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'Ecotopia' has been on my to-read list for at least ten years, but only this week did I finally find a copy of it. Thank you, eBay. I was concerned that it might prove dry, which turned out to be entirely unfounded. I was gripped throughout the short novel, which I read in one sitting. It is rather fascinating both on its own merits and as a historical document. Callenbach first published 'Ecotopia' in 1975. It follows the long tradition of Utopia, Millenium Hall, Erewhon et al of sending a man into an isolated society very different from his own to investigate how it runs. The reader is invited to contrast the society favourably with the one in which they live. Unlike its antecedents, 'Ecotopia' does not involve the discovery of a previously unknown enclave. Rather, it provides an alternate history in which a big chunk of the US West Coast seceded in 1980 and established an independent nation-state called Ecotopia. The book begins in 2000, when a journalist is sent to visit Ecotopia and send back reports. The narrative is structured around the reportage and private diary written by this journalist, Will Weston. I appreciated the conceit of his being a journalist, as his investigations therefore felt less artificial than those of 18th and 19th century explorer-types.

I have to commend Callenbach on the detailed design of Ecotopia, which remains inspiring 45 years later. Indeed, I was both struck by his prescience and saddened that his suggestions for low-impact living are often still treated like new and wild ideas. It is frequently forgotten that throughout the history of capitalism people have opposed its damaging effects on the environment and proposed alternatives. On the other hand, I was heartened that some aspects of Ecotopia have started to become normal, notably recycling. Will is shocked that Ecotopians bother to separate their rubbish into recycling bins; I do that regularly. Indeed, Edinburgh has a more complex set of rubbish categories than Ecotopia: six of them, each with a colour coded bin (food waste, garden waste, paper, glass, packaging, and non-recyclable waste). Other measures discussed in Ecotopia that are starting to edge into the mainstream include biodegradable plastics, reusable packaging, electric vehicles, car-free city centres, urban tree-planting, 3D printed modular buildings, land tax, large scale solar and wind energy, legal marijuana, Universal Basic Income, and slow fashion. Callenbach also predicted video calling, as everyone in Ecotopia uses 'picturephones'. No mobile phones, but there is a partial version of the internet as all university courses are available as recorded videos via TV or picturephone.

Part of my reason for reading 'Ecotopia' right now was to compare it with The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, a non-fiction book published this year that is of the same length and has the same intended message. Despite it being 45 years older, I found 'Ecotopia' a more encouraging and convincing argument that humanity can live within environmental limits. Although climate change was little researched and not an environmental priority in 1975, the Ecotopian way of life is definitely low carbon. They use no fossil fuels and have a steady-state, circular economy. Unlike The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, 'Ecotopia' makes clear that a post-capitalist system is required to achieve this because extreme wealth is politically corrosive and environmentally destructive. After succession, most of the wealthy fled and all their capital was expropriated. Businesses, universities, and schools are communally owned and controlled by their employees; no wealth can be inherited. Inequality has been dramatically reduced. Will discusses with an Ecotopian whether their economic system is socialist, concluding that it's a mixed economy. Of course, you could say the same for any country, as nowhere has a pure market economy or a total absence of markets. Ecotopia definitely isn't capitalist, however, and in many ways resembles theoretical models of communism. Decision-making is decentralised and consensus-based, although political parties remain and there is a (female) president.

One paragraph on page 18 of 'Ecotopia' very neatly summarises the environmental economics course I took in 2005:

"Our system is considerably cheaper than yours, if we add in all the costs. Many of your costs are ignored, or passed through subterfuge to posterity or the general public. We on the other hand must acknowledge all costs. Otherwise we could not hope to achieve the stable-state life systems which are our fundamental ecological and political goal. If, for instance, we had continued your practise of 'free' disposal of wastes in watercourses, sooner or later somebody else would have had to calculate (and bear) the costs of the resulting dead rivers and lakes. We prefer to do it ourselves. It is obviously not easy to quantify certain of these costs. But we have been able to approximate them in workable political terms - especially since our country is relatively sensible in scale.

The material on economics is really good, although one significant area that went unmentioned is banking. Does Ecotopia have banks and credit? I'd posit it has personal banking, with strict limits on interest rates for both saving and lending, but absolutely no speculative investment banking. In fact, I bet it only has building societies owned and controlled by their members.

While I was more interested in the technological and economic details of Ecotopia, the social and cultural aspects also proved thought-provoking. The former have aged better, whereas the latter reflect mid-1970s America. Most notably, Will writes a piece about Ecotopia's racial politics. There is a kind of voluntary apartheid, as most black people live in their own enclave. The problems of racial inequality and racial prejudice have mysteriously been solved, but apparently integration was much harder to envisage. I assume this reflects the political context of America in the 1970s. Another striking feature is the replacement of competitive team sports with war games, so the young men can express their violent urges without damage to society. I was rather dubious about these, as they reminded me of Fukuyama's arguments about 'thymos' in The End of History and the Last Man. The gender politics also inevitably look a bit dated. Despite stating that Ecotopia has achieved gender equality, Callenbach still depicts a society with significantly different gender roles for men and women. The role of women has undoubtedly expanded, notably into politics, though. Extended family units/polycules are a more radical development. The willingness of Ecotopians to show and share their emotions is an intriguing consequence of an egalitarian, less competitive, and more cooperative culture. Both of these presumably suggest the legacy of the Hippy movement.

'Ecotopia' has more concrete ideas for low carbon living than any 21st century books on the topic that I've read recently. It's therefore still a rewarding and thought-provoking read 45 years after publication. I considered deducting one star because the parallels between Will falling in love with Ecotopia and with an Ecotopian woman are very heavy-handed. Ultimately I decided this would be mean-spirited, as Callenbach packs so many good ideas into 166 pages. While I don't think everything he describes would necessarily work, overall his suggestions are highly promising. Would I live in Ecotopia? Fuck yeah.