Solarpunk Imaginaries with Dr. Phoebe Wagner

In this episode, we explore Solarpunk imaginaries, and how they can inspire planetary planning, with Dr. Phoebe Wagner - writer, editor, and academic working at the intersection of climate change and speculative fiction. Their academic research explores how the predictive futures unintentionally imagined in speculative fiction can inspire new systems of adaptation and transformation during the climate crisis. Their Almanac for the Anthropocene, compiled together with Brontë Christopher Wieland in 2022 (see reference below), inspired Kim and Susa to approach Wagner and explore how solarpunk can provide inspiration for and quite concrete imaginaries for a planetary planning. The episode includes excerpts from their novella When We Hold Each Other Up (2023), and glimpses into the wonderful anthologies they have compiled. Wagner’s current projects focus on completing a short story collection themed around environmentalism, skateboarding, and activism, and dark academic novel focusing on disrupting white supremacy and settler colonialism in higher ed. She is also an active participant in the speculative fiction community, holding membership to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, regularly presenting at the World Science Fiction Convention, and blogging about speculative literature at the Hugo award finalist Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together.

In the episode, we explore ways that fiction and stories that make very specific contributions to imaginaries of what a solarpunk future could look like, while at the same time allowing for a very wide range of possibilities, imagined by authors around the globe. While our invited speaker is based in the USA and their imaginaries are mainly based there, they also acknowledge the importance of the international community around Solarpunk.

In many ways, this is an episode about hope within a context of nevertheless acknowledging the dire consequences climate change is leading to and is likely to continue to lead to. It is about livelihoods adapting to these realities without relinquishing that change at a larger scale is necessary. It is about care for the environment in a time and context in which this is not the “norm” for most people. We explore how much perhaps significant change depends on rethinking human dependence on consumerism and innovation, and how we are drawn to something “shiny and new” as solutions. How can we think and act more long-term, and how can we rethink justice across human groups as well as across other species as well.

Take-aways for planners, by Phoebe Wagner:

* Make time for stories, and read widely!

* Seek out conversations with different communities, beyond your usual ones, beyond your comfort zone, to explore the themes of time, planning, and community involvement (even if it sometimes doesn’t have an immediate bearing on a given project or initiative)

Some references from the episode:

Wagner, P., & Wieland, B. C. (Eds.). (2022). Almanac for the anthropocene: A compendium of solarpunk futures (First edition). West Virginia University Press.

Wagner, P. (2023) When We Hold Each Other Up. Android Press.

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