020 Short Fiction Award
- Chanticleer International Book Awards 2020 Short Story Award semifinalist
And Lately, The Sun | Calyx Press (UK, US)
Lo Stato Solare | Future Fiction (IT)
Non-Fiction
(In Print)
📚 Solarpunk: A Container for More Fertile Futures – Solarpunk Magazine #1 | Android Press (EN)
📚 The Vibe Dislocates the Present to Re-Future the Future – Regeneracija [ir jos įtampos] | Architektūros Fondas (LT) [Now available as free pdf!]
📚 Introduction – Solarpunk: Dalla Disperazione Alla Strategia | Future Fiction (IT)
Podcasts + Interviews
The Stoa
Occulture Pod
Unsee the Future | Podcast
Talks With Jesse Nickell the Fourth
_(Un)Sustainable Perspectives | Patchlab 2022
Interdependence FM
Branch Magazine Symposium | Ars Electronica 21
The Future Is A Vibe | Intonal 21
Musicville – New European Opera 2023
SolarPosts
Solarpunk: A Container for More Fertile Futures
My original essay from Solarpunk Magazine’s first issue. It examines the rise of Solarpunk as a creative force for sustainable futures.
Solarpunk, Cybertruck | 2335
The Cybertruck of 2035 will be a mundane part of everyday life. Most of the stuff around us today – is going to still be around in a Solarpunk future. To foreshorten the Gibson quote: “The future is already here”.
Rapid Realms: A Visual Novel with AI | Part 2
This is part two of my speed run to make a a Solarpunk visual novel Using Stable Diffusion, Godot and GPT4 in less than 30 hours
Rapid Realms: A Visual Novel with AI | Part 1
Using Stable Diffusion, Godot and GPT4, I’m going to try and make a Solarpunk visual novel in less than 30 hours
Solarpunk. A remix. | Fo.AM
Wonderful folks over at the ‘transdisciplinary network’ that is Fo.AM just published Solarpunk. A remix as part of their Anarchive project
(Un)Sustainable Perspectives | Patchlab 2022
This Saturday (8th Oct) at 3pm UK time I will be on the panel (Un)Sustainable Perspectives as part of Patchlab Festival’s online programming.
Talks With Jesse Nickell | Just Another Podcast
I recently had a pleasure of speaking about Solarpunk with Artist / Youtuber / Musician and all round creative guy Jesse Nickell the Fourth.
Wolves Lane
The cactus house is laid out like a body, a womb, a heart and stepping stones representing the cardinal directions and the elements.
Unsee The Future | Podcast
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Timo Peach from Unsee The Future. We talked Solarpunk, narrative strategy, and more
Solarpunk Magazine | Issue #1
I have an essay titled ‘Solarpunk: A Container for More Fertile Futures’ in the inaugural issue of Solarpunk Magazine – out today.
WHAT PUNK ARE YOU?
I was on a panel at Futurecon 2021 on Saturday: ‘WHAT PUNK ARE YOU? Past, Present and Future Trends in Anti-capitalists Science Fiction’
Solarpunk: A Narrative Strategy, a Memetic Engine | The Stoa
I went to The Stoa last night to talk about Solarpunk, Cultural Fracking, Narrative Strategy & Memetic Engines.
On Memetic Engines
I was asked to post the current working definition of a ‘Memetic Engine’ from my Intonal 2021 Talk ‘The Future Is A Vibe’.
THE FUTURE IS A VIBE | INTONAL FESTIVAL 2021
My talk ‘The Future Is A Vibe’ for Intonal Festival is about scissor labels, memetic engines, ‘future texture’, vibes, Solarpunk and more.
LuxCon 2020 – Eurocon Presents: Solarpunk | 18.Apr.21
I will be on a Solarpunk panel alongside writers Francesco Verso (IT) and Ana Rüsche (BR) at LuxCon 2020 this Sunday, April 18th.
Solarpunk, Stacktivism and Cold Texas | 2107
The Texas disaster has all the elements of a Solarpunk story.
‘In the Storm, A Fire’ Longlisted – BSFA Award for Short Fiction
My Solarpunk short ‘In the Storm, A Fire‘ with Andrew Dana Hudson, has been long listed for the 2020 BSFA Award for Short Fiction.
And Lately, The Sun: OUT NOW!
Excited to share that my Solarpunk clifi story with Andrew Dana Hudson ‘In the Storm, A Fire’ is out now in the anthology And Lately, The Sun
This is All Happening Right Now | Interdependence.fm
I was a guest on Holly Hendon and Mat Dryhurst’s excellent podcast Interdependence.fm this week.
105 :: ‘Solar Punk, a framework for hopeful futures’
When I was at Unsound Festival last week I bumped in to Journalist Jacobo García from Spain based Clot Mag. He told me over the deafening noise of Dreamcrusher that an article based on an interview I did with him at Sonar+D Festival was now online.
“Dirt Behind Our Ears” : On Solarpunk and the Need for New Futures
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?”.
#Asperity
I completely forgot to blog about this when it went up: I wrote a piece last year for the 5 Viridian Years collection curated by Tim Maly over on Medium. ‘Viridian Design was an avant-garde bright green design movement engineered by Bruce Sterling and intended to address climate change. It ran from 1998-2008. Five years…
