🌁 For the second episode of Solarpunk Manifesto, we wanted to set the record straight that Solarpunk imaginaries are not Utopian. Or at least, not in the colloquial sense of the term, as perfect and ideal states, standing far away from us both in time and space.

💭 For this, we interview David M. Bell, a scholar who studies utopias, author of the book: Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect. Through his problematization of the concept, David shows us that Utopia is very much about the present, the real and the felt. It manifests in the resistance of the oppressed and cultural practices that instantiate different forms of being.

👓 David is a curator, writer and musician interested in utopianism, public art and ecology. His book, Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect, was published by Routledge in 2017. He’s also a member of the Out of the Woods collective: a collection of their essays was published as Hope Against Hope: Writings on Ecological Crisis by Common Notions in 2020. Check his website here: https://davidmbell.info

Instagram - @solarpunk.manifesto Music - @simocellmusic Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtengho_ @via_minhu Studio - Edouard Picard from the @lpiparis

(00:00:00) Why is David interested in Utopias?

(00:01:54) Thomas More’s Utopia

(00:05:05) Utopian Elements in Culture

(00:09:28) Musical Improvisation as Utopia

(00:14:16) The Prevalence of Anti-utopianism

(00:19:43) Hope vs Optimism

(00:21:31) Educating Our Desires to Envision Better Futures

(00:25:25) The Translation of Utopian Thought into Social Movements

(00:27:29) Critical and Speculative design and Utopianism

(00:30:40) Intentional Communities and their Impact on Societal Imagination

(00:35:16) Communities and their Revolutionary Potential

(00:40:12) The Notion of No-Alternative

(00:41:27) Is Capitalism Utopian?

(00:46:44) Why is Capitalism so Resilient?

(00:51:45) Is Now a Good Time for Сhange?

(00:56:38) David’s Source of Hope

For our debut episode, Andrew Dana Hudson, a speculative fiction writer, sustainability researcher, and narrative strategist, takes us on a Solarpunk journey.

How did solarpunk emerge as a movement? What values do solarpunks embody ? As a counter-cultural force, what politics does it prefigure?

(00:00:00) Highlights & Introduction

(00:00:50) What does it mean to be solarpunk?

(00:03:25) Examples of solarpunk projects IRL

(00:06:54) How did solarpunk develop?

(00:12:00) Solarpunk going mainstream

(00:17:45) Greenwashing and solarpunk

(00:21:35) Solarpunk communities

(00:25:16) Degrowth and solarpunk

(00:30:40) Future of energy abundance

(00:36:15) Cyberpunk vs solarpunk

(00:41:30) Solarpunk as propaganda

(00:44:00) Post-normal fiction

(00:49:35) Climate fiction and Amitav Ghosh

(00:55:33) Literature vs other media for activist fiction

(00:58:10) Disney's solarpunk movie

(01:02:56) Gamification of the Green New Deal

(01:11:00) What gives Andrew hope?

🌱 With the motto “move loudly and plant things,” Andrew urges us to “talk as often and as clearly and honestly and forthrightly as we can about what kind of future we actually want to live in and demanding that of others and of power”.

•••

Andrew is an OG solarpunk. He witnessed the movement leave the confines of Tumblr and inspire an increasing number of people to express their vision of solarpunk. With his 2015 essay, “On the Political Dimensions of Solarpunk,” Andrew helped shape the movement’s political implications and real-world impact.

For him, solarpunk is a counter-cultural force, that reminds us that change need not to be painfully imposed on us.

This episode features discussions about photon-societies, degrowth, land management in the Vatican, gamifying the green new deal, post-normal fiction and Frozen.

✨Take your first dip into Solarpunk now!

Instagram - @solarpunk.manifesto

Music - @simocellmusic

Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtengho_ @via_minhu

Studio - Edouard Picard from the @lpiparis

P.S. Apologies for the quality of the audio in some parts, the output compression of the recording equipment appeared to be faulty.