Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

Dear book club members, here is the discussion of the final Environmental Book Club meeting. We've a had a wonderful 2 years and have learned so much from all of you! While we will not be meeting anymore, we would like to continue this blog and the email list. We invite you to email us at jlewis@asri.org with any environmental books/articles you've either read or are interested in reading, and we will email it to the group and post it on the blog. You can email a quick recommendation or a full review, whatever you like! Please do stay in touch, and thank you so much for being a part of the book club!

Eugenia & July

For the final meeting of the Audubon Environmental Book Club, we read Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach, a 1975 Utopian novel that was influential on the counterculture and green movements of the 1970s and beyond. This is the first time we have read fiction in the book club!

The premise is that sometime in the not-too distant future, Washington, Oregon and Northern California decide to break with the ecologically destructive culture of the rest of the United States. They secede from the union and found a new nation, Ecotopia. Ecotopia closes its borders and diplomatic relations with the U.S., and proceeds to recreate its industry, economy, political system and culture in a way that expresses many of the counter-cultural ideals that were prevalent when the book was written. The book is set about 20 years after the bitter secession, and is told from the point of view of an American reporter who is the first officially arranged visitor since then.

There was lots to talk about with this book! What we thought about the story, about the ideas, what's come true and what hasn't, what's still relevant and what seems humorously dated. While certain fashions and language and social ideas seemed quaint, much is still relevant today. Many aspects of this utopian vision were appealing--a twenty-hour workweek, free and efficient mass transit, and cities designed to be livable, pleasant and walkable where you can see the stars at night. The author imagines a society that has nearly eliminated pollution and come close to their ideal of a 'stable state' ecology, where they are not degrading natural systems. Much of this is due to engineering feats we have not acheived in reality--such as plastics made from plants which are completely durable when used and compostable when worn out. But some is due to simplification, recycling, composting, renewable energy and other methods which are available to us now. Much is due to massive state-imposed reforms, an idea that was not as appealing. Yet although the initial reforms were top-down, Ecotopia is imagined as being a society where most of the political power is held locally and where supportive bonds of community make up the fabric of life. This echoes sentiments expressed in Deep Economy by Bill McKibben, another book club read.

The author also imagines a society where emotions (the whole spectrum) are on full display, where everybody talks and processes their feelings in the open, which was seen as an expression of 1970s ideals of personal growth and 'letting it all hang out'. Their educational system emphasizes an unstructured approach where the students do hands-on work and pursure their own interests--these ideas that emerged in the 1960-70s have not become mainstream but there are several successful school models today (Montessori, the Met School) that incorporate these ideas. Ecotopia's ritual war games (groups of men fight with spears until blood is shed) are imagined as a sort of escape valve for humanity's violent urges, which seemed odd to many readers. Sex and gender and economy and politics.....all of these were reimagined in this book that was as fun to discuss as it was to read.

It's been a pleasure, everyone! Please stay in touch!

--July Lewis & Eugenia Marks

P.S. Do let us know what you thought of the book, and maybe share some thoughts and memories of the book club too by leaving a comment. If the comment box is not displayed below, click where it says "0 comments" (or 1 comment, or whatever we have). Below the comment box, there is a drop-down box that says "comment as:" The easiest thing to do is select 'anonymous'--no more info needed. But if you have any of the accounts they list (Google, AIM, etc), select it and enter in the info requested. If you don't have one of the listed accounts, but do have a personal web page such as a profile on Facebook, you can select Name/URL. Type in your name and paste in the URL of your profile page or whatever web page you want to use.