Ecotopia

A novel both timely and prophetic, ernest callenbach?¦+s?ßecotopia?ßis a hopeful antidote to the environmental concerns of today, set in an ecologically sound future society. Hailed by the?ßlos angeles times?ßas the ?¦únewest name after wells, verne, huxley, and orwell,?¦ñ 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 ?¦ústable-state?¦ñ 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:?ßnew york times-post?ßreporter 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 ?¦úmini-cities?¦ñ 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. Here is a new, updated edition of the classic environmental novel, offering a vision of a future both socially and environmentally sane. It has given its name to a region of the country and to the dream of countless readers.