Ecotopia

E Callenbach

ISBN 10: 0960432019 / ISBN 13: 9780960432011

Published by Titles Distributed by Banyan Tree Book Distributors, 2004

About this Item

A novel both timely and prophetic, Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia is a hopeful antidote to the environmental concerns of today, set in an ecologically sound future society. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as the newest name after Wells, Verne, Huxley, and Orwell, Callenbach offers a visionary blueprint for the survival of our planet . . . and our future. Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a stable-state ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, this isolated, mysterious nation is welcoming its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston. Skeptical yet curious about this green new world, Weston is determined to report his findings objectively. But from the start, he's alternately impressed and unsettled by the laws governing Ecotopia's earth-friendly agenda: energy-efficient mini-cities to eliminate urban sprawl, zero-tolerance pollution control, tree worship, ritual war games, and a woman-dominated government that has instituted such peaceful revolutions as the twenty-hour workweek and employee ownership of farms and businesses. His old beliefs challenged, his cynicism replaced by hope, Weston meets a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman and undertakes a relationship whose intensity will lead him to a critical choice between two worlds.

Seller Inventory # CIN0960432019G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Ecotopia
• Publisher: Titles Distributed by Banyan Tree Book Distributors
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0960432019
• ISBN 13: 9780960432011
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Ecotopia embodies in concrete, practical form the new biology-conscious philosophy that has been evolving in recent years, especially on the West Coast.

The setting is the early 21st century. Ecotopia, made up of what was once Northern California, Oregon, and Washington, has been independent for several decades. At last, an official visitor from New York is admitted: Will Weston, top investigative reporter. Like a modern Gulliver, Weston is sometimes horrified sometimes impressed despite himself, and sometimes touched by the strange practices he encounters--which include ritual war games, collective ownership and operation of farms and factories, and an attention to trees and reforestation which borders on tree-worship.

With beautiful new cover art and a new introduction by the author, this thirtieth anniversary edition of Ecotopia will delight old fans and new, and make a perfect gift for anyone who has ever asked the question, ''How can I make a difference?''

About the Author

Ernest Callenbach, who also wrote the ''prequel'' Ecotopia Emerging, grew up in rural central Pennsylvania, attended the University of Chicago, and has lived in Berkeley, California, since 1954. He edited natural history, science, art, and film books for the University of California Press. He now devotes full time to writing (his newest book is Ecology: A Pocket Guide) and lecturing; he gardens ardently, has two compost bins, and walks a lot.