Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach

****This was written last summer, when I was bored out of my mind waiting for school to start. See, teachers, this is what happens when we're not in school. We learn on our own!******

(I should probably start with “omgwtfbbqspoilersahead” but, as no one in their right or left mind is going to read this book or this review anyway, I shan’t bother)

My first reaction, on finishing Ecotopia, is that it seems a book written on an idea, and a book written for the beginning and the end, because indeed, these are the parts that were the most interesting to me. But seeing as it took almost three months for me to slog my way through it (and it’s like 167 pages, note), I will say that the middle was much more like filler, and not as satisfying. Second note, to put it in context, is that you should know that it was written in 1975, which is longer ago than you think; I mean durr, no internet, how did people survive.

Yes, warning. This book is RIDICULOUSLY boring. Really. Or maybe I read too much young adult fiction, and this is the second book this year I’ve read for fun from the adult section that I’ve actually finished (The first was Maurice.) So why did I read I read it? This has to do with my theory of books, reading and interest; in any case, what keeps me going. A book must be interesting or compelling, preferably both, but if it’s just one it’s okay. Ecotopia is certainly a compelling book, compelling in the way history is compelling, but possibly less so, as this is like reading a fictional account of a dry history book (I mean, dude, at least when you’re falling asleep over poll taxes, you know it actually happened.)

Now, it’s appropriate, I think, to start with a summary, since I know full well no one’s actually going to read this. The premise is that California, Oregon, and Washington all secede from the union (okay, the US) in order to create an environmentally friendly stable state society; the back of the book says “takes charge of its biological destiny.” (Side note: the US only has 47 states! Dude, they have to change the flag! And songs like “50 nifty united states”! *mocks*) They do this is a variety of ways, which I may or may not get to, and may or may not be ecologically feasible (the back of the book seems to imply they are; I’m going to remain skeptical though. But this is an environmentalist classic; incidentally, why I bothered to read it.) Anyway, the reason it reads like a textbook is because the “plot” of the book is that Ecotopia has been existing independently with no contact with America for decades.... until now (dum, dum, dum). So William Weston, that’s the protagonist, write lots of journal entries and newspaper articles, which are compiled into said book.

On the back cover it says “Ecotopia is not science fiction, but politics fiction.” This is a very important statement, and indeed my first sort of ponderment with the book. I was very curious, trying to figure out what kind of political ideology Callenbach infused into this book. Now, having finished it, I can only tell you that it’s very hard to say. Ultimately it’s liberal - the care they put into the environment, socially liberal in the sense of free love hippiness, although also in the sense of culture, that Ecotopians are more trusting, don’t mind being naked, have sex all the time with anyone, etc (Maybe it’s a note of the 1975 publishing date that there’s nothing whatsoever about STDs.) However, whenever you get to other issues such as economics or some others, it’s hard to say. My first thought was that omg, Ecotopia is so communist, or at least socialist (dude, they live in communes!), but later they’re talking about vicious decentralization, so it seems a little more libertarian, there. It retains ideas of welfare - everyone has a right to a certain amount, barely enough to live off of, but since the government has mandated a 20 hour work week, there is not shortage of either jobs or leisure time really - not to mention that, as Callenbach writes it, there is little distinction between leisure time and work - we’re back to the cottage industry, guys. (Although, what I consider leisure time is holing up in my room with a book or my computer, and what they consider leisure time is smoking marijuana and debating environmental politics, while or not while doing work.)

Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked; my point, sort of is that while this is clearly a quite political book, it’s more like describing a culture than it is anything partisan, and in a lot of ways, reverting to “living off the land’ like the Native Americans did, and the efforts, political or social, that will get them there (hence the vicious decentralization.) In addition to living in communes which are rather like tribes, they also have a tradition of tribal warfare games (it was obvious from the start, that Callenbach is making the usual comparison of war and football.) These are supposedly to keep people’s fighting skills sharp, since this is no war (except for the war for Independence, and the Helicopter War) and they aren’t expecting any.

In terms of reusable energy, Ecotopia seems to apply to the same ideas that I wish people would get a clue with here: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal (steam energy from hot springs, is what they say here), and nuclear fission, although they say that some of these are temporary, like nuclear because of radiation (I’m not a big fan of nuclear and I don’t think most of the public is either) and hydroelectric because it destroys river banks and some habitats. Their main sources of energy seem in a word preposterous, but hey, I’m not knocking anything until it’s been tried, anyway. One idea is using photo cells as big as satellites, and basically harvesting the chemical energy, the natural energy of plants, to get electricity and other sorts of energy. The second idea is that of using tides, which are another constant source of energy, much like solar; I really like this idea. Callenbach’s idea here is that since water is so great at storing energy, even a small change in temperature will yield a large change in energy, so that’s where you get your energy from. (pages 102-105)

Next, let’s talk about gender stereotypes and sexism. This is also where we talk about the protagonist. Now, this being a “progressive” society, Callenbach, through William Weston, makes a big deal about how there is gender equality in Ecotopia and that women are more prone to run things, etc. But, and let me be nitpicky about this - it is so stereotypical to have a woman president to “show” your reader that the sexes are equal in your book. But this is more the “tell” aspect of the book. What the book shows me is that this is not the case. Now, I hesitate to say it’s Callenbach’s bias, when it may just be Weston’s bias, but some of the contradictory nature of what it says and what it implies seems to indicate to me that there’s some bias on the author’s part. Sure it’s small stuff, but the military soldiers are still referred to as “men” - and I’m not sure if women are in the military, it was rather unclear about that. Secondly, are their tribal war games, which women are not allowed into. This probably bothered me the most, because there was no good explanation for it (although, while it’s being compared to football, there are no women in professional football, but drr, this is supposed to be a progressive society). It seemed something along the lines of, that only men get overwhelming urges to fight and need to take it out in war games so they don’t kill each other on the street, etc. Also, it was just a feeling I got, from the protagonist and all, that women hadn’t stopped being treated as sex objects, anyway, that’s how some women were portrayed.

Ecotopians also have an interesting, progressive education, of which I rather like some aspects. True to their insistence on decentralization, it is, I believe, all private schooling, and is only regulated such that there are two tests, one at 12 and one at 18, to make sure you’re on track. What Callenbach emphasizes here, and I think this is huge, and one of my gripes with schooling, is that just book learning is not enough. Practical lessons, not just in our core subjects, but in stuff like cooking, basic aid, knots, how to live on your own in the woods, how to recognize edible plants or bad plants, that sort of thing. This means that every Ecotoptian child has, at the end of their schooling, developed a number of practical skills, life skills, survival skills - the kind of things that I think schools should really teach more of. Second of all, is the idea of pursuing your interests over adhering to a strict curriculum. Another problem I have with schooling is the lack of this. Because Ecotopian children are in public schools and don’t need to be taught to tests, they can learn more about what they’re interested in -and indeed, they are still learning - and, I suppose, get career ideas much earlier on. Anyway, props to Ecotopian school system. Of course, this is nothing new, people have been saying this for years - it’s the most commonly made AP english speech, come on - but no one’s been able to change it.

The ending of Ecotopia - I liked it. It was very satisfying, anyway, this what the author was trying to get to, trying to show in his book all along. Basically, after his scheduled 6 months in Ecotopia, it’s time for him to go back to New York, but after being kidnapped back into Ecotopia, awwwwww he decides to stay in Ecotopia, with his lover Marissa and her people and culture there. I guess I just liked it because some books drop off like duds, but this has nice closure, and a logical followup to Weston’s changing attitude towards the place - he is first a little reserved skeptical of this eccentric society and its people, but then comes to realize that they actually have good ideas and it’s so wonderful, etc - awwwwww, as I said.

I’m going to close with my major problems with books, although maybe hard for Callenbach to anticipate in 1975. Now, I’m quite a globalist, and this book doesn’t seem to take globalization into account at all. Yes, Ecotopians have the best air and water quality we’ve seen in centuries, etc., but if your goal is to create a stable-state society, you can’t just ignore the rest of the world. While Ecotopians are stable-stating, Americans and everyone else in the world are producing just as much pollution as ever, and this is going to rebound back on Ecotopia, whether they like it or not. Bad water quality in America will mix with Ecotopia’s clean water, and polluted air, due to global wind currents and all, will mix with Ecotopia’s clean air. (America’s polluted air causes acid rain and other problems in what is mostly third world countries, because of the way wind currents are, this is what I am talking about.)

Second major problem with the book is that Callenbach could not have predicted the impact of the internet on today’s society - when suddenly contact with the rest of the world is at the tip of your fingertips, this increases the globalist perspective a lot. With information traveling this fast, you can’t feel or pretend to be alone anymore, not to mention it’s a great way to get the word out.

So this is where I cringe at Ecotopia’s decentralization, and reverting back to tribal life almost. A foresty life is great and all, but it’s also like sticking fingers in your ears and pretending that the rest of the world is going to to follow you, but it’s not, not unless you do something about it. And this needs to be Ecotopia’s most important effort.





ETA: I have been getting a LOT of spam on this post in particular - it's getting annoying. So I have blocked anonymous commenting. You have to have at least an OpenID to post.