I’m thrilled to share that my latest essay just published in Aeon explores solarpunk—a vision of the future where technology and nature aren’t opposing forces, but collaborative partners. This biosemiotic futurism explores what would a biophilic technology look and feel like.
For too long, we’ve been stuck in a false choice: either we embrace technology and sacrifice nature, or we reject modern tools and retreat to some romanticized past. Solarpunk offers a third way.
What is solarpunk? Think dirigibles drifting above rooftops covered in solar panels, permaculture gardens feeding neighborhoods, buildings that self-repair using biomimicry and maintenance design, and technologies designed not for profit, but for the flourishing of all life.
Solarpunk is a future where:Cities work like ecosystems, not factoriesTechnology takes its cues from living systemsInnovation serves communities, not just corporations
Beauty, sustainability, and inclusivity are non-negotiable
Learning from What Already Works
Some of the most important “technologies” are ones Western eyes have failed to recognize precisely because they blend seamlessly into ecosystems:
Khasi living root bridges in India—grown rather than built
Ma’dan reed architecture in Iraq—entire villages that rise and fall with water levelsChinampas in Mexico—raised garden beds that produce abundance with minimal energy
Future Design in Japan—decision-making that considers future generations
These aren’t primitive—they’re sophisticated solutions that have sustained communities for centuries.
True solarpunk isn’t about:
Corporate-controlled “smart cities” harvesting your data
Greenwashing massive construction projects
Technology as domination
Rather, it focuses on:
Democratic control and community flourishing
Technologies that can be maintained by the people who use themDesign as symbiosis, not domination
Mutual aid and solidarity over competition and scarcity
Solarpunk doesn’t ask us to deny what we’re losing to climate change and ecological breakdown. It asks us to notice what is already germinating in the cracks—the people-powered projects, the rewilding initiatives, the community gardens, the local energy cooperatives.
The future isn’t something that happens to us. It’s something we design, together, right now.
Read the full essay “Compost Modernity! The vision of solarpunk” in Aeon. This is one of the few pieces this year they’ve opened for comments–so have at it: https://aeon.co/…/in-solarpunk-cities-of-the-future…