I really like solarpunk, as it has really helped a lot of people, including myself find hope again. Solarpunk is not only punk in its radical stance to the status quo, but also in opposition to pessimistic futures that paralyze us into apathy. It advocates, for a harmonic balance between human society, wild nature, and advanced technology for the wellbeing of all. It’s a never ending process for balance, rather than a utopian destination.
Solarpunk sort of gives me Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind vibes. It's pushed as a very optimistic world, but the solarpunk media I've seen has a sort of eerie quality to it, like an abandoned building that nature has started to take over. To me solarpunk seems a bit naïve in general. The world today seems so densely packed, it's hard to imagine a future like those envisioned coming about without a huge catastrophe beforehand massively reducing the population. These worlds feel very empty to me. I think a more genuine post-apocalyptic take on solarpunk would actually be a lot more interesting to me than what is more typically associated with the genre.
What a lovely, well-researched, and refreshing take on solarpunk! I view solarpunk as an actionable future, particularly in light of the increasing trends in wellness and sustainability.
"The 'punk' in 'solarpunk' is aggressive kindness" Honestly? Yeah. We're surrounded by a world and system that all too often only sees everything as commodities: people, media, information-- these are all "products" to be consumed by the masses so a small few on the topmost rung of the ladder can benefit. Cruelty is, all too often, the point, because cruelty sells. Negativity breeds engagement. And it also distracts people from the systemic issues that have caused them harm. The ones at the top will claim this is the result of them clawing their way up a ladder, that this is competition doing its job as they stamp out any possibility of facing it. What else could be formed as its counterpart, its mirror image, its reflection? Something that says "Being kind to the world and to others is the best way forwards". While there are elements of solarpunk rooted in a disney-esque, romanticized version of nature and harmony, I think the biggest takeaway from it is this: We are not seperate from nature. We are not inherently this special, chosen people. We are merely the first progeny of this biosphere that has learned to manipulate our environment to such masssive degrees that have resulted in global-scale catastrophic damage. This cradle, this pale blue dot, is the only world we can call home at this time. We have a responsibility to take care of it, and each other. The best way to do this is to be kind, and patient, and understanding. Because we are part of something greater than outselves, and that makes every single one of us special. Our worth is intrinsic, not the result of labor siphoned away by those higher on the social strata. It is a dream, and it is a promise. Perhaps this dream is impossible perhaos this promise cannot be upheld. But the only way to find out is to try.
I wish there were more solarpunk stories. It's refreshing to see stuff other than late stage capitalism every once in a while. I think there is already enough pessimistic media out there.
Solar punk as a concept is good and all but... As someone who's family is a bunch of farmers and people who work in the fields and with agriculture whatever whatever (if I fail in life my fall back is working in a farm -_-) I can say that people are just gonna be alcoholics There ain't nothing to do in a farms but work and rest, there will be entertainment but going to stuff like alcohol after a day of farm work is more convenient Unless work is so automated that you just switch smthn on, then you drink all day
Disney’s Strange World is close to solar punk mixed with a pulp adventure by the end of the film. A society turns away from their main power source that is slowly killing the world they live on. It’s an obvious theme about renewable energy and fossil fuels but solar punk in media is few and far between.
There is one form of media that I can think of that draws it's ideas directly from Solarpunk from the outset. That would be the "Starmoth" worldbuilding project by Isilanka. It's basically a Solarpunk Space Opera setting.
7:02 AFAIK most solar-punk like media are movies by studio Ghibli, but that is also perhaps not exactly solar punk but rather its own kind of media. But let's carry on with the original Idea I had for comment: Is it just me, or does somebody else feel like most fo the solar punk depictions seem like fantasies of privileged upper middle class kids? All the tech and architecture that can be seen in many of depictions of solarpunk would (and in fact is) extremely energy and resource intense, yet it feels like the tech had just appeared out of thin air. In all the other punks, we can see some glimpses of "behind the scene" in cyberpunk there are some corporations making all this tech. in steampunk, we understand that there is some industry producing all the steam engines, there are railways carrying coal and some mentions of some industry. In Atom and Diesel the things operating behind the scene are now on centre of the story. But in solarpunk? No, it just exists. Came from god knows where. The worlds are unnaturally clean and have very little to do with societies that were centred around agriculture. It is unnaturally clean.
I recommend to check Terra Nill, it's exactly what solar punk represents in my opinion, in the part where you asks what piece of media defines solarpunk, for me it's definitely this game. Really interesting video too
I think solar punk is interesting as goal for a character to try and achieve in a setting that is not solarpunk. But it personally lacks too much conflict for me to be interested in it as a setting.
I don't think a setting should inherently have to be the source of the conflict in a story, it can just be a backdrop, where some unrelated drama happen. It can really shine in that way because it would add more contrast between the conflict and the environment it's set in, making both shine. Though, I also think, a story about corruption in a solar punk society could be really cool. Subverting expectations somewhat
@@mathiastossens3653 There is also the story of HOW the society got to the ideas of being a Solarpunk one. In today's world of such suspicion and proliferation of conspiracy theories against anything remotely left-leaning in vision ("I won't eat the bugs!", etc.), imagine how much kicking and screaming a society might need in the process of possibly having to be dragged into even what seems like an objectively better system.
I have a question, what type of sci fi fantasy setting would incorporate a perfect mix of magic and science, the magic acts similarly to technology in the sense that it always needs improvement and advancement so it's developed independently for technology and then when perfected for a specific purpose it's then integrated into the tech to boost efficiency even though the tech is already extremely advanced by itself. And as for the clothes, they could be a mixture of cyberpunk style clothes with some slight steampunk and fantasy elements to it, ingrained with magical runes or patterns that light up like neon graffiti
@@Buster-McTunder I thought about that, but I'd imagine the tech to be a bit more advanced like what you see in Halo or Titan Fall, making the civilization able to travel through space and colonize or create their own worlds, something that's somewhere in the kardashev scale
That’s an interesting one. Not many “magic + scifi tech” things I can think of, normally the magic systems they have (like Mass Effect) is just hyper tech that effectively is magic. It’d be an interesting one to see
I think they can be found, just not stakes in the traditional way you might be thinking. It’s also not the idea of a utopia but rather ever changing policy on the path to a better world.
@@Buster-McTunder so a solarpunk world can also look like shit. But it has to be improving. Energy and resources has to be directed towards egalitarian progress and disaster management. I think I dig that.
@@Buster-McTunder A series doesn't always need to have the world end to set the stakes. The world doesn't always need to end for everyone just one person. Could be as simple as overcoming grief after a loss, or a unplanned disaster. Maybe even first contact in a solarpunk world.
@@VATROU Not to mention what kind of shock a society might need to move in such a direction. The stakes/conflict/problems could be in the history of the setting, maybe also remnants from those times that seek to destabalise the setting. Balance and stability tends to require constant management. (especially if the entire setting isn't Solarpunk yet, and new discoveries/outside forces come into play)
@Vaeldarg Solar Punk would definitely have some sort of catalyst. Humans are stubborn and rarely agree on anything. So most future Earth's would be some mashup of all the various Punk genres. Minus demons, and bio nightmare fuel. Without a singular threat mankind would likely never move in such a direction foregoing every other tech and ideology. That said Solar Punk doesn't need to be locked to Earth. A group of terraformers could reasonably create a Solar powered world with the rest of Humanity serving as a foil. Or serve to establish first contact between a more self destructive entity and a sustainable Humanity.
Radical kindness is punk af Punks, the real punks, are the kindest people I've ever met. Hands down, no comparison. Solar punk is the kind of punk. That gives someone the shirt off their back, even though they don't have a spare.
A rejection of nihilism? There's a genre of music called folk punk that fits with the themes. Punk as a concept is inherently counter to the dominant culture of the time. When the times change, so will punk, even if we don't refer to it as punk.
One of the strangest things to me is anticapitalist media like Cyberpunk or The Boys only being around because they’re easy to market before perpetuating the systems they critique.
@@Buster-McTunder Granted, but these things are also easy to commodify. We can talk economic theory 'til the cows come home, but at the end of the day we all still think cybernetics are cool and toys still sell. And yes, certain aspects of solarpunk's aesthetic can be sold (see the Chobani ad, Anno 2070, Terra Nil, etc.,) but the layer that is exploitable, between the theory and the product to be sold in our existing system, is thinner all around. At least, that's what I think.
@@safehavenonice6431 That's part of a kind of paradox involved with Solarpunk. Striving for balance means dealing with every element of the environment both good and bad. "the balance of life and death" and all that. Solarpunk comes off as unrealistic because it puts the setting in a future where society has worked itself out to being balanced, and how that is done is just hand-waved. So long as there are those who want more than what they have, there will be those who go by the business principles of resource/wealth/influence accumulation/hoarding/exploitation. That money-making mindset has to necessarily somehow be accounted for when creating that balanced society.
@@Vaeldarg I disagree with the idea that capitalism must always be assumed and "how we got there" being unexplained is a flaw in the system. I think these are examples of negativity bias. It's fairly easy to imagine things getting worse, so would you complain about a nightmarish vision of the future if it wasn't explained? I think the legwork of explanation in Solarpunk is unexplored because it's difficult to market it. To sum up, it's difficult to have hope.
@@safehavenonice6431 I'd complain about any setting that didn't have any history explaining it. To market an idea, people have to resonate with it. And part of that happening is the logic behind the setting. It isn't that capitalism must always be assumed, it's that there will always be those that want more than what they have. That's what has to be accounted for.
I'd like to see more Solarpunk works. It'd be nice to have examples of a better world.
I really like solarpunk, as it has really helped a lot of people, including myself find hope again. Solarpunk is not only punk in its radical stance to the status quo, but also in opposition to pessimistic futures that paralyze us into apathy.
It advocates, for a harmonic balance between human society, wild nature, and advanced technology for the wellbeing of all. It’s a never ending process for balance, rather than a utopian destination.
Hope is boundlessly powerful, we just gotta find a way to see a glimpse of it. Solarpunk is great for that.
Solarpunk sort of gives me Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind vibes.
It's pushed as a very optimistic world, but the solarpunk media I've seen has a sort of eerie quality to it, like an abandoned building that nature has started to take over.
To me solarpunk seems a bit naïve in general. The world today seems so densely packed, it's hard to imagine a future like those envisioned coming about without a huge catastrophe beforehand massively reducing the population. These worlds feel very empty to me.
I think a more genuine post-apocalyptic take on solarpunk would actually be a lot more interesting to me than what is more typically associated with the genre.
Honestly really enjoy solar punk. Love the hope it provides. Wish there was more like it in fiction more generally
Sometimes it’s nice to have a story that’s just calm, serene and kind.
Aggressive kindness is amazing
With how I see renewable energy, we need to prioritize fusion/fission energy first since it provides lots of energy efficiently
Fusion (not fission) is an important part of Solarpunk as well, as it is a renewable
What a lovely, well-researched, and refreshing take on solarpunk! I view solarpunk as an actionable future, particularly in light of the increasing trends in wellness and sustainability.
"The 'punk' in 'solarpunk' is aggressive kindness"
Honestly? Yeah. We're surrounded by a world and system that all too often only sees everything as commodities: people, media, information-- these are all "products" to be consumed by the masses so a small few on the topmost rung of the ladder can benefit. Cruelty is, all too often, the point, because cruelty sells. Negativity breeds engagement. And it also distracts people from the systemic issues that have caused them harm. The ones at the top will claim this is the result of them clawing their way up a ladder, that this is competition doing its job as they stamp out any possibility of facing it.
What else could be formed as its counterpart, its mirror image, its reflection? Something that says "Being kind to the world and to others is the best way forwards".
While there are elements of solarpunk rooted in a disney-esque, romanticized version of nature and harmony, I think the biggest takeaway from it is this:
We are not seperate from nature. We are not inherently this special, chosen people. We are merely the first progeny of this biosphere that has learned to manipulate our environment to such masssive degrees that have resulted in global-scale catastrophic damage.
This cradle, this pale blue dot, is the only world we can call home at this time. We have a responsibility to take care of it, and each other. The best way to do this is to be kind, and patient, and understanding. Because we are part of something greater than outselves, and that makes every single one of us special. Our worth is intrinsic, not the result of labor siphoned away by those higher on the social strata.
It is a dream, and it is a promise. Perhaps this dream is impossible perhaos this promise cannot be upheld. But the only way to find out is to try.
I wish there were more solarpunk stories. It's refreshing to see stuff other than late stage capitalism every once in a while. I think there is already enough pessimistic media out there.
Having only discovered solarpunk last week, i find it very interesting and I'd like to see a setting based in it
Me too, I believe the game (farming sim used in video) based on the concept is coming soon but I don’t quite remember the release date
Solar punk as a concept is good and all but...
As someone who's family is a bunch of farmers and people who work in the fields and with agriculture whatever whatever (if I fail in life my fall back is working in a farm -_-)
I can say that people are just gonna be alcoholics
There ain't nothing to do in a farms but work and rest, there will be entertainment but going to stuff like alcohol after a day of farm work is more convenient
Unless work is so automated that you just switch smthn on, then you drink all day
I love solar punk and its aesthetic, really hoping that it gets more popular
Disney’s Strange World is close to solar punk mixed with a pulp adventure by the end of the film. A society turns away from their main power source that is slowly killing the world they live on. It’s an obvious theme about renewable energy and fossil fuels but solar punk in media is few and far between.
There is one form of media that I can think of that draws it's ideas directly from Solarpunk from the outset.
That would be the "Starmoth" worldbuilding project by Isilanka. It's basically a Solarpunk Space Opera setting.
Both Horizon Games are Solarpunk
It was mentioned in the first Diesel video and I totally forgot about it here
Tomorrowland the Hugh Laurie movie is solarpunk
7:02 AFAIK most solar-punk like media are movies by studio Ghibli, but that is also perhaps not exactly solar punk but rather its own kind of media.
But let's carry on with the original Idea I had for comment: Is it just me, or does somebody else feel like most fo the solar punk depictions seem like fantasies of privileged upper middle class kids? All the tech and architecture that can be seen in many of depictions of solarpunk would (and in fact is) extremely energy and resource intense, yet it feels like the tech had just appeared out of thin air. In all the other punks, we can see some glimpses of "behind the scene" in cyberpunk there are some corporations making all this tech. in steampunk, we understand that there is some industry producing all the steam engines, there are railways carrying coal and some mentions of some industry. In Atom and Diesel the things operating behind the scene are now on centre of the story. But in solarpunk? No, it just exists. Came from god knows where. The worlds are unnaturally clean and have very little to do with societies that were centred around agriculture. It is unnaturally clean.
i have this idea were its a mix between solarpunk and biopunk and bit of fantasy. this is funny because it was made for a fps game idea i have.
I recommend to check Terra Nill, it's exactly what solar punk represents in my opinion, in the part where you asks what piece of media defines solarpunk, for me it's definitely this game.
Really interesting video too
I think solar punk is interesting as goal for a character to try and achieve in a setting that is not solarpunk. But it personally lacks too much conflict for me to be interested in it as a setting.
I think the best Solarpunk stories aren’t about conflict so much as they’d be about challenges or drama, man v nature and all that.
I don't think a setting should inherently have to be the source of the conflict in a story, it can just be a backdrop, where some unrelated drama happen. It can really shine in that way because it would add more contrast between the conflict and the environment it's set in, making both shine.
Though, I also think, a story about corruption in a solar punk society could be really cool. Subverting expectations somewhat
@@mathiastossens3653 There is also the story of HOW the society got to the ideas of being a Solarpunk one. In today's world of such suspicion and proliferation of conspiracy theories against anything remotely left-leaning in vision ("I won't eat the bugs!", etc.), imagine how much kicking and screaming a society might need in the process of possibly having to be dragged into even what seems like an objectively better system.
Excellent video! Subscribed!
I agree with your assessment of "is this even punk". Have folks forgotten the straight edge movement of punk in the 90s? Earth Crisis lives on.
People assume punk means Jean jacket with buttons and Molotov cocktails and I think they’re missing the point of the movement
Do one on steampunk
Next week!
@@Buster-McTunder fuck yeah!
I have a question, what type of sci fi fantasy setting would incorporate a perfect mix of magic and science, the magic acts similarly to technology in the sense that it always needs improvement and advancement so it's developed independently for technology and then when perfected for a specific purpose it's then integrated into the tech to boost efficiency even though the tech is already extremely advanced by itself. And as for the clothes, they could be a mixture of cyberpunk style clothes with some slight steampunk and fantasy elements to it, ingrained with magical runes or patterns that light up like neon graffiti
That’s pretty much just steampunk to my knowledge, as it uses a lot of the mixture of arcane and scientific (Arcane, Dishonored)
@@Buster-McTunder I thought about that, but I'd imagine the tech to be a bit more advanced like what you see in Halo or Titan Fall, making the civilization able to travel through space and colonize or create their own worlds, something that's somewhere in the kardashev scale
That’s an interesting one. Not many “magic + scifi tech” things I can think of, normally the magic systems they have (like Mass Effect) is just hyper tech that effectively is magic. It’d be an interesting one to see
@@Buster-McTunder oh alright, I'd love to see a story with that kind of concept
Why did you just randomly slap me in the face with 'End Times' dude? I'm tearing up.
Edit: WHY IS THERE SO MUCH OUTER WILDS?! DO YOU WANT ME TO CRY?!
I felt like it fit the vibe. It's also an amazing soundtrack.
@@Buster-McTunder I know *sniffles* I know
what game is that at 0:45 ?
It’s just called “Solarpunk,” it’s not out yet I believe
Rather interesting.
Late stage capitalism kills any other vision of society. Dreaming of a better world is an act of rebellion.
Yooooo, new punk video! 🎉
And whats the Total opposite of Solarpunk? Its Frostpunk. Can you do a Video on that next?
we need solarpunk to stop being fiction
Doesn't punk mean, radical adoption of the technology? I
Not really a lot of stakes to find in a world that basically solved all of our problems, is there?
I think they can be found, just not stakes in the traditional way you might be thinking. It’s also not the idea of a utopia but rather ever changing policy on the path to a better world.
@@Buster-McTunder so a solarpunk world can also look like shit. But it has to be improving. Energy and resources has to be directed towards egalitarian progress and disaster management. I think I dig that.
@@Buster-McTunder A series doesn't always need to have the world end to set the stakes. The world doesn't always need to end for everyone just one person. Could be as simple as overcoming grief after a loss, or a unplanned disaster. Maybe even first contact in a solarpunk world.
@@VATROU Not to mention what kind of shock a society might need to move in such a direction. The stakes/conflict/problems could be in the history of the setting, maybe also remnants from those times that seek to destabalise the setting. Balance and stability tends to require constant management. (especially if the entire setting isn't Solarpunk yet, and new discoveries/outside forces come into play)
@Vaeldarg Solar Punk would definitely have some sort of catalyst. Humans are stubborn and rarely agree on anything. So most future Earth's would be some mashup of all the various Punk genres. Minus demons, and bio nightmare fuel.
Without a singular threat mankind would likely never move in such a direction foregoing every other tech and ideology.
That said Solar Punk doesn't need to be locked to Earth. A group of terraformers could reasonably create a Solar powered world with the rest of Humanity serving as a foil.
Or serve to establish first contact between a more self destructive entity and a sustainable Humanity.
Love solarpunk so much
Radical kindness is punk af
Punks, the real punks, are the kindest people I've ever met. Hands down, no comparison.
Solar punk is the kind of punk. That gives someone the shirt off their back, even though they don't have a spare.
I couldn't have said it better myself
How is Solarpunk even "punk"
A rejection of nihilism? There's a genre of music called folk punk that fits with the themes. Punk as a concept is inherently counter to the dominant culture of the time. When the times change, so will punk, even if we don't refer to it as punk.
It is nearly entirely antithetical to a capitalist society, a political movement. Hence the line “you don’t need a Molotov to be a punk.”
Opinion: Solarpunk hasn't taken off because it's anticonsumerist and hard to market except to the most cynical of "punks"
One of the strangest things to me is anticapitalist media like Cyberpunk or The Boys only being around because they’re easy to market before perpetuating the systems they critique.
@@Buster-McTunder Granted, but these things are also easy to commodify. We can talk economic theory 'til the cows come home, but at the end of the day we all still think cybernetics are cool and toys still sell. And yes, certain aspects of solarpunk's aesthetic can be sold (see the Chobani ad, Anno 2070, Terra Nil, etc.,) but the layer that is exploitable, between the theory and the product to be sold in our existing system, is thinner all around. At least, that's what I think.
@@safehavenonice6431 That's part of a kind of paradox involved with Solarpunk. Striving for balance means dealing with every element of the environment both good and bad. "the balance of life and death" and all that. Solarpunk comes off as unrealistic because it puts the setting in a future where society has worked itself out to being balanced, and how that is done is just hand-waved. So long as there are those who want more than what they have, there will be those who go by the business principles of resource/wealth/influence accumulation/hoarding/exploitation. That money-making mindset has to necessarily somehow be accounted for when creating that balanced society.
@@Vaeldarg I disagree with the idea that capitalism must always be assumed and "how we got there" being unexplained is a flaw in the system. I think these are examples of negativity bias. It's fairly easy to imagine things getting worse, so would you complain about a nightmarish vision of the future if it wasn't explained? I think the legwork of explanation in Solarpunk is unexplored because it's difficult to market it. To sum up, it's difficult to have hope.
@@safehavenonice6431 I'd complain about any setting that didn't have any history explaining it. To market an idea, people have to resonate with it. And part of that happening is the logic behind the setting. It isn't that capitalism must always be assumed, it's that there will always be those that want more than what they have. That's what has to be accounted for.
no, its Utopianism