Ernest Callenbach | Create one, two, three, many Ecotopias!

There's a saying about the American city of Berkeley that it's too small to be a city, yet too big to be considered a madhouse. The city became famous through the student movement of the 1960s—primarily the Yippies, led by the fun-loving guerrilla Jerry Rubin and his actions. Ernest Callenbach (1929–2012) was socialized in this environment, and it was here that he found inspiration in feminist and anarchist discourses, which he incorporated into his literary work "Ecotopia." But the shock caused by the publication of the Club of Rome's first report—"The Limits to Growth"—in 1972 also left its mark on this utopia.

In his utopia set in 1999, 20 years earlier, a part of the United States had declared itself independent from the rest of the United States and established a new state called "Ecotopia." US journalist William Weston travels to this region as the first foreign journalist to do so, reporting on it for a fictional New York newspaper. In a mixture of newspaper articles, diary entries, and narration, he shares the reader's impressions of his 60-day journey through "Ecotopia."

Initially, the protagonist, whose name is a reference to science fiction classics by both Edward Bellamy ("Looking Backward") and Aldous Huxley ("Island"), encounters this society with a certain amount of surprise and rejection. He is initially incomprehensible about the relaxed and casual approach to sexuality, the legalization of cannabis, and the socialist organization of the economy, reflected in the workers' self-management of factories. This alternative way of life becomes clear and understandable to him, not least through an indigenous forest worker with whom he falls in love.

Much seems noteworthy and newsworthy. Gender equality has been achieved, and the ruling Survival Party is led by a woman. The gender pay gap has been overcome, and the sexes—who were still conceived of as male and female—participate equally and as equals in economic and social life. Beauty obsession and the beauty industry have disappeared in this process.

The government system is a mixture of representative democracy with numerous direct democratic elements, manifested in the form of citizens' assemblies. Economic and political life exhibits consistent decentralization, which is a prerequisite for such a system in general.

But even more remarkable is certainly the ecological transformation of society: Public transport has been expanded, cities are car-free, plastic has been banned from the production process, the energy supply has been converted to renewable energies, and the recycling rate is an incredible 99 percent. Technology as such is not condemned as long as it is environmentally friendly and human-friendly.

Similar to other contemporary utopian novels such as Ursula K. Le Guin's "Planet of the Have-Nots," this utopia is not a perfect land of milk and honey without flaws, but also presents a number of weaknesses and challenges. Due to its proximity to the USA, there is still a military made up entirely of men, money continues to function as a means of payment, and certain human vices such as tobacco consumption are far from being overcome. In contrast to classic utopias such as Thomas More's "Utopia," Callenbach's approach can therefore be described as a realistic utopia. It is no longer a matter of demanding the impossible in order to achieve the possible, but rather of first engaging people with the possible.

Callenbach couldn't find a publisher for his novel at the time. He promptly founded his own and finally published the book in 1975, which became a long-seller. Inspired by this success, Callenbach published "Ecotopia Emerging," a narrative about the prehistory and origins of "Ecotopia" in the spirit of the environmental movement of the time. However, he was unable to match the success of his predecessor, and the novel largely disappeared.

The title "Ecotopia" has now become a household name thanks to the success of Callenbach's novel. The American ecologist Murray Bookchin took it up and expanded upon it in his own works. A number of ecological youth camps around the world are named "Ecotopia" in reference to the novel. In this spirit, new "Ecotopias" are constantly emerging, where the basic ideas are adopted, adapted, and further developed.