This is an Online Internet Book Club on Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach. Discuss this book, share your thoughts, make comments, ask questions, offer responses...
Description
This "prequel" to Callenbach’s classic Ecotopia dramatizes the rise and triumph of a powerful American movement to preserve the earth as a safe, sustainable environment.
The story springs from harsh realities. Toxic contamination of air, water, and food has become intolerable. Nuclear meltdowns threaten. Military spending burdens the economy. Politicians squabble over outdated agendas while the country declines. But then dedicated people begin to respond in their own ways to the crisis, and fresh hope arises. A brash physics student, Lou Swift, invents a unique solar cell that will end dependence on polluting fossil energy. Marissa D’Amico decides to devote her life to the restoration of clear-cut and eroded forests. Her mother Laura organizes a commando group of cancer victims to disable plants making carcinogenic chemicals. A distinguished but disillusioned legislator, Vera Allwen, organizes a new grassroots party working toward a survival-oriented future. Joining with thousands of others, they take their lives into their own hands—fighting the corporate control that endangers their personal survival along with that of the earth. A panorama of history about to happen, Ecotopia Emerging weaves many individual destinies into an absorbing epic: the birth of a new nation.
Book Club Questions for Ecotopia Emerging (Fiction)
Suggested Book Club Questions for Ecotopia Emerging (Fiction)
The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Ecotopia Emerging:
- Did Ernest Callenbach emphasize any specific themes throughout Ecotopia Emerging? What do you think Ernest Callenbach is trying to explain with this theme?
- What was unique about the setting of Ecotopia Emerging and how did it affect the storyline?
- Could you relate to any of the characters? If so, which ones and why?
- How do characters change or learn throughout Ecotopia Emerging? What events caused these changes? Have you or someone you know experienced the same thing?
- How does Ecotopia Emerging reveal Ernest Callenbach's own perspectives about people and the world? For a lively discussion, describe why you think Ernest Callenbach is liberal or conservative.
- Did certain parts of Ecotopia Emerging affect you emotionally? Why did it evoke those emotions?
- Did Ernest Callenbach's point of view on things lend new perspective to your own view of the world?
Book Club Questions for Ecotopia Emerging (for Non-Fiction)
Suggested Book Club Questions for Ecotopia Emerging (Non-fiction)
The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Ecotopia Emerging:
- Did Ernest Callenbach make persuasive arguments in Ecotopia Emerging? Did Ecotopia Emerging change or reinforce your opinion on the subject?
- What did you learn from Ecotopia Emerging?
- How does Ernest Callenbach present the information and did you enjoy it?
- How is Ernest Callenbach biased within Ecotopia Emerging? Is there a political slant to what is being discussed and how does it impact the book?
- What, if anything, does Ecotopia Emerging make you want to read next? Why?
Please feel free to:
No signup needed