The term solarpunk has been buzzing around the internet since around 2008 and describes both a science fiction genre and social movements that strive for a climate-neutral future and are framed or discussed under this term.

Solarpunk sees itself as a counter-movement to the dystopian view of cyberpunk. While cyberpunk usually takes a cynical and dystopian view of our future, with large corporations exploiting the world and only a few heroes, usually hackers, turning against it. Solarpunk rather tries to tell a positive version of the future, in which communities of people have made it or are on their way to living in harmony with nature and the resources of our planet in a climate-neutral world.

The term itself was coined in 2008 in a blog post entitled “From Steampunk to Solarpunk” in which author John-Robert suggested solarpunk as a new literary genre after seeing a press release from SkySails featuring sailing cargo ships.

• solarpunk manifesto
• What is Solarpunk? (Andrewism, Youtube, 2020
• Why This Gives Me Hope for the Future (OCC, Youtube, 2021)
• Solarpunk: lenses and foundations with Think That Through (alxd, 2023)
• What is solarpunk? One thing or many? (solarpunkstories, 2023)
• Solarpunk Tumblr since 2012: https://solarpunks.net
• SolarPunk Cities: Our Last Hope? (damilee, Youtube, 2023)

• Solarpunk reading list (goodreads)
• Our Shared Storm: A Novel of Five Climate Futures
• 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

• 22 Solarpunk Communities and Story Hooks by Pawel (alxd)
• Solarpunk Writing Prompts - An Introduction by James Tomasino
• Imagine 2200: Write the future

• Dear Alice (animation/commercial by The Line, 2021) impressively shows a variety of solar punk visions, but as a capitalist advertisement, it is simultaneously solarpunk and anti-solar punk.
• 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.

• Stardew Valley
• Terra Nil
• Solar Punk Futures (Card Games)
• Long List of Climate Games

• 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
• Sustainable building and living: Aardhuis.nl, earthship.com

• Growing fresh air, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmn7tjSNyAA
• Open Source / Open Hardware

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.

builtin.com: What Is Solarpunk? A Guide to the Environmental Art Movement