The document proposes the "Solarpunk Generation" framework to address climate anxiety and lack of agency through solution-focused stories, exposure to climate solutions, and training in emotional intelligence tools, in order to engage vulnerable communities in regeneration and climate action. The framework includes a podcast, curriculum, camps, and "Solarpunk Hubs" to connect individuals with mentors and projects matching their interests to address the climate crisis. The goal is to promote psychological and ecological resilience through community-based learning and hands-on participation in sustainability solutions.

1. Solarpunk Generation
Facilitating psychological resilience in vulnerable and diverse communities
while promoting the regeneration of landscapes and the human spirit.

2. Content
1. Problem Statement
2. Solution
3. Mission and Vision
4. Project Scope
5. Needs

3. “Research is increasingly finding that climate denial’s apparent opposite,
climate anxiety, is one of the major barriers to climate action. Indeed, what
appears to be apathy can actually be feelings of grief and disempowerment
that are too difficult to engage with, leading to denial as a mechanism for
short-term emotional coping.
We do not have the inter/personal competencies necessary for engaging
with the intense combination of guilt and fear induced by this existential crisis”
From Learning to Live with Climate Change: From Anxiety to Transformation, Blanche Verlie, 2022.

4. Problem
Statement
 A recent survey of 10,000 young people in 10 countries
reports climate change causing widespread climate and
eco-anxiety. Overall, 75% of young respondents said, “the
future is frightening.”
 Diversity in thinking and creativity are important for diverse
climate solutions. A growing body of research highlights a
strong correlation between neurodiversity and creativity.
However, neurodiverse individuals have competing
pressures that often prevent them from meeting basic and
security needs, which might prevent them from engaging in
regeneration and climate action.
 Efforts for public adoption of climate and environmental
engagement need to include training in explicit emotional
intelligence tools to cope with compounding crises and
build psychological resilience, especially for vulnerable
populations like children, youth, and people with disabilities
and neurodiversity.

5. We need a
Strong Vision to
Lead a Cultural
Shift
“As our world roils with
calamity, we need solutions,
not warnings. Solutions to live
comfortably without fossil
fuels, to equitably manage
scarcity and share abundance,
to be kinder to each other and
to the planet we share. At once
a vision of the future, a
thoughtful provocation, and an
achievable lifestyle.”
~Jay Springett

6. Disconnected Worlds
 Vulnerable populations such as children, young people, and neurodiverse
communities need exposure to climate/regeneration solutions, outlets to
channel their eco-anxiety, and spaces to activate their creativity, so they can
contribute their gifts to the climate/ReFi/ regeneration movements and gain a
sense of purpose and active hope for the future.
 There are incredible solutions, cutting-edge initiatives, and on-the-ground
projects. Unfortunately, these underrepresented and vulnerable communities
often don't have access to this information because they are too busy trying to
survive in a system that drains their creative energy.
How do we invite people of all ages and all backgrounds to engage in
regeneration and climate action at the scale and speed that is required?

7. Solution:
Framework for Intergenerational
Environmental Engagement
Solarpunk Generation proposes a framework for climate communication and environmental education grounded in
eco-psychology, community psychology, positive psychology, social-emotional learning, and storytelling, which can
spark inspiration, reduce climate change helplessness, and increase agency, resilience, and environmental engagement
in people of all ages and backgrounds:
 Solution-focused stories are more effective than catastrophic stories in motivating pro-environmental intentions
(Baden, 2019).
 Participants who read articles on climate change that framed individual actions as either effective or impactful,
indeed believed their individual actions made more impact, whereas the opposite led to climate helplessness
(Salomon, Preston, and Tannenbaum 2017).
 Studies suggest that some activism is effective in building hope and in reducing anxiety and despair (Feldman and
Hart, 2015).
 Hope has been associated with cognitive flexibility and creativity (Rey, 2020).
 Research shows that children can foster climate change concern among their parents (Lawson Et al., 2019).
 Research shows that both adolescents and their parents influence each other’s pro-environmental intentions and
behaviors, suggesting that not only parents but also adolescents, may be important agents of positive changes in
families and society (Zukauskiene, et al., 2020).

8. Solarpunk Generation’s
Framework for Intergenerational
Environmental Engagement
 Education, exposure, training, and mentoring would
allow children, youth, and neurodiverse individuals to
explore their interests within the climate, ReFi, and
regeneration movements and connect their strengths to
specific causes they care about.
 Helping these vulnerable populations connect with
mentors and resources to develop new ideas or join
existing initiatives and community-based service
projects focused on climate solutions/ReFi/regeneration
is a powerful way to engage the adults in their lives.

9. Solarpunk
Demands a nonhierarchical, diverse, decentralized, yet integrated world
 Community-minded: common pool of resources, tool-shares, maker
spaces, co-operatives
 Existential threats are approached with adaptive ingenuity, creativity, and
innovation
 Practical, active engagement as opposed to wishful thinking
 Long-term approach to design
 Reuse and repurposing of resources
 Self-sustaining, focused on ecological and human well being
 Embraces technologies like rooftop solar, passive houses, modern sailing
innovations, and more to allow the natural workings of the planet to
flourish
 En route to an egalitarian civilization in harmony with Earth and all living
beings
 Aligned with indigenous wisdom and sovereignty
 Beautiful antidote to hopelessness and resignation

10. Mission
1. To promote ecological health and
resilience by facilitating the
psychological health and resilience of
children, youth, families, and diverse
communities.
2. To generate, amplify, and catalyze
ideas and solutions that can nurture
the healing of vulnerable communities
and the planet and harness our
collective intelligence to build a
regenerative future for all generations.
Vision:
We envision a regenerative future built
on a foundation of equal inclusion,
empathy, and respect for ecological and
human diversity regardless of age, race,
gender, ethnicity, nationality, ability,
sexual orientation, or neurodiversity
where everyone has a unique role in
promoting ecological and psychological
well-being.
Solarpunk Generation’s Mission and Vision

12. Project Scope
 Grounded in a framework that borrows
elements from Solarpunk, these projects
are synergistic and amplify and support
the development of each other.
 Offers entry points for everyone to
engage in climate action and
regeneration regardless of age,
background, culture, neurodiversity, etc.
 Catalyzes innovation, collective
intelligence, and regeneration (humans,
landscapes, and communities).
Solarpunk Hubs
Camps & Events
Curriculum
Children’s Book
Podcast

13. Objectives
OBJECTIVE 1:
Act as a bridge between disconnected
worlds by providing education and
exposure to existing on-the-ground
solutions in the Web3, ReFi, and
regeneration ecosystems.
This will be accomplished initially
through the Solarpunk Generation
Podcast , which is the seed for other
upcoming projects.

14. OBJECTIVE 2:
Provide talent-development opportunities and emotional coping tools to align
individual’s gifts to regeneration and climate change action efforts. This will be
accomplished through a trauma-informed curriculum that aims to help individuals
identify their unique roles in building this future.
This curriculum will be initially piloted and tested as an enrichment resource for existing
eco-literacy programs and on-the-ground local communities wishing to implement
educational programming or consult to strengthen their pedagogical models, structures,
and strategies.
The curriculum will be eventually delivered through Solarpunk Camps offered seasonally.
The curriculum combines best practices to address climate despair and eco-anxiety with
research-based educational strategies to spark imagination, creativity, and innovation in
children and youth, serving as a model for other local and global communities.
Objectives

15.  OBJECTIVE 3: Elevate and amplify the voices and solutions of marginalized
communities and help them channel their creative energy to contribute to new and
existing innovative and practical solutions to climate change, regeneration, and social
justice issues. This will be accomplished through the podcast, children’s book, and
curriculum.
 OBJECTIVE 4: Design, co-create, and facilitate in-person and online events that
include shorter versions and stand-alone elements of the overall curriculum. These
include nature restoration camps, art immersions, and experiential learning events
focused on community-based and project-based service learning.
 OBJECTIVE 5: Collaborate with other projects, organizations, movements, individuals,
and groups to promote ecological health and resilience and facilitate the creation of
global networks of eco-hubs or Solarpunk Hubs and common pools of resources
designed to harness our collective creativity to build a regenerative civilization.
Objectives

16. Podcast and Children’s Book
Features inspiring
children/youth, Gen Z,
Gen Alpha, Millennials,
parents, grandparents,
etc., engaging in
sustainable
environmental and
climate action, ReFi,
solutions, or
innovation leading to
a Solarpunk future.
Many guests will be
encouraged to
collaborate for other
phases of the larger
project (e.g. area
expert guests for
Solarpunk Camp,
workshops, mentoring,
pilots, fundraising
events).
The stories will
become material for a
children’s book to
share and further
amplify the work of
change makers,
activists, ReFi and
climate leaders
working on innovative
ideas and solutions
and inspire more
families and adults to
move into action.

17. Solarpunk
Hubs
Idea pods for
Solarpunk-Ikigai
identification
Allow participants to explore
their interests and curiosities
in a hands-on, meaningful
way
Provide talent development
opportunities to align
individual’s gifts to climate
and regeneration work
Connect individuals with on-
the-ground regeneration
projects to catalyze collective
intelligence
Emphasize real world
applications
Help individuals
identity their Flow
triggers and build skills
for group Flow
Spaces for individual and
community wellness,
nurturing, and inner
regeneration
Use Gifted and
Talented pedagogy
with general
populations to engage
everyone
Embrace
neurodiversity and
invite
all kinds of minds to
participate
Provide mind-mapping tools
for interdisciplinary integration

18. Benefits of
Solarpunk
Hubs
Address Eco-Anxiety
Foster social, emotional,
ecological, and collective
intelligence
Help individuals and
communities reclaim their
agency and autonomy
Increase capacity for
individuals and communities
to impact their ecosystems
Build resilience in
communities and
individuals
Help individuals shift
out of despair and
build Active Hope
Create regenerative
culture through art,
storytelling, and inspired
action
Increase community
collaboration and
reduce feelings of
isolation
Break through
psychological defenses
against climate action
Promote intergenerational
environmental engagement

19. Solarpunk Camp Curriculum
Offers a powerful research-based
approach to promote
imagination, creativity, and
innovation (ICI) in young people
in addition to reducing eco-
anxiety and increasing
intergenerational environmental
engagement.
Project-based and community
based- service learning and
nature immersion/restoration
activities for all ages
Collaboration with landowners,
regenerative farmers, and new
and existing community-based
regeneration efforts and
initiatives
Opportunities to explore and
connect gaps and solutions
Exposure to a wide variety of
enrichment and self-directed
activities designed to support the
early identification of individual
interests, strengths, and talents
and connect these to the larger
web of environmental solutions
Access to area expert mentors
and connection with resources
and collaborators from all
generations to catalyse ideas and
solutions

20. From Developing of an instrument to measure opportunities for imagination, creativity, and innovation (ICI) in schools. Gifted Education
International Journal (Renzulli, Beghetto, and Brandon 2019).
Solarpunk
Camp
Curriculum
Approach

21. Solarpunk Immersion Events
Events include shorter versions and stand-alone elements of overall
Solarpunk Camp Curriculum and Solarpunk Hubs:
 Ikigai Days
 Art Exhibitions
 Innovation Pods
 Service-Learning Days
 Weekend Incubations and Idea Pods
 Nature Restoration Camps
 Inner Regeneration Retreats
 Gaps/Solutions Teach-ins and Workshops
 And more!

22. Needs
Volunteers Core team
Council members:
(Gen Alpha, Gen Z,
millennial, boomer,
indigenous elder)
Partners, allies, stewards,
co-creators
Area expert guests and
mentors in areas related
to systems-change,
regeneration, and climate
solutions
Funding to scale these
programs and resources
to make them available to
all
Visibility: Social media
manager, graphic
designer, website
development, and
marketing campaign
manager
Nature educators,
permaculturalists, farmers
Land to love, restore, and
heal
Solarpunk artists Illustrator