Solarpunk and Other Happy Future Stuff

Skip the bad news, let’s talk happy future stuff and solarpunk. That’s right, I need a break from the bad news and so do you – I see the look on your face. For as much as the slithy toves of 2025 push us into dark corners, Jabberwocky characters present looking-glass possibilities. We might just escape forward into a happy solarpunk future, anything is possible. Ready to hear more about the happy? Let’s go!

Green Concrete and Wood Steel

A new startup just launched to produce ‘a groundbreaking new material that mimics the look and feel of natural wood while outperforming high-grade steel … Maryland-based firm InventWood, revealed that their engineering wood product called Superwood is a result of molecular-level transformation that turns natural wood into a material up to a dozen times stronger and 10 times tougher than its original form.’

But wait, it gets better! Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, along with the University of Miami and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ‘developed a process to create environmentally friendly material has the potential to substitute steel and concrete in buildings, bridges, furniture, and flooring.’ We could have strong, sustainable, affordable building materials in *everyone’s* reach within a few decades. Good-bye Plastic Waste

Don’t take my word for it – we might see the last plastic bag in the next ten years. Here’s how it works: Turning algae into biodegradable plastic involves extracting oils and carbohydrates from the algae biomass. As raw materials convert into biopolymers, we mold them into various plastic products. Scientists enhance the production of these components by genetically modifying algae strains or optimizing growing conditions. This creates a renewable source of plastic AND reduces reliance on fossil fuels AND lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Score!

So using genetically-engineered algae, we can extract green versions of the necessary materials to make packaging materials and good-bye petroleum-based plastic. Woo! Only one question: How does that get rid of existing plastic waste? Keep reading …

Real Matter Compilers

In Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, post-scarcity society was driven by universal access to matter compilers. Molecular assemblers – not just a mod in Minecraft–  can construct perfect mechanisms from basic components like water, carbon, or air. Molecular assemblers can even break down existing trash (hello, plastic waste!) and turn it into something more useful. Atomic simulations aim to understand and predict complex physical phenomena bring us closer to molecular assemblers and people are working with them *right now.* There’s even an open source frame work called OpenMC (I’ll let you figure out what MC stands for). We’re drawing closer to the day where we can have personalized antibiotics and medicine, food compilers, machines that break down CO2 into fuels. Here’s a Youtube explanation – molecular assemblers are wild and the possibilities are endless.



Open Source Weight Loss

I’m not a huge fan of taking drugs to lose weight but Ozempic is a game-changer for people who have tried every other method. One problem – it’s expensive! The possibility of change came during 2022-2025 shortages where pharmacies were allowed to compound their own (make their own) Ozempic in response to demand. Compounded semaglutide (generic Ozempic) could be re-approved by the FDA at any time. Suddenly, weight loss becomes more accessible and people get healthier!

Good-Bye Dentures!

In July 2023, researchers from the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan announced the development of a new tooth regrowth medicine that uses RNA to administer antibodies against a molecule called USAG-1 which inhibits bone growth proteins. A medicine to grow new teeth is set to enter clinical trials in July next year after being developed in Japan. Following clinical trials, the medicine could be ready for general use in 2030.

But wait, what if it doesn’t work? Not to worry – Scientists at King’s College London say they’ve successfully grown a human tooth in a lab for the first time. What if you got new implants made from your very own tooth DNA? No dentures, no caps, no fakes. That’s crazy, right?? New versions of your original body don’t stop at the jawline. We’re also getting closer to …

Growing New Organs In the Lab

Imagine a future where you don’t need a clone, you don’t need someone to die and you don’t need anti-rejection drugs to get a new kidney, or liver, or heart, skin, or muscles. Engineering an organ or tissue begins with having the right kinds of cells. ‘In 2016, the institute announced  success printing living tissue structures using a specialized 3D printer that its researchers designed over a decade. The scientists printed ear, bone and muscle structures that, when implanted in animals, matured into functional tissue and developed a system of blood vessels. These early results indicate that the printed structures have the right size, strength and function for use in humans. The series of experiments proved the feasibility of printing living tissue structures to replace injured or diseased tissue in patients.’ Reminds me of that scene in Star Trek IV:



Chemotherapy No More!

The development of mRNA vaccines represents a significant advancement in cancer treatment, with 120+ successful clinical trials treating lung, breast, prostate cancer, melanomas, and more challenging cancers such as pancreatic and brain tumors. Pancreatic cancer? Still treated like a death sentence. Imagine being able to say ‘you’re going to be okay.’ Imagine being able to say ‘no more chemo!’

Fox13 Memphis explains it this way: “Immunotherapy uses your own immune system to fight cancer. It works by boosting the natural defenses in your body—so it can do more to find and kill cancer cells. ‘Cancers have been very good at hiding themselves from the immune system,” Dr. Gravenor said. “If you can neutralize that protein, the immune system can come in and kill the cancer.'”

The Future Can Be Happy If We Want To

Yes, bad news everywhere. Being scared and angry and frustrated and hopeless is a reaction – remaining scared and angry and frustrated and hopeless is a choice. I’m choosing to focus on happy future solarpunk. We can escape forward into a happy solarpunk future anytime we want to. We can be comforted in knowing we did our human duty to plant trees knowing we’ll never sit in their shade, even if we don’t get there ourselves. The sky’s the limit and our hearts are open.

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