Our Green Streets Blog

Imagine, a world where recycling is required, food wastes are turned into organic fertilizer, and most energy comes from solar, sea, wind, and geothermal power.  This green utopia was envisioned by Ernest Callenbach in his 1975 novel “Ecotopia.”

Even in the 1970s, Callenbach’s vision was firmly grounded in sound science.  Says Callenbach in a recent piece in The Capital Times (Madison, WI), ”I was trying to raise the question that we could be doing all this stuff in 1975 and why aren’t we? Our goose will be cooked if we don’t do it now.”  

While admitting that the challenges can seem daunting, the author insists that we can rise to the challenge.  ”When we went into World War II, in two months, Detroit was making military trucks and tanks,” Callenbach said. “So when things have to be done quickly, they can.”

In the novel, the fictional Ecotopia was founded amid a world-wide economic downturn when Washington, Oregon, and Northern California succeeded from the United States.  The problems that confronted Ecotopia were very much like the problems currently confronting our own nation and we can learn from the creative solutions employed by Ecotopia’s founders.

“We can’t just prop up these failing enterprises,” says Callenbach. “We have to get them to adapt to a new, greener world.  We need an ecological-industrial complex.”

According to The Capital Times:

Callenbach would rather see ethanol made from agricultural waste than corn, and he hopes to see greater use of rivers and lakes for the ferrying of parts and goods.

He’d also like to see the Great Lakes used for wind power. “Wind over water is very strong, not obstructed by hills or trees.”

And according to  consumer advocate Ralph Nader wrote, “None of the happy conditions in ‘Ecotopia’ are beyond the technical or resource reach of our society.”

There can be no better time to get to work on the very sound ideas put forth in Ecotopia (many of the chapters were sent to experts who vetted them for scientific accuracy and engineering feasibility).  In addition to potentially creating tens of thousands of new “green collar” jobs, we could take a big step to energy independence while laying the foundations for greater environmental stewardship and sustainable development.  Or as Ernest Callenbach says, ”This is a country full of capable, dynamic and energetic people. If we get moving in the right direction, we can accomplish an astonishing amount of things.”