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Cover of Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

Ecotopia

  • 218 pages · about 4 hours
  • First published 1975
  • 31 editions

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1 About this book

Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is a utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture and the green movement in the 1970s and thereafter. The author himself claimed that the society he depicted in the book is not a true utopia (in the sense of a perfect society), but, while guided by societal intentions and values, was imperfect and in-process.

Callenbach said of the story, in relation to Americans: "It is so hard to imagine anything fundamentally different from what we have now. But without these alternate visions, we get stuck on dead center. And we’d better get ready. We need to know where we’d like to go."

  • Nature conservation
  • Environmentalism
  • Human ecology
  • Environmentalists
  • Science fiction
  • Ecology
  • Environmental responsibility
  • Utopias

2 About Ernest Callenbach

1929–2012

Ernest William Callenbach (April 3, 1929 – April 16, 2012) was an American author, film critic, editor, and simple living adherent. Having many connections with a group of noted creative individuals in Northern California, Callenbach's influence beyond the region began with the publication of his utopian novel Ecotopia in 1975.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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