Building Ecotopia

by Chuck Hall

Thomas More’s seminal 1516 work, Utopia, presented his vision of the perfect society. Since that time, many have attempted to create their own version of Utopia. One of my favorites was conceived by Ernest Callenbach. His 1975 work, Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston. Callenbach’s book is the story of a skeptical reporter who visits a Utopian village built on the principles of sustainability. As the title suggests, Callenbach calls his ideal society ‘Ecotopia.’
As with most great ideas, the idea of Ecotopia took a while to catch on and build momentum, but 33 years after Callenbach’s book, mini-Ecotopias are springing up all over the world. His original vision predicted a separate country, independent of the United States, consisting of Washington, Oregon, and parts of Northern California. Today, the Ecotopian ideals are sweeping those areas. There are also Ecotopian communities throughout the world in places like Vancouver, British Columbia, Nimbin, Australia, and Newcastle, South Africa. It has indeed become a global movement.
The founding principle of the Culture Artist Organization is that of transformative change towards a more earth-friendly way of life. A ‘culture artist’ is an individual who is working towards consciously transforming the culture into a more sustainable one. Such individuals endeavor to make positive, proactive changes in as many aspects of their lifestyles as possible to move towards the Ecotopian ideal. When enough culture artists join together in a community, it is my belief that an Ecotopia will naturally follow.
A more sustainable lifestyle is good for the planet. We can’t continue to use resources without renewing them, so a non-sustainable lifestyle will eventually lead to economic and ecological disaster. Therefore a sustainable lifestyle is inevitable anyway, one way or another, if the human race is to survive in the long term. I like to think that we as a species have the wisdom and foresight to make this change consciously and deliberately rather than having it forced upon us due to circumstances caused by our own neglect and shortsightedness.
There is also a beneficial side effect of a more sustainable lifestyle. Research shows that human beings need nature. Nature enhances our peace of mind and our sense of wellbeing. If we design communities and lifestyles that are more environmentally friendly, we make room for more nature. So we reap the benefits in our personal lives.
Imagine for a moment that you have a giant magical eraser. Suppose you could erase the current culture, the one that relies on rampant materialism and non-renewable resources. What if you could start over? What changes would you make in your own lifestyle in order to live in a more sustainable way? How would your home be different? How would your transportation be different? What about your diet, your clothing, or the products you use on a daily basis? What assumptions about day-to-day life could you change?
In the coming weeks, I’ll be examining the sort of changes that could be made within our culture to move it towards a more Ecotopian lifestyle. As always, your questions, feedback and input on this series will be welcome!