I love this. I've always thought that the solar punk aesthetic failed to reflect the raw and dirty nature that is human expansion. I think the generative quality of man is often undermined, a deeply ingrained aspect of our anglo culture (Malthusianism). The "green" movement is right that consumption is outpacing production but we're supposed to believe that somehow humanity is simply going to choose to consume less and cut back on everything rather than opening the flood gates of the forces of production, guided by human ingenuity. Though the author may be disinclined to accept the fact that China is probably the most terrapunk country on the planet. Are there any other countries as pro-growth as China? The People's Republic is still going strong on "fossil" fuels while also investing heavily into nuclear. I see large industrial megastructures in China that make me (an American) feel like we are slipping into "developing" world territory by comparison. I recommend anyone else captured by this "movement" or aesthetic to look at the art of Fan Wenan and what he has termed "Peoplepunk".

The vagueness is intentional tho. Making utopian art and spreading ideas isn't supposed to solve anything. It's just supposed to spread motivation and optimism to solve humanities greatest challenges in a tech-forward way instead of doomerism or contrarianism.

To some extent it's true that the solarpunk movement was captured by degrowthers and other political extremists. But that isn't a reason to abandon the movement. You can also be a tech-forward voice within the movements and stand up against them instead of fleeing.

But I agree with the sentiment. Just a quick look at the hot page on reddit shows that leftist extremists have captured the movement. It's really sad