Utopias and the Environment

<p>Utopias and the Environment<b> </b>explores the way in which the kind of ‘dreaming’ or re-visioning known as the ‘utopian imaginary’ takes environmental concerns into account. This kind of creative intervention is increasingly important in an era of ecological crisis as we witness the failure of governments worldwide to significantly change industrial civilization from a path of ‘business as usual.’ </p><p>In this context it is up to the artists – in this case authors – to imagine new ways of being that respond to this imperative and immediate global issue. Concurrently it is also up to critics readers and thinkers everywhere to appraise these narratives of possibility for their complexities and internal conflicts as well as for their promise as we enter this new era of rapid change and adaptation. Because creative and critical thinkers must work together towards this goal the idea of the critical utopia coined by Tom Moylan in response to the fiction of the 1970s is now ingrained in the common argot and is one of the key ideas discussed in this book. This development in the genre which combines self-reflexivity and multiple perspectives within its dreaming represents the postmodern spirit in its most regenerative aspect. This book is testament to such hopes and potential realities. This book was originally published as a special issue of <i>Green Letters. </i></p>