生态乌托邦之诞生

EE主要是生态乌托邦的独立运动史。主人公是生存主义党（Survivalist Party）的领袖维拉·奥尔文（Vera Allwen），和青年物理学家卢·斯威夫特（Lou Swift），以及他们的家人与朋友。其他人物则交代得较简略，每个人都各自独立地决定同美国的现状决裂，并开始过生态乌托邦（相对原始的、可持续的）式的生活。

在加利福尼亚州博利纳斯，中学生卢·斯威夫特（Lou Swift）找到了一种用太阳能电池由海水廉价发电的方法。然而，她并不明白电池是如何运作的。她不愿在理解此技术以前发表其成果。由于她决心让电池的设计可被免费使用，而拒绝了公司和学校购买电池设计的提议。与此同时，间谍与窃贼尝试获得她的笔记。

维拉·奥尔文（Vera Allwen）是加利福尼亚州的一名州参议员。她因一家东方食物公司宣布将停止售卖新鲜农产品而恼怒，与其他政治家、艺术家和专家建立了一个新政党。它是权力分散的、环境主义的和民粹主义的。他们设计了纲领，并称之为生存主义党（Survivalist Party）。随着故事的继续推进，他们与志同道合者合作，传播他们的理念，而成为了一支地区性的政治力量。维拉的演说于再版时印在了正文中。他们的部分思想来源于叫做《生态乌托邦》的一部短篇小说，该党还出版了一份名为“生存主义迈向生态乌托邦”（The Survivalist Way to Ecotopia）报纸。该党为环境主义的政策组建了智库。当太平洋西北州为减少汽车的使用，而批准对汽车征收特别税后，美国最高法院推翻了它；太平洋沿岸公众的义愤填膺使当地人转而支持生存主义党。

当魁北克政府主动提出要建立外交关系时，该党开始琢磨着独立了。一次核事故将华盛顿州的州长之位赐予了他们，而加利福尼亚州北部拒绝继续为加利福尼亚州南部供水，则导致该州一裂为二。一名热心的分离主义者声称已经在纽约市和华盛顿哥伦比亚特区放置了脏弹，并威胁一旦美国进攻该地区，它们就会爆炸。博利纳斯宣布自身独立于其他政府。国民警卫队的当地部队已被生存主义党所渗透，此刻是同情分离主义者们的。美国忙于在巴西作战，无法派兵镇压博利纳斯及其支持者。幸运的是，在内华达州边界上集结、准备进攻该地区的美国直升机凑巧突然被召回去处理沙特阿拉伯国内的危机，而分裂看来好像要继续下去了。

同时，在未来的生态乌托邦，每个人使当地经济以更加可持续的方式运转。一个集体企业创立了太阳能改造行业；一个年轻人用山羊来割草。伯克利设立了无车区域；其他城市纷纷效仿。郊区的一大片土地被改为果园。农村居民建造了轻型而廉价的马车和蒸馏器，来从农场废料中提炼酒精。最终，大部分民众成为无车一族，并准备着为可持续化经济作最后的努力。

卢（Lou）最后发现了使她的太阳能电池得以运作的关键的化学物质。她发表了她的论文，人们开始开发他们自己的电池。随着这一突破性进展，该地区将不再为进口化石燃料或核能而在能源上依赖美国的其余部分。能源的这种独立使生态乌托邦的未来之国在现实上成为可能。

这些事件发生在美国国内经济与政治没落的背景之下：企业资本的集中化、被大幅削减的政府预算，以及唯唯诺诺的公司媒体（corporate media）的促使下在国外的军事冒险主义。汽车癖已经使美国基本上破产。由于不愿发展替代能源，“渴求石油的美国突然倒向某一不可预见的经济大灾难。”终于，沙特阿拉伯的炼油厂遭到轰炸，而美军则在中东地区深陷战争泥潭。

生态乌托邦的故事主线到生存主义党把卢（Lou）的太阳能电池技术开放给公众使用，和该地区在制宪会议上决定遵照魁北克-加拿大模式正式脱离美国为止。

《生态乌托邦》一书从分离后的20年左右，新国家确确实实建立起来了开始。两本书都没有描述这之间的事件，例如脱离的政治困境、经济混乱，还有从该地区的人口迁出，以及同美国的直升机战争（参考《生态乌托邦》）。

作为《生态乌托邦》的前传，EE使用了一些与《生态乌托邦》中相同的人物，主要是维拉·奥尔文（Vera Allwen）以及《生态乌托邦》叙述者后来的女友玛丽莎·达马托（Marissa D'Amato）。然而，两本书之间有重大的差异。

1. 构思设计不同。《生态乌托邦》是美国记者威廉·韦斯顿（William Weston）去生态乌托邦旅行的记叙，完全从他的视角讲述。EE则在对美国与生存主义党历史的直接叙述，同一些未来生态乌托邦人生活中关键事件的小说式的瞬间印象之间来回切换。
2. 《生态乌托邦》写于20世纪70年代中期，美国作者正尝试猜测在20世纪60年代大变革之后如何重建社会。[3]它关注业已实现的生态乌托邦社会，而非（剩下的）美国的问题。EE出版于1981年，格调更阴郁些。它在美国功能紊乱的政治与经济体系上，与在未来生态乌托邦人的行为上付诸了同样多的笔墨。它对美国未来的大多数‘预言’已被证明是有先见之明的，例如“自80年代起，商业心态获胜了。”（p. 42）
3. 《生态乌托邦》描述了一个稳定的社会。随着该书故事的进行，改变了的只有讲述者。EE是一部历史；它的人物、制度与社会随时间而变化。
4. 《生态乌托邦》被批评[4]只表现了加利福尼亚州北部的生活。EE的视野更广阔，三个州都包括进来了。

EE共有十一处斜体排版的旁白（主要集中在前半部的话外音），这里从每段中都或多或少抽出些有意思的句子，对上下文的说明标示在方括号内。

……人类在手和大脑上演化出了如此惊人的能力，以致于他们成为了一个能改变它自己的环境的物种。……[举了亚洲、中东、罗马等的例子]……许多这样伟大的文明中心产生形成，并繁荣兴旺，然后又灰飞烟灭——在一个象地球自身的季节律动一般令人印象深刻的宏伟循环中。……人类继续与他们同时代的物种生活在一种粗暴的稳定之中。……就象蝗灾一样，人类似乎已经逃脱了自然的所有控制，正沿着他们的道路吞噬毁灭一切。……但工业时代的人口爆炸也使人类自己遭受了前所未有的新危险。人类活动——甚至是核弹的爆炸——与风和暴雨对于太阳能的大规模输送相比，仍然微不足道。然而，在特定的关键之处，人类已经获得了抵消地球的力量来维持生活的能力。……有一个威胁还要更危险。在工业模式的生活中，人类受制于大量好争吵的父权制民族国家中。这些国家的统治者如今配备了那么可怕、为数众多的核武器，一旦它们被用于甚至极小的区域，也将终结现代文明（至少是在北半球）。……这样，自相矛盾的是，使人类得以在地球表面每一个适合居住的生态龛（生境）中增殖的技术革命也已开始威胁星球上所有动植物——包括人类自己——的生存了。[5]

……在八十年代早期席卷这个国家的大部分地区的保守政治倾向，将联邦的能源政策推向了自杀的方向。……联邦政府大幅削减了太阳能和保护性措施的预算，并把钱投入发展核技术。……[列举了可从风、地热、海水温差等处获得能量]……用于运输目的的石油替代品，如用荒漠植物生产的可燃油料，还有甘蔗、谷物或农业废物发酵得到的酒精，都完全被抛弃了。[6]

……化学家们以令人惊讶的步伐开发着新物质。一旦他们知道了连接和解离原子的基本方法，他们的想象力似乎就不受限制了。……在七十年代末，在整个美国，从避孕到对付不治之症，无一处人类活动的进行，能摆脱四十年前并未存在于地球表面上过的原料。人们普遍认为，这是对人类改造自然的褒赏。人们大声要求神奇的产品，再也无法想象，没有了他们，如何能生活。……癌症的诱发因素中大约80%是环境因素。人们在自作自受。但这不是大多数美国人当时准备去听到的消息；这很大程度上没有被报道和讨论，而癌症率则持续攀升。……人们继续呼吸着已知被污染了的空气，吃着充满杀虫剂和添加剂的食物，专心致志于挣钱，为的是（如他们所以为的那样）生存下来。[7]

……他们[指所谓“文明”的白人]根据边界线（通常划定在随机的经线和纬线上）分割土地，极不符合生物上的实际乃至社会现实……[8]

……所编制的空气质量管理规定，使污染企业（若它嫌麻烦而根本不愿守规矩的话）可以建起更高的烟囱，即可允许排放四倍于以往的含硫化合物而得豁免。工厂向河流倾泻液体污染物时会忽视下游的影响一样，这样的政策只不过替换了一个问题，而非解决之。……在七十年代，进行了约束燃煤工厂排放的努力，但由于石油危机，联邦政府开始鼓励更多地使用煤炭。在八十年代，污染监管被放宽或取消，硫和颗粒物排放大幅上扬。……[9]

八十年代初，商业心态获胜了。专业化管理的上层精英把各式各样的规则倒转了过来。为了使利润率最大化，无力与韩国或台湾低成本的设备相争的基础产业关门歇业。他们的工人（与大多数女工一起）被推入低报酬、工会软弱、生产力低下的服务行业。美国人真实的平均工资缓慢地下降，可大多数人将这一令人困惑的事实仅仅归因于通货膨胀。愤恨激起了旷工、浪费，甚至是蓄意破坏。同时，企业的利润或者流向了赋税损失的非生产性投资，或者出口国外。互联的全球企业网络控制了政府，掌握着私人军队，拥有美国的外交和情报人员的支持。／企业主们的统治并不仁慈，而精英媒体在经济上的自鸣得意则掩盖了普遍的、一触即发的社会动荡。福利支出被无情地削减，四分之一的人口如今生活在极低的官方贫困线或以下，其中有数百万人赤贫。生活条件不断恶化，尤其是大部分劳动人民。……[社会政治混乱，银根紧缩]……在八十年代经济紧绌的影响下，美国中产阶级所剩下的社会凝聚力渐而衰微。……[偷税；军队的离心离德]……如此这般，象通过传媒界得知的那样，美国社会装出被精英及其机构——警察、国会、官府和武装力量——牢固地掌握着的样子。但人们更直接地从经验感受获取信息。……社会的腐朽已到了晚期，而且离一场静悄悄的、不宣而起的内战仅一步之遥。……在国家的大部分地方，结果更趋混乱和绝望。[10]

从一座美国城市上空的飞机上俯瞰，唯一可见的人类活动是汽车的移动。（现在许多地方的汽车数目已超过人口数很多年。）……[道路拥堵，汽车动弹不得]……在人们的头脑中，路途与连结它们的交通工具，往往看上去比路途所通向的地方更引人注目。汽车象一支机械的占据部队一样，支配着人类和他们的经济。……[汽车的普及带来一系列经济和健康的问题，还有事故和污染]……[11]

……[总统因害怕被暗杀而很少抛头露面]……媒体通过著名的新闻人物，在那时候分析着总统所说过话，或似乎要说的话，还有它可能的含义。……[作者嘲笑媒体和出版社；行政机构、立法机构和控制经济命脉的寡头们串通一气又内斗不断；投票率降低；内忧外患；投机者囤积居奇；西北地区有人开始尝试“生态”地生活。]……[12]

……[原始森林被首批欧洲殖民者和二战后的伐木公司所摧毁]……被城市中的投机者控制着的市场之手的驱使下，他们[指农民]抛弃了关于庄稼轮作和混合性耕种的古老智慧；他们成为了玉米或小麦的农场主，依赖于国际市场的起伏涨落。他们再也不种固土的豆科植物来给土壤补充氮了，却转向了化肥。百分之七十的适耕地被用于生产肉用动物吃的谷物。农业专家开始谈起“工厂化农场”。……[水土流失之势已不可逆转，并引起相应的恶性循环（如能源、化肥等），但大多数人却对此懵懵懂懂或颇为乐观]……但美国食物短缺的景象，似乎如十年前对石油匮乏的展望一样遥远。[13]

从工业革命之肇端起，永远有更大规模的经济结构，这已经成为一种信念；若工厂的大小增加一倍，就能生产出两倍以上的产品，获得两倍以上的利润回报。这一信念导致了股份公司的规模不断增长，并被强有力地类推、应用到生活的各个方面。……[什么都越大越好的趋势]……极端危险的庞大工艺的建立，……， 从而使人类全体共置于不可避免的差错的大范围灾难成为可能。……[对风险的忽视]……只有当大灾难发生时，……，政治过程才重新对技术施加控制。于是，更大规模的倾向可能被制止，甚至倒转过来；面对超级灾难性的风险，人们要求安全，甚至不惜承受更频繁的小危险。……[14]

对于一个遥远星球上的观察者来说，千百万年来，地球悬于夜空中，摇曳闪烁，宁静安详。在其表面，生物之演化或灭绝，甚至是那些象人类一样非凡异常的，在宇宙的尺度上都是觉察不到的。近而观之，从高轨道的卫星上看，生态乌托邦那富饶的新月形，可被辨别出来，沿着太平洋海岸，树木绿得葱茏。在它的国界以内，人类已认识到，它也是自然的一部分，自然不能被无限期地无视下去。／如果那种想法被足够快地、足够广地传播到地球上的其他国家中去，不谨慎的技术开发热潮也许可被扭转，生物灾难可能被避免。整体而言，破坏依旧盛行；生态乌托邦笼罩在孤寂的忧伤中，似乎是一座小小的、不太安全的希望之岛。然而，它的居民已经点亮了灯塔，或许能指引着其他游子回家。[15]

No extinction of other species.无其他物种灭绝。

No nuclear weapons or nuclear plants.无核武器或核工厂。

No manufacturing of carcinogenic or mutagenic substances.无致癌或致突变物质的制造。

No adulterants in foods.无掺杂于食物中。

No discrimination by reason of sex, race, age, religion, or ethnic origin.无缘性别、人种、年龄、宗教、种族原因而歧视。

No private cars.无私家车。

No advertiser-controlled or broadcast television.无广告商控制或广播的电视。

No limited-liability corporations.无有限责任公司。

No absentee ownership or control – one employee, one vote.无缺席所有权或缺席控制权——一个员工一张票。

No growth in population.无人口增长。[16]

EE受到的评论界的关注甚少。有一个评论家指出，独立的获得太容易了。“在《生态乌托邦之诞生》中，现有的北美资本主义的内在矛盾，在制造促使变化的动力中起的作用确实特别突出。可是，对于如此动力过程也一定能确保对如此变化有顽固抵抗（尽管有核威吓），所给予的说明却极少——在这个诞生中的生态乌托邦，大企业对理想主义者的投降似乎低声下气且相当彻底。”[17]

1. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. The ‘80s have propelled America toward economic and ecological suicide; the military-industrial elite has come to power. The rightward drift has resulted in steep rises in poverty, crime and social tension. Governmental protections for the environment and working public have been destroyed.
2. Sally A. Lodge Ecotopia Emerging. Publishers Weekly，1981年10月9日，220，p. 63。
3. Raymond M. Olderman "American Fiction 1974-1976: The People Who Fell to Earth." Contemporary Literature，Vol. 19，No. 4. (Autumn, 1978)，pp. 497-530。能通过JSTOR获得
4. Pat Joseph. "Escape from Ecotopia," Grist Magazine，2005年5月12日。
5. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 1–2. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ...humans evolved such astonishing capacities in hand and brain that they became a species which altered its own environment. ... Many such great centers of civilization arose and flourished and then collapsed—in a majestic cycle almost as imposing as the earth's own seasonal rhythms. ...humans continued to live in a rough balance with their fellow species. ...Like a plague of locusts, humans seemed to have escaped all natural checks and were devouring everything in their path. ...But the population explosion of the industrial epoch also subjected humans themselves to new and unprecedented perils. Human activities—even the detonation of nuclear bombs—remained puny in comparison to the huge transfers of solar energy by winds and storms. Nonetheless, in certain critical respects humans had acquired the power to diminish the earth's capacity to support life. ...One peril was still more threatening. Under the industrial mode of life, humans were subjugated in vast quarrelsome patriarchal nation-states. The rulers of these states were now armed with nuclear weapons so fearsome and so numerous that if they were used even in small part they would end modern civilization, at least in the northern hemisphere. ...Thus, paradoxically, the technological ingenuity which had enabled humans to proliferate into every habitable niche on the earth's surface had also begun to threaten the survival upon the planet of all plant and animal life—including the human species itself.
6. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 10–11. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ...The conservative political tide which had swept most of the nation in the early eighties pushed federal energy policies in suicidal directions. ...the federal government slashed its budget for solar energy and conservation measures and put the money into nuclear development. ... Alternatives to oil for transportation purposes, such as burnable oils produced by desert plants, or alcohol fermented from sugar cane, grain, or agricultural wastes, were similarly discarded. ...
7. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 15–18. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ...chemists had been developing new substances at an astonishing pace. Once they learned the basic techniques of hooking and unhooking atoms their imaginations seemed unlimited. ...By the end of the seventies there was no human activity in all the United States, from contraception to the management of terminal disease, carried out free of materials that had not existed on the face of the earth forty years earlier. This, it was widely believed, was a testimonial to humankind's improvements on nature. People clamored for the new wonder products, and could no longer imagine living without them. ...the precipitating causes of cancer were something like 80 percent environmental. People were doing it to themselves. But this was not a message that most Americans were then prepared to hear; it went largely unreported and undiscussed, and the cancer rates continued rising. ...People went on breathing air that was known to be contaminated, eating pesticide- and additive-laden foods, and concentrating their attention on making money in order (as they imagined it) to survive.
8. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 23–24. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ...They divided the land according to boundaries (often laid out on random lines of latitude and longitude) which had little correspondence to biological or even social reality. ...
9. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 42. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ...Air quality regulations were written in such a way that a polluting corporation could (if it bothered to obey the regulations at all) build a higher smokestack and obtain waivers permitting the discharge of four times more sulfur compounds. Like the tendency to ignore effects downstream when factories spewed liquid pollution into rivers, such policies merely displaced a problem instead of solving it. ...In the seventies, attempts to curb coal-burning plant emissions had been made, but because of the oil crisis the federal government began encouraging greater coal use. In the eighties, pollution regulations were relaxed or removed, and sulfur and particulate emissions rose substantially. ...
10. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 44–46. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. The early eighties had been a triumph of the business mentality. A professionalized management elite had rolled back regulation of every kind. To maximize profit rates, basic production industries unable to compete with lower-wage facilities in Korea or Taiwan were closed down. Their workers were pushed (along with most women workers) into service industries with low pay, weak unions, and low productivity. The real average wages of Americans slowly declined, but most people attributed this puzzling fact merely to inflation. Resentment fed absenteeism, waste, even purposeful sabotage. Meanwhile, corporate profits flowed into nonproductive tax-loss investments or were exported abroad. A global web of interlinked corporations controlled governments, commanded private armies, and enjoyed the sympathies of American diplomatic and intelligence operatives. / The rule of the corporate masters was not a benevolent one, and economic self-congratulation in the elite media concealed widespread, potentially explosive social unrest. Welfare expenditures had been cut ruthlessly and a quarter of the population now lived at or below the meager official poverty line, with millions among them totally destitute. Conditions of life were deteriorating steadily, especially for the mass of working people. ... Under the impact of the economic stringency of the eighties, what was left of American middle-class social cohesion dwindled. ... Thus American society, as seen through the establishment media, might give the appearance of being under the stern power of the elite and its institutions – the police, Congress, the bureaucracy, and the armed forces. But people who drew their information more directly from experience... social decay had reached an advanced stage, indeed only a short distance from a silent, undeclared civil war. ...In most of the country, the result was growing chaos and despair. ...
11. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 79–80. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. From an airplane above an American city, the only human activity visible was the movement of cars. (For some years now cars had outnumbered people in many areas.) ... In human minds routes and the vehicles that connected them often seemed more compelling than the places the routes supposedly served. Automobiles dominated human beings and their economy like an occupying mechanical army. ...
12. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 83–85. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ... The media, through well-known news personalities, then analyzed what the president had said, or seemed to say, and what it might mean. ...
13. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 162–164. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. ... Driven by market forces controlled by speculators in the cities, they abandoned the ancient peasant wisdom of crop rotation and mixed farming; They became corn farmers or wheat farmers, dependent on the fluctuations of international markets. They no longer planted ground-holding legumes to replenish the soil's nitrogen, but turned to chemical fertilizers. Seventy percent of available agricultural land was devoted to the production of grain for meat animals. Professional agricultural experts began to speak of "factory farms." ... But the prospect of food shortages in America seemed as remote as the prospect of gas shortages had seemed a decade earlier.
14. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 234–236. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. From the onset of the Industrial Revolution, it had been an article of faith that there were always economies in greater scale; if a factory could be doubled in size, it could turn out more than twice as many goods and return more than twice the profits. This belief led to ever-increasing size in corporate enterprises, and it was applied, by powerful analogy, to every aspect of life. ... The establishment of extremely dangerous large technologies, ..., thus brought the possibility of large-scale disasters to human populations into juxtaposition with the unavoidability of error. ... It is only when a major disaster occurs, ...,that the political process re-exerts control over technology. Then the trend toward ever greater scale may be checked or even reversed; people demand security against super-catastrophic risks even at the cost of more frequent smaller risks. ...
15. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 336–337. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）. To an observer from a distant planet, the earth hung in the night sky as it had for millions of years, unflickering and serene. The evolution or extinction of creatures upon its surface, even of those as remarkable as humans, were imperceptible on a cosmic scale. From a closer viewpoint, as from a satellite in high orbit, the fertile crescent of Ecotopia could be distinguished, green with trees, along the Pacific coast. Within its boundaries the human species had recognized that it too was a part of nature, which could not indefinitely be mocked. / If that idea spread sufficiently fast and far among the other nations of earth, the heedless rush of technological exploitation might be turned backed and biological disaster averted. On the while, destruction still reigned; surrounded by desolation, Ecotopia seemed a small, precarious island of hope. But its inhabitants had lit a beacon that might yet guide other travelers home.
16. Ernest Callenbach. . New York: Bantam Books. 1982年5月: 36–38. ISBN 0-553-20686-9 （英语）.
17. David Pepper. "Utopianism and environmentalism," Environmental Politics，2005年2月，14:1，pp. 3-22。

以及

• Ecotopia Emerging. Library Journal，1982年1月1日，p. 107。