ECOTOPIA or BUST - Ernest Callenbach

ECOTOPIA author Ernest Callenbach talks about the signs of the influence his 1975 visionary novel has had at home and abroad, his thoughts on social change, and the urgency he sees of making the inevitable transition to clean, renewable energy sources or - the alternative - a plunge into chaos.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• ecotopia
• emerging
• ernest
• callenbach
• clean
• renewable
• energy
• bring
• back
• the
• buffalo

[john42t]

As a teenager I was made to read a book glorifying a feminist tyranny in which men are forced to build their own houses with their own hands to learn what's good for them. I despise this man.

[mselle26]

wow... early 2008! Thank God I went to Ai-OC! Where I learned exactly how to deal with this issue. And we Socalians love are cars and need a way to get to the mountains, the beach, DTLA, Inland Empire, SD, Las Vegas, S.F., and all the way to the Canadian border...even camping in Mexico. And my father is an ASE Certified SMOG technician who has been working his ass of to reduce emissions. What will happen to his job? And I refuse to move from my HOME STATE.

[ventper]

@flax56 i am saying that there are alternative sources of energy available now, today june 2010. alternatives to use of oil and coal.

[flax56]

@ventper which are you referring to? Thorium nuclear power? Eventually when we consume half of the world's oil supply it will get more expensive and we'll have no choice but to tap an alternative energy source. Referring to the establishment of an ecotopian society, it would take a resource based economy to realistically pull it off. Sustainable capitalism is kind of an oxymoron. Its core ideology is the consumption of resources and in doing so generates garbage and pollutes the environment.

[ventper]

@flax56 alterative energy has been found. we just have refused to implement it

or develop it and let go of petroleum..

[mcgovern12]

thanks for posting this EON. I received a link to this via the CarFree listserv. EcoTopia is to this day my favorite exploration of sustainable society. I strongly disagree with the statement from subach re: 'the need to use more energy' as we currently waste epic amounts of energy and have done little to address conservation or efficiency. also 'ecotopian tyranny' is an oxymoron.

[flax56]

Right now the rate of increase is increasing. Technological progress is growing at an exponential rate, but you are right that technology is limited by its form of energy technology. The rate of our technological progress may plateau if we don't find a new energy source.

[subach]

We don't need ecotopian tyranny, we need more technological progress. Ecotopians won't master fusion, those that need vast amounts of energy will. Don't get me wrong renewable energy is great of the intermediary time, but we need to use more energy to spur greater investment in new energy technology.

[ShaktiLila]

Thank you so much for this one, EON... You are wonderful hunters and gatherers of consciousness!