Watch this video with Ernest Callenbach about his visionary novel Ecotopia (1975), about the secession from the US of the eco-minded in Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Comment on two good ideas devised by the citizens of Ecotopia and/or two that would have met with serious challenges or resistance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Final HW: Walt Whitman and Derek Walcott (pp. 279-283)
1. Do some research on D. Walcott and try to account for the different perspectives of the ocean (and sea-crossings) in Walcott's "...
-
Explain and give examples illustrating one or more of the following sentences: "Appreciating the character of colonialism in North A...
In his novel Ernest Callenbach writes about Ecotopia, a place where people have learned to combine the urban and the rural way of life to accommodate the modern day busy lifestyle and still foster a connection with nature. Some of the habits of the people of Ecotopia could be (and to some degree are) applied to our lifestyle. One of them is being self-sufficient. The people of Ecotopia live in houses that have gardens in their backyards. The houses also have sun panels on the roof. In that way they do not need to rely so strongly on food and energy from elsewhere. Total self-sufficiency is (most likely) not achievable in our day and age, but it is important that we take steps to stop relying and exploring other parts of the world. Another aspect of the ecotopian society is social responsibility and the connections between the members of a community. The people living together know and talk to each other, which enables them to recognise the common problems they face and it helps them come up with a solution (it also helps them to achieve the solution).
ReplyDeleteEcotopian society embraces equality between men and women, and also ethnic equality, but these ideals have not been passed in countries that struggle with poverty and low education.
ReplyDeleteThey incorporated social costs in the technology and work systems they created, but in the modern economy, where deforestation, pollution, etc., are "externalities" passed on to society, instead of to the companies and/or governments causing the problems.
They also encourage food production in their cities and value creativity.
Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia corresponds to the balance between the "agricultural past of the country [USA]" and its "terrible industrial present". The author defends that America as a nation should try to find that balance in order to live more in tune with Nature and eachother as citizens. One aspect that might be hard to put into practice is living in absolute community, due to the idea of the american citizen as "self-made" and the prevalence of sense of the individual over the sense of group. And the other one, can be the fact that the USA being such a large country has the need of fast and mass production, of food for example. The Ecotopian idea of not using, or using less chemical substances on the american farms is a great practice to protect the planet ans the communities overall, but does not seem viable in a country with so many needs and industrial mentalities.
ReplyDelete