Neurodivergence as a Blueprint for a Solarpunk Future
By N.E. McMorran
Today we have an essay by N.E. McMorran, the author of the children’s adventure trilogy Moojag, a quirky mystery for readers 10 years and up. When Nema and her friends discover a hidden sugar-hooked society holding lost kids, they find their perfect world in danger.
MOOJAG: The Slow Revolution
For many years, I felt like a traveller without a map, trying to navigate a contradictory world that felt too loud and too fast. It wasn’t until much later in life—after studying art and design, working as a teacher and picture researcher, starting my own magazine publishing company, and raising a child—that the map finally arrived in the form of a late autism diagnosis.
This revelation became the heartbeat of my cli-fi trilogy, Moojag. It was whilst writing this quirky rollercoaster of an adventure for children that I realised neurodivergence isn’t just about personal identity—it is a vital toolkit for climate survival.
The seeds of Moojag were planted during a period of intense climate anxiety. Initially inspired by the characters from the stories my parents told me as a child, the plot was ultimately motivated by the 10:10 climate campaign and the film The Age of Stupid. My manuscript began as an environmentally charged fantasy but quickly transformed into a neurodivergent Solarpunk “dystopia-versus-utopia” that asked: What if we got it right? What if we could live together peacefully as ourselves, accepted and celebrated for who we are?
In the post-climate-catastrophe Surrey Isles, technology is an extension of the ecosystem. Cephalopod-inspired, full-bodied electronic sensory-powered skins allow the “Real World” community to live outdoors, protected from all weathers, danger, and disease. No more buildings, no homelessness, no money, no disease, no refined sugar. The characters live in a state of high-tech harmony with nature. To live sustainably is to live with the wind, the rain, and the sun, rather than trying to wall them out. It is self-sufficiency in its purest sense: preventing disease by being accountable for our own health and environment.
The themes introduced in the series are ones often sidelined in our fast-paced, convenience-driven culture. We are taught that “fast” is efficient, but in the context of the climate, fast has led to fast fashion, fast food, and the fast depletion of resources. In Moojag, sharing, acceptance, and inclusion are the true currencies.
Being autistic has allowed me—and requires me—to move at a different pace. In Sloth Guardians, the final standalone story of the series, “slowness”—championed by the sloth—is the ultimate superpower. It represents a divergent way of problem-solving. We cannot solve the climate crisis with the same linear thinking that created it; we require the ability to see connections and solve problems with fresh, empathetic eyes. In Sloth Guardians, creativity and slowness are a fundamental survival strategy.
As a species, we are currently in a state of collective grief for the damage we’ve done to the planet. Sloth Guardians shows that we can move through that guilt into a space of radical acceptance—of our limitations, our strengths, and each other. We can forgive the versions of ourselves that didn’t know better so that we can empower the unique versions of ourselves that do.
Sustainability is often framed as a series of subtractions: less travel, less meat, less heat. But through a neurodivergent lens, I see it as a series of additions: more community, more understanding, and a commitment to sharing.
My experience within the supportive neurodivergent community has taught me the necessity of a “village”—a safe space, without judgement, where you are free to be yourself. In Moojag, identity isn’t tied to what you own, but how you nurture and celebrate your unique strengths and your contribution to the collective. Whether you are a “Sloth Guardian” who monitors the slow growth of the canopy or a PIE e-skin crafter, your value is inherent.
Through Moojag, neurodivergent readers young and old can see themselves and find validation. It allows us to recognise that being different isn’t a deficit to be corrected, but a perspective to be honoured and celebrated. To survive the coming century, we need the slow, the creative, the focused, and the kind. We need the neurodivergent spirit leading the way.
Find out more about Moojag here, published by neurodivergent Spondylux Press. SpondyluxPress provides neuro-affirmative mentoring and developmental editing services to writers and publishers. Visit: SpondyluxPress.com for more details.
N.E. McMorran is a British-Cypriot award-winning autistic author, and designer, who previously worked at the BBC and taught in London nursery, primary and secondary schools. She founded and directed the Cyprus magazine publishing company AccessArts Publications Ltd and, more recently, founded the award-winning London based independent Spondylux Press, run by autistic female and non-binary professionals to support neurodivergent creatives.
The author's debut novel, 'MOOJAG and the AUTICODE SECRET' which won the NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD 2021 and PURPLE DRAGONFLY 2024, was inspired by her experiences growing up in a neurodivergent family, as well as a mother and home educator, and the journey to late autism diagnosis.
In 2021 she worked with Peter Street on his childhood biography, 'Goalkeeper: Memoir of Poet Peter Street', later shortlisted for the 2023 RUBERY AWARD.
Her second children's novel 'The Lost Memories', stand alone sequel to 'Auticode Secret', published in Oct 2023, won the series a second NAUTILUS AWARD in 2024, as well as Firebird Awards in their 'Neurodivergent', and 'Cli-fi' categories. The third and final Moojag instalment, 'The Sloth Guardians', is out December 2025.
Tractor Beam - call for short story submissions
Tractor Beam is a seasonal speculative fiction publication dedicated to soilpunk: radical visions of anti-apocalyptic futures on Earth. Their editorial mandate is to explore provocative, optimistic ideas around farming, food, soil, and beyond, reimagining how humans can live more harmoniously with nature.
For the sixth issue of Tractor Beam, they’re looking for stories about the role of water in soil, growth, land, and ecosystems large and small. They are specifically seeking anti-apocalyptic visions that explore the future of water in farming and food production, island ecologies, hybrid sea-soil technologies, the people who move water and the people water moves. Stories about drought, diaspora, and what gets carried downstream.
Please think outside the pasture. Develop complex characters with nuanced conflicts, contradictions, and humor. Think cross-genre: a soilpunk romance, a comedy, a coming-of-age story, a thriller, something strange and difficult to categorize.
Please do not submit stories about soil scientists saving the world, stories in which non-marginalized groups “speculate” marginalization, or AI-generated stories (human-only, please).
If you need inspo, look to emerging science and dream!
Tractor Beam pays $1,000.00 for all accepted submissions. Submissions will be considered for publication online on our website and Substack, and in some cases, for one-off printed editions.
They prefer stories under 6,000 words and comics 12-16 panels. Submissions close June 30th. Learn more here.
Congratulations to League member Harry Whitehead whose novel White Road has been shortlisted for the £10,000 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize! The book follows a Scottish rescue swimmer out of her depth in the High Arctic winter when an oil rig explodes. You can read Harry’s discussion about the book with Georgina Key here.
Free Online Workshop on Imagining Better Climate Futures in Fiction with nonprofit Climate Interactive
The League is collaborating with Climate Interactive to offer a free zoom workshop for writers looking to learn more about climate solutions.
An En-ROADS workshop is a climate scenario-building experience that utilises En-ROADS, a climate simulator co-developed by a nonprofit Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan. During this interactive workshop, we will roll up our sleeves and explore climate solutions in real time - from renewable energy, transport electrification, nature-based solutions and innovations like technological carbon removal - and learn how these solutions can reduce health, nature and financial impacts of climate change. The workshop will equip you with mental models of the dynamics underlying global climate, energy, and land-use systems. En-ROADS is widely used by communicators and journalists to relay complex concepts in an accessible manner that activates people's curiosity and leaves them feeling more hopeful about the future. This session is suitable to those new to these topics but even experts will discover something new.
Sign up via Zoom here - Jul 8, 2026 from 7-8pm (UK time)
Find out more about Climate Interactive
A note from the editor: I have a new graphic novel out this month! The Victors is about a university town trying to recover from the aftermath of a magical war that has destroyed most of the city. It's about the consequences of war (both environment and emotional) and the responsibility that comes along with power. It's also about ex-enemies learning to be housemates. 😊 You can find out more about The Victors here.
The series of additions framing feels important. A lot of climate imagination still treats survival as subtraction: less comfort, less movement, less self. But the futures I trust tend to add forms of attention: more ways to notice heat, more room for different nervous systems, more shared tools, more practices that make dependence less humiliating. That feels closer to solarpunk than a clean city rendered from above.