Solarpunk Now!
by Luka D.
Latest episode
What Does Solarpunk Mean in 2026?
What Does Solarpunk Mean in 2026?
About this podcast
Exploring radical ideas & projects for a kinder, healthier, and more beautiful world. Let’s demand a brighter future together!
Episodes release when they're ready. Join the email list to get notified when a new episode drops: https://www.patreon.com/SolarpunkNow
Episodes
The newest 20 of 22 episodes
- What Does Solarpunk Mean in 2026? · 16 min · Episode 22Solarpunk might seem impossible in 2026, but I argue we need it now more than ever. Fill out the survey here to participate in my interview-based solarpunk research project! Join…
- After the LA Fires: Scholars and Activists on Altadena's Black History, Present, and Future · 1 h 23 min · Episode 21Dr. Wesley Cox, Dr. Dani Haogue, and Zaria Smith all grew up in Altadena, CA. In the wake of the Eaton Fire which destroyed more than half of the city in January 2025, they share…
- We Have to Consider Collapse · 56 min · Episode 20As solarpunks, we have to consider the possibility of collapse. Matthew Azuley–aka EpicTomorrows–introduces us to collapse awareness, a view of the climate crisis which accepts…
- No Healing Without Decolonizing: Community Mental Health in Gaza w/ Dr. Jess Ghannam · 1 h 0 min · Episode 19In 1995, Dr. Jess Ghannam was one of two psychiatrists for the entire population of the Gaza strip (nearly two million people). The typical Western model of mental health care…
- Ecology is Radical: A People’s History of Environmentalism · 1 h 2 min · Episode 18This Earth Month, we’re looking back on the history of environmental radicalism. Brian Tokar is a teacher, activist, and writer who’s been involved in the movements he writes and…
- When the Aliens Land, Invite Them to Dinner: Ruthanna Emrys on Monsters, First Contact, and Hope · 60 min · Episode 17What happens when a solarpunk world is suddenly visited by aliens? Ruthanna Emrys has long been known to the weird fiction community for her reimaginings of H.P. Lovecraft. She…
- Bringing Theory Beyond the Academy: Strange Matters Magazine · 1 h 32 min · Episode 16The editors of Strange Matters Magazine want your reading experience to feel like meeting a grad student friend for coffee. Meaning: they explain the most exciting parts of their…
- From Capitalist Realism to a Solarpunk Reality · 1 h 28 min · Episode 15To kick off the New Year and a new season of Solarpunk Now, I’m bringing you a conversation with some other creators in the solarpunk space. In June last year, I presented a…
- AI is Already Existential: The Case for an Anti-fascist Resistance · 1 h 33 min · Episode 14AI already poses an immediate danger to our freedom, livelihood, and even our very survival. We don’t need to wait on the singularity for AI to become existential – the…
- Fashioning the Future: Why Accessible Fashion Matters · 58 min · Episode 13AJ is a fashion designer who focuses on making accessible fashion: clothing for diverse bodies, abilities, and genders. His online store–Pocketbean Crafts–sells magical and…
- More than a Measure: Building Political Consciousness through the Electoral System · 1 h 26 min · Episode 12Measure H was a ballot initiative in the 2022 election in Pasadena, CA (a city in Los Angeles County). The measure–now Article 18 of the city charter–established citywide rent…
- Scientists for Socialism! Why Activism and Research Go Hand-in-Hand · 1 h 8 min · Episode 11Bee Rooney is both a scientist and a socialist. She got her PhD in environmental engineering and science at Caltech (Pasadena, CA), and now organizes with the Socialists of…
- The Union Makes Us Strong! Stories of Tenant Organizing for a World in Crisis · 50 min · Episode 10Last summer, tenant organizers from all over North America came together in Los Angeles for the 2022 Autonomous Tenants Union Network Conference. The conversations in this…
- Your Imagination is Haunted: Exorcising Neoliberalism's Ghosts with Elia Ayoub · 1 h 39 min · Episode 9This is a collab episode with fellow podcaster Elia Ayoub of The Fire These Times. We talk in detail about the research I was doing before I started my show, as well as how it…
- The Sensual Side of Social Ecology (Chaia Heller Pt. 1) · 42 min · Episode 7When it comes to doing our part to “save the environment”, we’re often limited to making superficial choices as consumers. Choices which don’t do much, if at all, to preserve or…
- It's Not a Revolution if We Can't Dance! (Chaia Heller Pt. 2) · 42 min · Episode 8We need to change our very understanding of nature. Or more specifically, our relationship with nature. We need to see it not as something to exploit, or restrain ourselves from…
- The Roleplaying Game Helping Us Build Utopia · 1 h 3 min · Episode 6Imagining the future isn’t easy, especially when we’re constantly told that our demands for freedom, justice, and societal transformation are unrealistic. While theorists have…
- Log On, Clock In, Drop Out: Tech and Liberation (HydroponicTrash Pt. 1) · 52 min · Episode 4Andre–aka HydroponicTrash–is a hacker, gardener, organizer, and all-around solarpunk. In this episode we discuss technology: as an industry, as a cultural phenomenon, and as a…
- Let's All Do Acid Communism! (HydroponicTrash Pt. 2) · 59 min · Episode 5This is Part 2 of my conversation with Andre–hacker, gardener, organizer, and all-around solarpunk. In this episode we continue our discussion of historical social movements…
- Compassion Is Radical: Care Work Within a Punitive System · 1 h 6 min · Episode 3Sarah is an addiction counselor at a nonprofit agency in California. Her agency offers a wide range of services, both inpatient and outpatient, and they primarily serve…
