Table of Contents
Solarpunk
What is Solarpunk?
Literature
- Was, wenn wir einfach die Welt retten?: Handeln in der Klimakrise. Frank Schätzing
- https://aditiandslick.tumblr.com - a narrative graphical novel approach by prof Joshua Pearce to explain Sustainability to people
Writing
Animation & Movies
- A message from the future (animation) by activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In it, she explains how a fairer and more environmentally conscious world would have to differ from the one we live in today. (Youtube Link, 2019)
- Studio Ghibli is a great inspiration for Solarpunk in its depiction of man and nature.
- Wall-E (Movie, Pixar Studios, 2008). The two robots Wall-E and EVE bring a small plant back to a destroyed Earth.
- Black Panther (Movie, 2018) is often mentioned in the context of solarpunk, as the fictional city of Wakanda is inspired by solarpunk ideas. Wakanda consisting of equal parts high-tech elements and African adobe construction. However, it uses a simple trick to solve our problem of energy needs by means of the fictitious material Vibranium … not quite solarpunk.
Activism / Politics
- Degrowth, is the idea of a society away from consumption and economic growth is certainly inspired by the degrowth movement.
- Community welfare economy Gemeinwohlökonomie - Values such as solidarity and the welfare of the community take precedence over individual profit.
- 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: https://earthhow.com/reduce-reuse-recycle
Technology
- Growing fresh air, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmn7tjSNyAA
Press
The University of Colorado describes Solarpunk more as a movement that strives for a climate-neutral future. To this end, it uses art and literature, for example, to create a utopia - in other words, it develops ideas about what a sustainable society could look like.
Utopia.de: “In this still fictitious world, people have actually already achieved what is still the big goal for us by 2050: Net Zero. To achieve this, humanity would have to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions to zero as far as possible. This means that fossil fuels would have to play a subordinate role in the future. This is the only way to effectively reduce climate-damaging greenhouse gases. In the future world of Solarpunk, solar or wind power have therefore long since taken the place that oil or gas still occupy in the real world.”
heise.de: “This is probably not a really seductive subject for literary utopias.It becomes interesting where such future designs build bridges, where they bring together the present and the future.”
Vice magazine: Solarpunk Is Not About Pretty Aesthetics. It's About the End of Capitalism. At its core, and despite its appropriation, Solarpunk imagines a radically different societal and economic structure.