Bright Green Futures? Not only is this the title of the about-to-release anthology I’m part of, but it’s a solarpunk intention—futures we create so all beings thrive.
With fascism, oligarchies, rampant capitalism, and all the patriarchal systems accumulating wealth and power, standing up for the futures we desire is more important than ever.
Join me in using all the tools within our abilities: street protests, phoning policymakers and Congress, phoning media … be creative and keep it up!
Simultaneously, we need to picture those futures we want in order to aim for them. Can’t create them without imagining them!
The Future I Desire
You all can see the future I desire because it’s the setting of my many solarpunk stories set in the Threads. “Ancestors, Descendants” is in the Bright Green Futures anthology that launches on Earth Day. I link to two other published stories on my site that you can read for free: “Maybe We Are All Witches” (Solarpunk Magazine, Issue 6) and “Myco, Macro” in the mushroom issue of Optopia. Plus two others are in noted anthologies.
Where did the Threads come from?
I first imagined this wonderful future during a visualization Starhawk led when we co-taught a workshop in 2016 “Stories for the Future.”
Stories shape our imagination and our ideas of the possible. How can we use the power of story to help us envision a positive future, and inspire people to want to work towards it? Stir in a little magic—the art of shaping and shifting consciousness, of connecting with the deep creative energies of nature, bending time and opening awareness. We’ll explore our ancestral and personal stories, and the day will culminate in a powerful ritual of collective myth creation.
Description of “Stories for the Future” with BrightFlame & Starhawk
In the journey, I saw communities where humans related with nonhumans in the Earth’s Living Web, where Forest and Fungi helped create community and assure that all thrived. That future featured new tech aligned with Nature and various innovative ways to work with the land. Communities formed nodes in an interconnected web: the Threads.
Starhawk and I hadn’t heard of Solarpunk in 2016, though we both found our ways there. In fact, her landmark novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing is touted as a Solarpunk novel from before we had the label.
When I first heard of Solarpunk as a genre in my writing group Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, I jumped in—its hopeful, powerful vibe aligned with how I live and with my spiritual tradition. Since then, all my short fiction is set in the Threads. The stories cover about two centuries. (I’m seeking a publisher for the collection, which reads as a mosaic novel.)
This post is inspired by writer Elinor Wahl who wrote to let me know how touched and impressed she was by my story “Thank Geo” in Solarpunk Creatures. (Huge thanks to Elinor for writing and for sharing my story in the Authortunities group!)
Forest Communication
Forest communication is forefront in my Threads stories where humans and trees communicate in thoughts and words. For years, I’ve incorporated in my teaching for mainstream and magical audiences ways to communicate with Nature and especially with trees. I offer experiential sessions for folx to feel themselves part of—not separate from—Nature.
Most Witches are no strangers to communicating with Allies from other realms and Gods, Goddesses, and Mysterious Ones. Fewer are adept at or had even thought of communicating with the land themself.
I’m a science geek at heart and a lay naturalist—all of which I bring to my teaching. Scientists continue to learn more about plant and Forest communication—inter- and intra-species. Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard and colleagues’ groundbreaking work on mycorrhizal networks and hub trees (even prior to her book, Finding the Mother Tree) has been a big influence. As has enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Robin Wall Kimmerer‘s writing.
Decentering Humans
In my work, I incorporate the notion and practice of decentering us humans among the Web of Life. You’ll notice this in all my stories set in the Threads. Elinor asked me how I thought of adding a very different nonhuman in my story, “Thank Geo.” (No spoilers here about who it is!)
I tend to write for publishing deadlines. So when I saw that editor and publisher extraordinaire Sarena Ulibarri had a call out for the Solarpunk Creatures anthology, I wrote “Thank Geo.” All of my Threads stories feature nonhuman characters like trees and fungi. But that felt very ordinary to me! “Thank Geo” might be my most unusual story to date.
I hope you all get to read “Glistening Arc of Justice,” which is out on submission. It, too, features an interesting set of nonhumans.
Thank you to Elinor and all those who’ve read my work. Your comments and insights feed me!
And remember: reviews are gifts to all of us authors. If you’ve read The Working, consider adding one on the big sites.
Imagine those bright futures!
Here’s a fun bonus: Susan Kaye Quinn created solarpunk zines for us to leave in coffeehouses, little free libraries, community centers … anywhere that people gather. I found printing and folding these zines a fun and relaxing activity. Plus, it’s an act of resistance to plant seeds of hope.