ABSTRACT

René Dumont, the Ecology candidate in the 1974 French presidential election, entitled his book on the environmental crisis Utopia or Else. The concept of ‘utopia’, variously translated as ‘nowhere’ (outopia) or ‘perfection’ (eutopia), has powerfully inspired the Green movement. Greens would argue that to solve ecological problems requires the transformation both of institutions and of the individual, resulting in the creation of a new society. The construction of this vision of a better world inspires us to change the society we have and clarifies criticism of what exists in the present. Refinement of the ‘utopian’ model allows for the construction of better alternatives and also acts as a motivating myth. Ecological harmony, social justice, spiritual values and sexual liberation are found in the Utopian tradition stretching from Plato’s description of Atlantis and More’s Utopia to Callanbach’s Ecotopia, written in the 1970s. Dystopias, or anti-utopias, have also been produced, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World supplying powerful criticism of existing expansionist trends.