SolarPunk starts with a shining, rosy vision of a positive future, that starts from the world we have now, and emphasizes environmental sustainability and social justice.
Our immediate predecessor genre, Steampunk, faced a world so grim the only way they could figure out to address it was to turn history back a century and take a do-over on the Industrial Revolution. *Their* predecessors, the Cyberpunks, couldn't see any way to have positive visions at all, and so only generated dystopias. When we get back to Silver-Age science fiction, we get back to positive futures, but that worldview fell apart with the collapse of American integrity that went with the Vietnam War.
The technology and engineering-based fascination with toys that went with the Silver Age is still here, but it's not our primary focus. We're more centered on social change and environmental action, as the big problems we have to deal with are the ongoing human refusal to engage in self-governance and our destruction of the environment.
Vision is not all of what we're here for, we also want to *create* that world we want to live in. So there are areas here for projects for you to pursue to build our world. If you see a project you want to participate in, please do; if you have an idea for a project you'd like to add, add it. If we can find a way something relates to SolarPunk we'll add it and help you connect with others who can help.