Ecotopia is a utopian projection by Ernest Callenbach of a sustainable, environmentally ethical society written in the mid 70’s, almost forty years ago. Using the critical perspective of a skeptical reporter from the more conventional society of the residual United States, the author introduces us to a society that has made some drastic changes. This device allows him to explain and explore the new society while raising and addressing concerns about the new order. Discuss the changes…. Which seem reasonable and necessary, which give you pause? Good science fiction can sometimes become less impressive by the very accuracy of its predictions, as the predictions are realized, we now longer are impressed by them. Have some of the changes already occurred? Which seem even less likely today than in the 70’s. For your written response essay critically evaluate Ecotopia as an aspirational model for an environmentally responsible society. Short of an unlikely secession by the Pacific Northwest, how might we move in this direction?
