Customer Reviews

Ecotopia Emerging

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of my favorite books. In contrast to its clunky predecessor _Ecotopia_, this book actually has a plot that, if a wee bit melodramatic, is fun and engaging. It's a bit chilling that the administration running the U.S. that the Ecotopians split off from in this book is actually less insane than the Cheney/Bush/Exxon government we have now. Ecotopia Emerging tells the story of how the Pacific Northwest secedes from the U.S. and establishes a sane lifestyle. This book does go a little far in glorifying the lifestyle it describes but if you can deal with that you'll probably enjoy it.

Callenbach's book does not come without flaws, but it was a fun read, with many practical ideas about constructing an ecologically friendly world. Not a work of literature per se, but an imaginative leap into a greener future, based squarely on contemporary problems that effect us all. Perhaps that is what I liked best about this book: Callenbach gives us a good look at things as they already exist. For that reason, I would even hesitate to call it a utopia. A well-grounded and researched work of ecological imagination. Worth your time.

This book is not one story but several. I love the way the author writes a liitle bit about each of his main characters and then bring together how they all contribute to the founding of his imaginary country ecotopia. I did notice that this book did not mention the war with the U.S. that Ecotopia itself described. Some of the characters were Lou Swift the inventer of a solar cell, Vera Alwen the political leader of the survivalist movement, the Cancer Commandos and their leaders Laura and Nils, Laura's daugther Marissa who also appears in Ecotopia, etc...

Here's a 'sane alternative' to consumer society - arm yourself, shoot it out with the cops, threaten Washington with nuclear terrorism, dump toxic chemicals on garden parties... why SURE!!! THAT will lead to harmonious secession from the Union! Something like it worked for the Old South in 1860, didn't it? Oh, wait a minute...

To call this ridiculous garbage naive is an understatement. Callenbach presents every discredited socialist dream of the past century, with a straight face, as panaceas to the 'dangers' eco-nazis fret about o' nights. The rest of us should be worrying about the eco-nazis...

Let's face it. Ernest Callenbach can't write his way out of a paper bag. That said, this book is still very much worth reading. Our world is spinning out of control. We are rushing headlong into a global disaster we may not recover from. Callenbach's book, for all its shortcomings, offers a sane alternative. Dig beneath the bad writing, the peurile story line and the california anarchisms and you will find profound ideas for living a sane and sustainable lifestyle.

Once you have read Callenbach's other famous book, Ecotopia, you're bound to feel frustrated. He holds out a vision of a wonderful country - but the path there involves breaking off from the U.S. and a short war.

Surely the road to heaven doesn't have to be paved with bad intentions; Ecotopia Emerging shows a way. This "prequel" is about the period of formation of Ecotopia, but in this revised version, the new nation manages to find its way without blood being shed, or severing communications with the rest of the United States.

In addition, Ecotopia Emerging is an engaging tale in its own right, particular its telling of the coming of age of the main character, Lou Swift. It would be worth reading even without the message - a rare accomplishment for a utopian novel.

I found this book very slow going and I became impatient. It's interesting as pre-history, but I would recommend Ecotopia much more. I didn't like the convention/arrangement of the book. It didn't seem to work as well as the convention of the reporter in Ecotopia. Oh, well. Still interesting.

A fictional account of the events leading up to
secession of the Pacific Northwest from the
United States. The book interweaves the
lives of several people: a young inventor
of a new solar cell who decides to put her
invention in the public domain rather than
market it; a politician who breaks from
establishment politics to form a new ecological
political party; and several grassroots environmental
activists. As their lives progress their
activities lead up to the formation of the new
nation which was the topic of Callenbach's
previous novel, _Ecotopia_. If you enjoyed
that book, this one is a must read as well.
If you haven't read it and want to know what
the fuss is about, I would recommend that
you read _Ecotopia Emerging_ first and then
read _Ecotopia_. An excellent book on several levels.

On a chilly winter night in 1983, I read 'Ecotopia Emerging.' The book disappeared from the newsstands soon after, and our world passed that probability-node fifteen years ago, but I-a Reagan voter, Liddy-listener, and Gore-hater-can still remember smiling and saying 'It could work! Maybe I'll lease a vacation home there.'

Alas, that was before HIV killed Ecotopia's innocent hedonism forever, before the bloody and stupid excesses of PETA, before tree-spiking--and before I experienced for myself the dead, cold hand of radical environmentalism. Yet, somewhere in my right-brain I still dream of getting laid under a redwood tree, of living on a houseboat, of bowhunting and painting myself with deer blood after a clean kill. That was the magic Ernest Callenbach shares with Heinlein--both slam-dunk you into their society and make you believe it.

Callenbach can do humor and characters, too. I laughed in places, just grinned in others. Because so few lefties have a funny-bone, the laughs were refreshing. I'm glad Callenbach's didn't disappear in clouds of pot-smoke the way those of other Sixties survivors did.

But woe to those who forget the fate of previous utopias. One of the old totalitarians made a comment about omelettes and breaking eggs. I've often wondered whose eggs got broken in the making of Ecotopia. Probably more folks than Callenbach admits got hurt or killed in the emergence of his fictional society. With the banning of guns, I can only imagine the crime wave that would hit in a year or two-and the oppression that would prevail if a slick talker like Bill Clinton got into power.

I'm sure Ernest Callenbach is a nice guy and I wanted to meet him in person or by e-mail, an ambition I still hold. He honestly seems incapable of believing in human villainy--can you imagine the fun a sociopath could have in the Ecotopian prison system? The antagonists of who remind me of our soon-to-be ex-President, proving that Callenbach doesn't really understand evil. (He obviously favors the elimination of such intrasigents-but in a gunless society, how could his woodsrunner hero have downed the bad-guy's spray chopper? Wouldn't it be better to arm everybody and let natural selection weed out the nongs and drongos?) What fun to hash it out over coffee until the wee-small hours or, failing that, over the web with mutual flamers!

Ecotopia Emerging and Ecotopia performed a valuable service in my intellectual development by teaching me about the passion of the green movement and conveying a little of that passion to me. Libertarians and conservatives both should read this book to learn how well-crafted and entertaining propaganda appears. (The only modern writer who does it better is L. Neil Smith-I'm glad he's on my side, or freedom's days would be numbered!) Ecotopia Emerging will give you a visceral understanding of the appeal of watermelon environmentalism-green outside, red (or yellow) inside. If we are to defeat collectivism, we freedom-lovers must grasp this emotional appeal by experiencing it for ourselves. Callenbach's book can do that for us. END