ecotopia n.

a place, society, or condition thought to resemble Ecotopia; a place or state which is utopian from an ecological perspective

Originally (as a proper noun Ecotopia): In the fiction of Ernest Callenbach: an imaginary country, situated on the north-west Pacific coast of the United States, in which environmental concerns are of paramount importance, and society functions in an ecologically sustainable manner.

[< ecological + utopia]

  • 1975 E. Callenbach Ecotopia 78 page image

    There is still a strong trend in Ecotopia to abandon the fruits of all modern technology, however innocuous they may be, in favor of a poetic but costly return to what the extremists see as ‘nature’.

  • 1987 N. Spinrad in Asimov’s Science Fiction July 186/2 page image Norman Spinrad

    A future fuzzy ecotopia long after wicked Gilead has fallen.

  • 1990 New England Monthly Mar. 34/1

    The finer details of how to acheive [sic] ecotopia don’t trouble Sayen.

  • 1998 High Country News 31 Aug. 11/3

    Despite its reputation as an ‘ecotopia’™ in the Northwest, Washington state is more green ‘dystopia’™ than an ideal, ecologically alert community.

Last modified 2022-01-07 15:15:24
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.