Along the Hudson River in New York, Sam Merrett runs a zero-carbon shipping company.

No, he doesn't run a fleet of electric trucks, nor does he bike, Merrett ships local goods up and down the Hudson River by sailboat.

That's right, in the age of massive gas-powered cargo ships making globe-spanning trips, Merrett has created a fossil fuel-free cargo company based on sailing.

One that is at the whims of the weather and the seasons, but makes the buyer appreciate the ebbs and flows of the natural world around them.

This epitomizes a Solarpunk future.

Solarpunk envisions a world in which the technologies we use help us to appreciate and tune into the rhythms of the planet, and sailing in the 21st century has the potential of making that happen.

Marrett shows us that it's already feasible to do on a small scale, and when considering that sails and ropes for ships could support a thriving hemp farming operation that sequesters thousands of tons of carbon with each crop, sailing cargo locally is an appealing possibility.

But, sailing in the 21st century runs the gamut of low-tech rigs like Merrett's schooner to futuristic technologies that are beginning to see their first real-world tests.

Right now, engineers and cargo companies are in the midst of wrestling with the polluting reality of international cargo, and are on the hunt for high-tech solutions for big shipping.

While Solarpunk emphasizes the local, it can still embrace global travel and transport with emerging technologies.

Like retrofitting cargo ships with column-like “sails” that reduce fuel use by possibly as much as 30%, or future-thinking cargo ships with retracting rigid sails.

A Solarpunk future that involves international cargo recognizes the need for these high-tech sailing solutions because they are appropriate for their high-seas context, but what's important is that these high-tech cargo ships are not viewed as a silver-bullet.

In a regional or a local setting, hemp sails and schooners are a much more suitable and nature-reliant solution.

So while a Solarpunk future might envision rigid-sail cargo ships traversing the open ocean to facilitate a thriving hemp trade between continents, a smaller canvas sailboat might bring those goods the last mile to markets.

But at this point, you might be thinking, wait wouldn't sailing mean that there will be delays?

Won't everything take a long time to get to me?

To that I would say that Solarpunk does not prioritize Amazon Prime-like convenience.

That kind of convenience is something people in the imperial core will have to learn to do without.

It comes at the cost of the planet and the people forced to work in grueling conditions and hours to get that package to your front door in one day.

Solarpunk envisions a world wherein we don't have to crush people and the planet in order to find comfort in our lives.

So yes, things might be a bit slower.

But I would gladly slow down my life if it meant that my community and my surroundings thrived.

Although Earthships and sailing cargo do exist in this world, they aren't prevalent.

Looking around, I usually see the plumes of smoke rising from cargo ships, not the undulating waves of a sail.

And I see concrete buildings instead of earth-packed dwellings.

So, what's holding us back?

There is no simple answer.

There are a huge host of reasons.

But when it comes to these beautiful Solarpunk worlds that artists around the world have begun to render I can't help but think about, you guessed it, capitalism.

The profit-centered global economy we've built has driven us to create technologies that, for the most part, function to expand margins and make more money for the capitalist class.

Ideas and inventions that can't compete in the market, regardless of whether they are zero-carbon or build community health, are pushed to the margins.

Marrett's sailboat cargo company is a novelty because it can't compete with the monopoly of Amazon Prime or industrial shipping companies like Maersk.

Solarpunk dares us to dream of a world outside of capitalism because even though these technologies do exist right now, under capitalism, they are not widespread or “successful.”

The labor required to ram hundreds of tires full of dirt for an Earthship, for example, would bleed someone's bank account dry, while the wind-reliant nature of a sailboat means that it can't provide the regimented convenience of one-day shipping.

Combining low- and high-tech solutions, Solarpunk demands a future built not on profit, but instead on community and a strong relationship with the natural world.

So instead of focusing on technologies that make the most profit, Solarpunk urges us to seek out ideas and tools that deepen our interpersonal relationships as well as our ties to the earth beneath our feet.