Would you want to live in a world full of abundance, joy, and beauty?

It’s possible if you just use your imagination.

Striving for a hopeful vision of the future is what motivates me to do the the hard work to get us there. It’s the reason why I get out of bed every morning.

Teaching my Climate Designers class at California College of the Arts has been an opportunity for me to see a future my students want to live in. Designers and other image makers are key in creating a picture of that future so that others can see what’s possible.

Remember, if we can't imagine it, we can't create it.

We need to help close this imagination gap so that people go, “Wait, what?! That's so cool. I want that. How can we get there?”

This is why I love solarpunk.

"Solarpunk is a shining vision of a positive future grounded in our existing world that emphasizes the need for environmental sustainability, self governance, and social justice. It's a movement dedicated to human-centric and eco-centric ends. It looks beyond the limitations of capitalism and beyond the current rift between humanity and nature. Solarpunk is a futurism that focuses on what we should hope for rather than on what to avoid.

– an excerpt from Andrewism

Forget Mad Max or any other dystopian world. Solarpunk is so much better. 

"Solarpunk turns our vision of the future during these troubling times into something to strive for. It encompasses a multitude of media such as literature, art, architecture, fashion, music, and games. It encourages optimistic envisioning of the future in light of present environmental concerns, such as climate change and pollution, as well as social inequality." 

I want Netflix, Apple, and Hollywood to craft their stories in this direction.

I want writers, musicians, and artists that are incorporating this into their work to be the most celebrated.

I want teachers from every subject assign homework that speaks to this.

Yes, we need to support the many solutions that exist today, but let’s not forget the intangible approaches like art, music, movies, dance, and storytelling. These things shape culture which helps move these visions of the future through our subconscious.

Next time you are outside, imagine this new world around you. What does it look like? Smell like? Sound like? 

Tap into your childlike wonder and picture your neighborhood with community gardens on every other block, street fixtures being made out of captured CO2, neighborhoods getting renewable energy from micro-grids, going to a shared library to check out a variety of items for your household.

With the solutions and approaches we know exist today, that world is within our reach. We just need the collective will to usher it into our lives.

How can the skills you have today help us fill in that imagination gap?

Image credit: The Fifth Sacred Thing by Jessica Perlstein