It's about an alternate future where Washington State, Oregon, and California have separated from the rest of America... They form a new nation based on ecology and biology. Their political goal is to create and sustain a "stable-state" ecology. Meaning that everything is recycled and composted and they live in a totally pollution free zone. They shun gasoline and nuclear energy... No cars, no jets, no internal combustion!
The book describes their biodegradable plastics made from plant based oils. In Ecotopia this is the only type of plastic they'll allow. Interestingly enough, many Ecotopians don't even like the plastic. They prefer wood. Callenbach describes their complex forest management system in detail. They use a very selective type of logging and are always planting new trees. In fact if an Ecotopian wanted to build wooden building, he would have to arrange to join a forest camp and do "forest service" -a period of labor during which, they are supposed to contribute enough to the growth of new trees, to replace the wood they are about to consume.
Not that work seems all that bad in Ecotopia. They only have a 20 hour work week and they seem to goof off and fuck the dog all day. In fact their society in general seems to be really laid back, people are always totally open and honest. And they all seem to be healthy and in shape. Since theres no cars they walk a lot more and ride bicycles.
Smoking joints and/or drinking in public seem to be allowed almost anywhere in Ecotopia. Even on a train! Marijuana is mentioned quite a bit in the book, but the author never writes about them using hemp. He made a point of saying that they get their paper from the trees. HELLO?? You could be growing hemp for paper and save big time on the trees. I consider it a blunder that Callenbach missed this, but oh well it was '75 after all...
Anyways... Good book. Definitely worth a read. If Ecotopia was a real place I would totally move there!
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