Ecotopia to be re-published

This weekend I found myself in one of those long, wonderful culture-change conversations with some dear friends. About sustainabilty and the current topic at hand, which I can't quite remember, I said something like, "well, it's like in that book Ecotopia. You guys have read it right?"

Nope, not a one. Hm. It's like a classic. And, granted, I have a lot of beefs with it, and much prefer Starhawks' "The Fifth Sacred Thing", which deals with the same topic but in a more socially just way.

The Pacific Northwest secedes from the rest of the nation and creates a paradise! Well, it's about to be republished too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/fashion/14ecotopia.html?pagewanted=all

Great book.  I think I was 16 when I read it.

When I lived in Berkeley in the 1980s I rented a cottage in the backyard of Chick Callenbach, author of  Ecotopia, and told my friends I now lived in "Ecotopia." (By the way, he's a wonderful guy.)

Once I lived there I decided to read the book. I told Chick that as I neared the end of the story I was slowing down reading because I didn't want to leave the country of Ecotopia; I liked it so much. "As I neared the end of writing it, I slowed down too," he told me. "I didn't want to leave that country either."
     Reading Ecotopia set me on the path to wanting to live in a socially aware, intellectually  stimulating, ecologically focused place. But I didn't think there was anyplace like that in real life; just in fiction. So I decided that someday I'd write a science-fiction novel like Ecotopia,, even if it never got published, just so I could imagine, once again for awhile, that I lived in a place like that. If I couldn't go there in real life, I'd go there in my imagination. Years later, when I discovered Earthaven Ecovillage and became a member, I told the other members this story. "Now that I'm joining a place like this, " I told them, "I don't have to write science fiction to experience living like this. I can just do it in real life, here."

As far as I know, Ecotopia has been in print continuously since 1972. You can find it on Amazon new or used or on any used-book site.

And . . . have you read Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy? Oh my gosh, talk about going to the future and "living" for awhile in a radically ecological sustainable place!

Diana

Wow!  That has to have been super cool!

And ... what an excellent driving force to do stuff!

Marge Piercy, I'll check that out.

Of course Starhawk should also be mentioned here as one of the all-star authors that help us create a vision of a beautiful future. The Fifth Sacred Thing and Walking to Mercury. Although even her short writings can, in a brief page or two, totally fill me up with inspiration.

Thank you for this thread- Ecotopia is a *great* book!

And now I have a couple more good books to find

Many Blessings,

Lightsong