Description
Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach - A Visionary Environmental Novel
Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia stands as both a timely and prophetic work of environmental fiction, offering a hopeful vision for humanity's ecological future. Published in the 1970s and hailed by the Los Angeles Times as placing Callenbach alongside Wells, Verne, Huxley, and Orwell, this novel presents a detailed blueprint for planetary survival through sustainable living.
The Story
Set twenty years after northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union, Ecotopia follows New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston as he becomes the first officially sanctioned American visitor to this mysterious, isolated nation. The new country has established a "stable-state" ecosystem that maintains perfect balance between human civilization and the natural environment.
Weston arrives skeptical but curious, determined to report objectively on this green society. What he discovers challenges every assumption: energy-efficient "mini-cities" designed to prevent urban sprawl, zero-tolerance pollution control policies, tree worship practices, ritual war games, and a woman-dominated government that has revolutionized work-life balance with twenty-hour workweeks and employee ownership of farms and businesses.
As Weston explores Ecotopia, his cynicism gradually transforms into hope. His encounter with a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman leads to an intense relationship that forces him to choose between his old world and this new vision of sustainable society.
About the Author
Ernest Callenbach authored several works including Ecotopia Emerging, The Ecotopian Encyclopedia, and Publisher's Lunch. He co-authored The Art of Friendship and Humphrey the Wayward Whale with Christine Leefeldt, and A Citizen Legislature with Michael Phillips. Callenbach edited natural history books and the journal Film Quarterly at the University of California Press while lecturing on environmental topics worldwide.
Why Read Ecotopia
This novel serves as an antidote to contemporary environmental concerns, presenting concrete ideas about sustainable living, alternative government structures, and ecological balance. The paperback edition from Bantam makes this influential work of speculative fiction accessible to readers interested in environmental literature, utopian societies, and visionary thinking about humanity's relationship with nature.