An Introduction to The Solarpunk Genre

When the Royal Atreides family is betrayed and murdered, the surviving heir Paul sets off on an epic journey and fulfills humankind’s most unattainable dream. It is set amid the backdrop of the harsh climate of the planet Arrakis, which is also the source of the spice mélange — a drug necessary for space navigation that can broaden a person’s awareness, and is also the inspiration for many to seize control over the planet.

The novel’s deep spirituality and emphasis on harmony with nature reverberates with solarpunk vibes, and in later books of the series, Arrakis becomes a lush garden planet.

The last novel published from the author of the classic dystopian novel Brave New World, Island serves as a sort of counterpoint to the earlier work. In it, a jaded reporter forces himself onto an island with the goal of persuading the Kingdom of Pala to sell its oil assets. But as he gets to know its people, he becomes increasingly drawn into this enlightened culture and the harmony among its people and with nature.

This one starts with social chaos triggered by climate change and economic crisis in the 2020s.

But don’t worry about that. 

Amid this chaos, 15-year-old Lauren’s gated community is destroyed and her family killed. As she makes her way to safety with other survivors, her hyperempathy abilities lead her to adapt a new religion based on the idea that it is humanity’s destiny to travel beyond Earth. The series is rich with garden metaphors and revolves around the struggles of resource scarcity. While much of the story’s arc seems dystopian, Lauren’s vision for humanity’s future ultimately focuses on hope and renewal, rather than the chaos.

In a future long after modern society’s end, this novel explores the culture of the Kesh through a collection of their art and other texts, rather than a traditional plot. The society is small, peaceful, egalitarian, connected to the earth, and has no government.

The name about says it all. This utopian science fiction novel offers a glimpse of what’s possible for humanity, inspired by the environmental movement of the 1970s. Following a succession and creation of a new country in the formerly American West, a reporter enters the newly formed Ecotopia to see if the wild rumors of tree worship, revolutionary politics and sexual extravagance are true.  

In this snapshot of a future world where we’ve worked past Earth’s biggest problems, Professor Radicand Jones is looking forward to a well-earned vacation. But then her solar-powered airship is attacked by pirates, and it spirals into a roaring adventure from there.

In this manga science fiction, humanity is declining, but the good news is that all the problems we’ve created are on the decline, too. With the world quiet and peaceful, nature is healing, and the remaining population is doing well. Amid this backdrop, the series follows the adventures of Alpha Hasseno, an Alpha 7 M2 series robot, who runs a coffee shop.

Before you ask what about this Marvel comic could be solarpunk, I ask you: what about it isn’t solarpunk?

Thanks to its great source of vibranium, Wakanda has created its own paradise. They have endless technology far beyond what the rest of the world has created, offer an egalitarian and spiritual society, and it’s a gorgeous example of Afrofuturism, which frequently crosses over with solarpunk.

Despite the prophecies, Zahrah Tsami has always felt normal. But when strange incident start to prove Zahrah is different, people take it as evidence their fear of her is justified.

This story takes place within the Ooni Kingdom, a city-planet of a Black-appearing human race where everything is made from plant matter.

Ages after humanity left Earth due to environmental disaster, an explorer must return to the abandoned planet. The explorer is warned the planet has been destroyed and the people who were left behind are now monstrous. But what he finds is opposite — a world that is healing, and a new society healing along with it.