Ecotopia

Utopia novels are always a real hoot to read. Every fringe group with an axe to grind eventually churns out some idealistic novel about the way things ought to be. We have socialism represented in Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward." The racists weigh in with William Peirce's fascistic "The Turner Diaries." Even feminists have a novel, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Herland." Perhaps it was inevitable the environmentalists would put forth their own work, Ernest Callenbach's "Ecotopia."
Ecotopia is a country made up of the states of Washington, Oregon, and a big chunk of California. After a period of political and economic turmoil, these states seceded from the United States circa 1980. They were able to do this because economic conditions in the United States were so bad (apparently Callenbach assumed the problems of the 1970's would continue to spiral us downwards) that the government could not mount an effective civil war to bring the states back into the fold. Further complicating the issue was the nuclear mines Ecotopian guerillas planted in Washington D.C. and other American cities. By the time "Ecotopia" starts, twenty years have passed since Ecotopia gained its independence.
"Ecotopia" tells the story of William Weston, a crack journalist for a big New York newspaper. Weston's mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to take a journey into the country of Ecotopia and report on what he finds there. Weston is your typical big city boy--arrogant, flighty, divorced, and always looking for a new bimbo to drape over his arm. The insights into Weston's character come from italicized "journal" entries placed directly before his official newspaper articles. Needless to say, Weston undergoes a sea change in attitude as he uncovers every aspect of Ecotopian life. He even hooks up with a tree-worshipping chickadee named Marissa, which allows Callenbach to throw in plenty of gratuitous sex scenes. Callenbach proves to us that a return to nature produces an oversexed population, a behavior Weston is more than willing to take part in.
Callenbach uses Weston's articles to reveal a wide array of Ecotopian modes of thought, creativity, and lifestyles. The most important of these aspects is the "stable-state" system, where Ecotopians direct all aspects of government, production, and lifestyle towards the idea of reusable commodities. Ecotopia avoids the use of heavy metals, unbiodegradable plastics, and internal combustion engines. They don't want to use anything that cannot be reused at some point, or anything that may put stress on the environment. Predictably, bicycles are widely used, population growth is discouraged, biodegradable materials are heavily used, and big cities are slowly giving way to smaller, tight knit communities. Pollution is a grave crime in Ecotopia, and many citizens agitate for military action against nations involved in reckless destruction of the environment.
Military action? From a peaceful, green state? Oh yes, Ecotopia does have a military branch, an intelligence apparatus, and a political structure that, at times, wields a heavy hand. Behind the all the hand holding and smiles lurk ominous communistic overtones that threaten to overthrow the world Callenbach attempts to create. At one point, secret police officers approach Weston after he meets with a group of disaffected Ecotopians who want to restore relations with the United States and ease the march towards a greener society. Ecotopians do not believe in being alone, either, as Weston discovers when told, "Here we try to arrange it so we are not lonely very often. That keeps us from making a lot of emotional mistakes." It also prevents people from thinking dangerous thoughts about society and their position within that society, does it not?
It is society over the individual that concerns Callenbach's Ecotopians. Weston learns "We don't think in terms of things, there are no such things as a thing-there are only systems." Weston realizes, at this point, that he is part of a system, that he is not a separate individual thing. Tell that to the individual who questions Ecotopia's emphasis on nature over humans. Of course, in Callenbach's utopia, no one seriously questions the underlying principle of environmental based political structures, but in the real world this would never happen. I shudder to think about what would happen to those who questioned this system too deeply. Perhaps a gulag system near Spokane or execution without trial might clear up these pesky problems.
"Ecotopia" isn't a lost cause. There are a few things within these pages that are agreeable and pleasing. The breakup of mass media systems within Ecotopia in favor of small, multiple outlets is a splendid idea. But overall, worrying darkness looms behind the smiling faces in Callenbach's utopian vision. "Ecotopia" proves that going too far to one extreme in a quest for ultimate happiness is never a good thing.

I lived in Northern California during the 1960s and 1970s and I feel that the book is less about environmentalism or ecology or sustainable growth or anything objective and more about the author's own journey from an ideal happy life in a rural farm in Pennsylvania to a painful experience in Chicago and finally to some kind of childlike euphoria in the hippy culture of northern California in the early 1970s.

Although he chose the title as Eco-topia what he actually describes is his version of the final fulfillment of the hippy ideal of life. The book is much more readable and digestible if we think of it as a novel in the fairy-tale land of Hippytopia where trains traveling at 225 miles per hour provide no seats or seat belts but cushions on the floor and recycle bins marked Metal, Glass, and Plastic and where passengers relax with a communal joint. It is in many ways the final gasp of hippydom. Don't bogart that joint my friend, pass it over to me.

ecotopia - an ecological utopia; utopia from callenbach's point of view, yet completely dismissing any sort of sociological reality. i understand that he's trying to describe a 'perfect' society, but it is so stretched and strained at points as to defy any logic - there must be 100% suspension of belief to enjoy this book. additionally, the timeframe - a mere 20 years - is a completely outlandish figure to reconfigure a society as drastically as he describes.
really, this is not worth the money or the time.

First read this nearly 30 years ago - I borrowed a copy from a friend and skimmed through it - I always wanted to reread it more thoroughly, but I sort of forgot about it. Reading that Ernest Callenbach had died put it back into my memory and I decided to see what 40 years would do to its vision. As anybody who has visited Portland can tell you, some of it has become real - and more of it should. Looking back, it seems funny that Callenbach has to explain what biodegradable means or that composting and recycling were once unknown. Though we are still learning that laws against victim-less crimes should be abolished.
The "plot" to this story is largely superfluous - it follows that standard device of having a stranger going into an Utopia and describing it for people back home. This has been used as far back as Thomas Moores Utopia and in one of my favorite utopian novels, Island by Aldous Huxley. The stranger is usually converted to the utopian life. The story of how Ecotopia was created seems unlikely, but if you look at all the countries that have devolved since the mid 70s like the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia and all the areas that would like to split away, like Scotland, Flanders, Catalonia and most certainly Kurdistan, then perhaps this is not so wild of an idea. A lot of people in Texas are always saying they want independence. At any rate, what is important here is how a green society would work - Callenbach could have placed it on another planet for all the difference it would make (you know, like Pandora in Avatar).
One of the things I like about Callenbachs proposed world is how it doesn't fit neatly into any currently existing political or cultural viewpoint. Or at least not any that will likely be allowed onto the pages of the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. His ideas will resonate best amongst the outsiders and freethinkers across the social spectrum, whether they be left or right or neither. But before you laugh it off, remember; a lot of these things have happened or are happening now. Perhaps back in the early 70s, when this book was being written, they only seemed possible through secession, but now they are being implemented state by state. The next twenty years should be be interesting - you can get a heads up by reading this book.

The story as told by a reporter from the remaining United States visiting Ecotopia -- the seceded northwest bio-region of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington -- after 20 years of isolationism. His objective skepticism is quickly eroded by this green Utopian playground in which respect for living things is the society's primary value.

A bit naive. It is like Callenbach paved the way for our current silly belief in green capitalism. The message: We can do everything we do now in more or less the same way, but we can do it differently and sustainably and green.

And yet, the longer its been since I've read this, the more it works on me. Things I thought were silly in my youth seem to make more sense as time goes by. I think about this book frequently. And since books that present our almost certainly bleak future as having the possibility of positive chance are rare, it is worth reading.

For a very different, though hardly as positive viewpoint about future direction, check out Derrick Jensen. Or better yet, for a ecologically-aware, anarchist-friendly, and compassionate future vision against all the odds of militaristic, industrial society, read [[ASIN:0553373803 The Fifth Sacred Thing]] by Starhawk.

I had to read this book for a History class in college. I find that in life I am a Right Winger with some Left Wing tendencies so it was an interesting read to say the least. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book but had to laugh at some of the hippy, free loving, perfect society, and rather early forward thinking that took place in this book. It was crazy to realize that this book was written almost 40 years ago yet some of the technology and ways of living are actually taking place today in 2012. I appreciated the portion of the book that essentially had a fight club in this perfect calm society. It just goes to show that we are all still Wild Animals with an untamed wild side that still needs a good fight. I would recommend this book to anyone that would like to expand their horizons from just thinking a certain way.

This book is pretty boring, too much environment talk. Good book if you like this genre, but is not for me.

I read this book long ago (when it was new). but more recently I came across his book "A Citizen Legislature" written with Michale Phillips. The connection is powerful...the notion that average citizens can govern themselves. His book "A Citizen Legislature" deals with converting the House of Representatives into a chamber selected by lot (known as "sortition"), instead of election. In Ecotopia he lays out a not-entirely-implausible path to an ecological future, where sortition could function well.

If I tell you you'll miss it.

one of my favorite books to get you thinking