Putting aside apocalyptic cli-fi, Solarpunk specifically and optimistic cli-fi is meant to keep the same space as hard sci-fi, the kind of imaginative work which spurs budding scientists with new ideas, just as cyberpunk did for computers or space sci-fi did for space research. There was optimism about a possible future world, and we largely built it.

I just think the “direct action” the writer talks about is fighting against something, not fighting towards something, and the latter is what we need.