DECEMBER 2020 | ISSUE #1
sustainable visions
DEFYING DYSTOPIAN EXPECTATIONS: A SOLARPUNK ZINE FOR THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING
THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY IS LYING TO YOU
ANYONE CAN BE A GARDENER
The ultimate form of gaslighting: how the fossil fuel industry used (mis)information campaigns to trick you to think climate change is your fault
How Solarpunk can encourage you to grow your own garden, no matter where you may live!
SHOP SMALL & LIVE (A) LITTLE Ethical consumption and sustainable living cannot exist under capitalism, so what can we do to save our planet?
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore ~ DREAM, DREAM, DREAM ~ A BETTER AND BRIGHTER TOMORROW IS INDEED POSSIBLE
table of contents 2
20/20 VISION: THE YEAR IN SUMMARY
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WHAT IS SOLARPUNK?
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THE TENETS OF SOLARPUNK
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WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
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VISUALIZING THE FUTURE
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
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2020 Vision:
this year in summary, and the progressing climate crisis It goes without saying that 2020
These events have evidently demonstrated how the
has been a difficult year for
systems we have in place serve to perpetuate inequality
everyone, as we were all
and further degradation of our environment. These
unexpectedly ushered into
systems — ranging from consumer capitalism to labor
unfamilar ways of living. COVID-
exploitation of racial and marginalized groups —are not
19 has poured fuel on a world
compatible with the finite nature of our planet.
inherent with inequalities, and
Considering how entrenched these systems are, rampant
the most marginalized took to
climate denialism by conservatives, and climate inaction by
the streets to vocalize their
government officials worldwide, it is easy to assume that
oppressed conditions and rally
the demise of humanity is imminent as we continue to use
for justice and equity.
up Earth's natural resources without timely renewal.
In particular, extreme weather events dominated new stories as the most vulnerable populations around the globe were impacted.
Mainstream media and society claims the climate crisis as an impossible task to solve. Solarpunk challenges this. 2
Image of Marina Bay Sands at nighttime
what is "solarpunk"? A nascent genre on the rise, "solarpunk" is a
"It is often easier to think about about the
genre of speculative fiction grounded in
end of the world than it is to imagine the end
ecologically sound and environmentally
of capitalism." - Mark Fisher
sustainable visions for the future. In other words, solarpunk literature and media texts
Solarpunk can be a great asset to critical
envision what our reality could look like if we
media literacy and counteracting
took proper climate action and transitioned to
conservative claims to climate denialism.
systems that are in harmony with planetary
When we think or speak of the climate crisis,
processes and human health.
we have been conditioned by mainstream media and society that it is an inevitable
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While each author provides their own unique
situation waiting to end human life for
perspective, solarpunk in essence emphasizes
eternity as we make our planet inhabitable.
"low carbon, high life" and has an optimistic
Like the light at the end of a dark tunnel,
outlook on the future of a global utopian
solarpunk challenges this status quo by
society that is free of the demands of racial
illustrating for us imaginative futures and
and consumer capitalism that only further
alternate realities where we do succeed in
degrade our environment.
overcoming the climate crisis.
Image of PARKROYAL COLLECTION in Pickering, Singapore
Singapore
Utilizing filitration systems for water run-off, generating energy with photovoltaic technologies, and housing a thriving ecosystem, Gardens by the Bay
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
Denmark
CopenHill is a groundbreaking facility that doubles as a waste-to-energy plant and sports facility for skiing. It is one of the cleanest plants in the world and plays a substantial role in Denmark's zero-carbon goal by 2020.
epitomizes how environmentally sound practices can indeed be integrated into urban spaces like Singapore.
CopenHill in Copenhagen, Denmark
Colombia
Plants endemic to the mountainous region surrounding the Click Clack Hotel line its steel walls in this hotel grounded in sustainable practices, including local food sourcing to feed their guests. 4
The Click Clack Hotel in Bogotรก, Colombia
How has the solarpunk community envisioned our future through imagery? Artwork from Pinterest Board "Solarpunk Aesthetics".
Artwork by Imperial Boy.
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Artwork from Munashichi, Future Economic View of Innocence, 2015.
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Jessica Perlstein www.jessicaperlstein.com
the tenets of solarpunk Thammasat University Green Roof
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Each solarpunk text varies in its portrayal of what a green and sustainable future could look like. Some authors emphasize reparations being paid to indigenous groups and they teach us how to steward the land with generational knowledge and expertise. Others emphasize the use of technology to capture and store carbon while others rally for abolition of the systems that industries that emit carbon in the first place. Nevertheless, most solarpunk literature and media portray the transformation of global society through urban agricultural spaces, efficient public transportation, and the priority of systems related to holistic wellbeing.
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Why does solarpunk matter? What does it say about the current world we live in? Solarpunk as a genre of speculative, utopian fiction exists to critique the contemporary conditions of our global society today by offering optimistic realities of what a better world could be. The world we live in is inherent with inequalities, and this is no more evident than with the issue of environmental justice. The consequences of climate change do not impact everyone equally, as vulnerable populations (primarily low-income communities of color in the Global North and the majority of the Global North) are already suffering from disproportionate impacts despite contributing significantly less to greenhouse gas emissions. The industrialized nations of the Global North are largely responsible for the climate crisis, having used fossil fuels to rapidly develop while holding little accountability to address the environmental damage they have done. Capitalism has enforced a "profit over people" mentality that a majority of the world has internalized to tie our worth to productivity and measure overall happiness with the accumulation of material goods. Solarpunk acknowledges these practices are not sustainable, and to achieve the world it envisions, we as humans must drastically change our habits, which encompasses the abandonment of capitalism and a transition to renewable energy, community care, and other ways of sustainable living that finally prioritize the health of our communities and ecosystems.
What other worlds are possible? How can we achieve them?
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Image of San Francisco, CA, USA by Reuben Kim on Unsplash
lies, lies, lies
Beginning in the 1970s, climate scientists and
Strategies like this conceal the environmental
researchers presented the world with clear
degradation that the industry has dealt, while
findings that humans are indeed altering global
feigning concern and climate action on their part.
temperatures with the emission of carbon and
This climate denialism enforced by fossil fuel
other greenhouse gases. Largely responsibly for
executives has led to a severe lack of climate action
these emissions, the fossil fuel industry then paid
by government officials worldwide continuing to the
lobbyists and think tanks to deny the reality of
present day, so long as conservative leaders
climate change so they can continue to emit
steadfast in their false climate beliefsare in power.
carbon for the sake of earning a profit. As such, the costs have accumulated to a deadly Remember when calculating your carbon
amount, in which the most vulnerable are paying
footprint was a huge trend a few years back?
with their own lives. Solarpunk literature and media
Yeah, that was actually created by fossil fuel
is thus critical in counteracting these misinformation
executives to think climate change is your fault!
campaigns. We already have the technology and
Coined by Yale Professor Michael F. Maniates,
resources to work toward these realities, but we
this strategy known as "individualization of
first must overcome the barriers that the political
responsibility" was used by the fossil fuel
inaction of our leaders and corruption by the fossil
industry to take the blame off them for the
fuel industy presents us.
climate crisis and pin it on their consumers.
the fossil fuel industry's biggest product: lies!
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Image from Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash
Intersectional Representation matters, period. "There is no thing such as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives." - Audre Lorde Collages from Pinterest "Solarpunk Aesthetic" Board. Solarpunk can serve as a critical platform to counteract oppressive systems not just exclusive to capitalism, but patriarchy, racism, classism, heterosexism, disability, and colonialism, to name a few. In imagining a better and brighter future, solarpunk authors also integrate intersectional perspectives that recognize and respect the lives of ALL humans. No one is left behind.
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Where do we go from here? Where do we go from here? Where do we go from here? There is no denying how this year has been extremely challenging for everyone, yet it also woke many of us up to just how unequal and unjust our world is. As impacted communities in all parts of the world suffer the early consequences of the climate crisis, we as humans must take both individual and collective action to effectively and swiftly address the climate change before it is too late. Yet, climate action is difficult to coordinate, since it is easy to give up and think that these current systems are the best we have based on the status quo that mainstream media and society feeds to us. Fortunately, solarpunk authors and creators alike reject this, and provide us a utopian perspective of a more ecologically sound society. Nevertheless, imagination can only take us so far. With this optimistic direction, we must move forward with these sustainable practices and ideas to make this reality, a reality! It is daunting as one individual out of a increasingly globalized and interconnected world of eight billion people to address political inaction and corruption by the fossil fuel industry. However, one must remember that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Individual actions, like shopping from small businesses, recycling, and minimalist living, accumulate to collective action with the capability of overwhelming and toppling oppressive systems. On top of this, we must still educate and empower those around us with this critical pedagogy, and apply pressure both to our governmental leaders to address the climate crisis. Now.
The time is now is take action. "Unless someone likes you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get bettr, it's not" - The Lorax, Dr Seuss, 1971
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Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, CA, USA
"We can be whatever we have the courage to see." - AOC
A Message from the Future with AOC
Be Steadwell, queer black artist with solarpunk music
A Message from the Future II: The Years of Repair
Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA, USA
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CREATED BY PATRICK ANDREI ROMERO FOR EDUC 187