The Weight of Light

A Collection of Solar Futures

154 pages

English language

Published by Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University.

ISBN:
978-0-9995902-6-3
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3 stars (1 review)

A collection of science fiction stories, art, and essays exploring human futures powered by solar energy, with an upbeat, solarpunk twist. What will it be like to live in the photon societies of tomorrow? How will a transition to clean, plentiful energy transform our values, markets, and politics?

The Weight of Light emphasizes that the design of solar energy matters just as much as the shift away from fossil fuels. Solar technologies can be planned, governed, and marketed in many different ways. The choices we make will profoundly shape the futures we inhabit. The collection features stories by award-winning science fiction authors, working in collaboration with illustrators, graphic designers, and experts in policy, ethics, climate science, and electrical, environmental, civil, and aerospace engineering.

2 editions

insert bad pun on the heaviness of the subject matter

3 stars

The output of a workshop involving authors, artists and researchers imagining solar energy-centric societies and likely problems in their implementation. I found out about this through a #solarpunk hashtag and had the mistaken idea it would offer hope. There is some but instead I'm left feeling down and aware of how likely it is that, even as the planet forces our societies to change, we'll do as little as we can get away with. Maybe if I'd read it at another time, or I was healthy enough to be involved in these sorts of projects I'd be motivated towards hope. It's a free e-book, via this link csi.asu.edu/books/weight/

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