Member-only story
When I heard about the Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest, I quickly figured out exactly what I wanted to write about for my submission. After some reflection and research, I wrote a short story called “ Welcome to Solardale.” The bad news is that my story didn’t win the contest. The good news is that it’s now available for publication elsewhere, including my Patreon campaign!
What is Solardale?
Solardale is an idea that’s been floating around the Carbondale community for years. The basic idea is to take the “carbon” (coal-fired power) in Carbondale and transform it into “solar” (solar power). The result is a new and improved city named Solardale.
The simplest vision of Solardale involves installing a bunch of solar panels to reduce and ultimately eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels. But in my mind, Solardale has the potential to be so much more. Solardale is a vision of a small city in Southern Illinois completely transformed by our understandings of social justice and climate justice.
This short story is my first attempt to describe that deeper vision of Solardale in a work of fiction. It’s a quirky tale that doesn’t delve too deeply into the nuts and bolts of life in Solardale. But I hope that it will entertain you and possibly inspire you to transform our community, region, and world for the better.
