Ernest Callenbach

Ernest Callenbachs science fiction-klassiker Økotopia handler om et samfund baseret på et anti-materialistisk fællesskab i pagt med naturen. Callenbachs spekulative vision om et andet USA – og en anden verden – har aldrig været mere aktuel end i dag, og de utopiske forestillinger i denne kultbog fortsætter med at inspirere nye generationer. Vi er i året 1999. Siden 1980, hvor den nordvestlige del af USA rev sig løs fra resten af Amerika og dannede Økotopia, har befolkningen her levet isoleret og opbygget et nyt samfund på et økologisk grundlag. Det er endelig lykkedes journalisten William Weston at få tilladelse til at rejse til Økotopia og som den første amerikaner siden løsrivelsen at studere og rapportere fra det økotopiske samfund. Som en anden Gulliver er Will til tider skræmt, til tider overvældet af de fremmede livsformer og de følelsesladede oplevelser med økotopikerne. Han opdager et samfund, der på fantastisk vis har formået at styre den økologiske og teknologiske udvikling. Et samfund, hvor forurening og ressourcespild er standset, hvor udbytning og undertrykkelse er historie, og hvor fællesskab, spontanitet og lighed mellem kønnene og alt levende er blevet en del af livet. Callenbachs Økotopia er en politisk og social utopi, der har inspireret en lang række af samtidens store science fiction-forfattere, herunder Kim Stanley Robinson, David Brin, Marge Piercy og Ursula K. Le Guin. ”Arvtageren til Wells, Verne, Huxley og Orwell.” – Los Angeles Times

Published in hardcover for the first time in forty years, two classics of environmental science fiction." One of the most important utopian novels of the twentieth century that still has very important lessons to teach us. It will always convey to perfection the wild optimism of that moment: a feeling we need to recapture, adjusted for our time." —Kim Stanley RobinsonCollected in one handsome volume for the first time, The Complete Ecotopia presents an early classic of environmental science fiction in its entirety. Ecotopia (1975) and Ecotopia Emerging (1981), which paint detailed portraits of a healthier earth and a happier society, became foundational texts for a new wave of environmental activists, and they still contain an abundance of ideas yet to be realized. Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopian saga anticipated climate fiction by more than a decade, sold approximately one million copies and was translated into one dozen languages, and predicted a host of innovations running from C-SPAN to widespread recycling. This edition includes two retrospective essays by the author, as well as an updated foreword by Heyday founder Malcolm Margolin. An important document of utopian ideas from the sixties and seventies, The Complete Ecotopia is also a stimulating read for environmentalists today—one that tells a bold, inventive, and adventurous story.

Twenty years have passed since Northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the United States to create a new nation, Ecotopia. Rumors abound of barbaric war games, tree worship, revolutionary politics, sexual extravagance. Now, this mysterious country admits its first American visitor: investigative reporter Will Weston, whose dispatches alternate between shock and admiration. But Ecotopia gradually unravels everything Weston knows to be true about government and human nature itself, forcing him to choose between two competing views of civilization. Since it was first published in 1975, Ecotopia has inspired readers throughout the world with its vision of an ecologically and socially sustainable future. This fortieth-anniversary edition includes Ernest Callenbach's final essay, “An Epistle to the Ecotopians,” and a new foreword by Callenbach's close friend and publisher, Malcolm Margolin.

Offering essential environmental wisdom for the twenty-first century, this lively, compact book explains more than sixty basic ecological concepts in an easy-to-use A-to-Z format. From Air and Biodiversity to Restoration and Zoos, "Ecology: A Pocket Guide" forms a dynamic web of ideas that can be entered at any point or read straight through. An accessible, informative guide to achieving ecoliteracy, it tells the story of the amazing interconnectivity of life on Earth and along the way provides the ecological understanding necessary for fighting environmental degradation. This new edition has been updated throughout and features five new essays on the topics of biotechnology, global warming, migration, smell, and tourism.

Two essays, printed back to back in a single volume, offer complementary solutions to the democratic deficit in Britain and the USA. In his book The Party's Over: Blueprint for a Very English Revolution (2004), Keith Sutherland questioned the role of the party in the post-ideological age and concluded that it would be better for government ministers to be appointed by headhunters and held to account by a people's parliament selected by lot. This completely revised and updated edition includes a study of the recent literature on deliberative polling. The American founders proposed that their legislature should be 'an exact portrait, in miniature, of the people at large’. Whether or not this was true at the time, the exponential growth of the population, skyrocketing campaign funding, the power of pressure groups, the grease of the pork-barrel and the dominance of charisma and demagoguery means that the US Constitution could now better be described as a kleptocracy. This pioneering essay proposes selecting Congressional members by random lot (leaving the Senate and Presidency unchanged) to 'restore a direct, powerful voice in Washington to the whole of America’. Originally published in 1985, this new edition includes an introduction by political scientist Peter Stone.

Two essays, printed back to back in a single volume, offer complementary solutions to the democratic deficit in Britain and the USA. In his book The Party's Over: Blueprint for a Very English Revolution (2004), Keith Sutherland questioned the role of the party in the post-ideological age and concluded that it would be better for government ministers to be appointed by headhunters and held to account by a people's parliament selected by lot. This completely revised and updated edition includes a study of the recent literature on deliberative polling. The American founders proposed that their legislature should be 'an exact portrait, in miniature, of the people at large'. Whether or not this was true at the time, the exponential growth of the population, skyrocketing campaign funding, the power of pressure groups, the grease of the pork-barrel and the dominance of charisma and demagoguery means that the US Constitution could now better be described as a kleptocracy. This pioneering essay proposes selecting Congressional members by random lot (leaving the Senate and Presidency unchanged) to 'restore a direct, powerful voice in Washington to the whole of America'. Originally published in 1985, this new edition includes an introduction by political scientist Peter Stone.

With a new epilogue Though the Plains have been in economic and population decline since the twenties, they are actually within closer reach of vibrant ecological sustainability than any other region of the country. This visionary book offers a constructive alternative to the decline of cattle ranching, depletion of underground water, and dependency on outside energy sources. It shows how bringing back the hardy, majestic bison and using the region's winds to generate power are keys to renewed economic and social health for Plains communities.

This fun and practical guide offers a huge variety of tips on living for less "with grace, humor, [and] imagination." The author covers a wide range of topics including food, housing, transportation, clothes, and entertainment.

The challenge of the '90s is to create sustainable societies in which business and government can satisfy our current needs without diminishing the prospects for future generations. Business managers today are seeking guidance in the new ways of thinking that are called for to meet this challenge. This book takes a major step in that direction by helping business people identify what can be done to reduce the impact of their companies on the environment. It shows how to systematically set priorities and create an action plan for implementing improvements. It will also help sell an impact reduction program to top management. In contrast to the current practice of ""compliance auditing, "" a process focused on meeting governmental regulations, this Elmwood Institute guide shows how to conduct an ""eco-audit"" - a complete examination of an organization in relation to its long-term ecological sustainability. Such an audit scrutinizes every aspect of the organization and its operations, including product design and manufacture, management techniques, corporate culture and goals. Ecomanagement is the first book to provide a comprehensive and practical guide to the new era of business ecological responsibility. It features a framework for companies planning to design their own audits, and offers thirteen checklists to guide managers through the audit process, covering such topics as energy, materials, wastes, finance, marketing, transportation, and international business relations.

"Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a "stable-state" ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, the isolated, mysterious Ecotopia welcomes its first officially sanctioned American visitor: "New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston. Like a modern Gulliver, the skeptical Weston is by turns impressed, horrified, and overwhelmed by Ecotopia's strange practices: employee ownership of farms and businesses, the twenty-hour work week, the fanatical elimination of pollution, "mini-cities" that defeat overcrowding, devotion to trees bordering on worship, a woman-dominated government - and bloody, ritual war games. Bombarded by innovative, unsettling ideas, set afire by a relationship with a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman, Weston's conflict of values intensifies-and leads to a startling climax.