Architect Craig Hodgetts designed this awesome art for a movie of Ecotopia, but he actually put tons of thought into how everything would work. (Look at the captions in the gallery for more info on each image.) It's like peering inside an alternate history, where maglev trains with beanbag seats, and wind-power generating balloons, became commonplace.

In Ecotopia, the Westernmost U.S. states secede and form their own country, with a liberal woman president. Hodgetts says if the movie had gotten off the ground, he would have scrapped much of the storyline of Callenbach's novel and focused on trying to create a kid-friendly movie, with lots and lots of marketable toys and "consumables." Ah, capitalism. It sort of warms your heart to think of it.

More pics, and interview, at the link. [A/N Blog, thanks to Designguybrown]

You can get in for free if you can prove you walked or bicycled to the club. Otherwise it's 10 pounds. According to Environmental Graffiti:

Based at Bar Surya in Pentonville Road, the club is owned by property millionaire and head of new climate change organization Club4Climate, Andrew Charalambous. The Greek-Cypriot businessman is trying to reach out to young people in an effort to save the world . . . Apparently everyone [who goes to the club] needs to sign a pledge promising to work towards curbing climate change. Is it just me or does that sound annoying?

It does sound annoying, especially if they want your e-mail or address so they can spam you. Hopefully the weird pledge thing won't get off the ground, but these dance floors will become more popular. I want one for my flat right now.

Eco-Nightclub [via Environmental Graffiti]

The nation of Ecotopia has been isolated from the United States for 20 years, but at last they've agreed to let in one American reporter to see their secretive nation. Once known as Northern California, Oregon and Washington, Ecotopia wrested its independence from the US in a fierce helicopter war over the Sierra Nevadas. Now ruled by an all-female government, Ecotopia runs a stable-state economy aimed at maintaining total harmony with the environment. Market Street in San Francisco has become a river again. People all have access to computers, they work only 20 hours per week, and have nice houses that can be mulched in an instant. African-Americans run all the prisons. There are no sexual taboos. And every once in a while, a bunch of men get together, do drugs, and kill each other just to get their war urges out.

Violence hasn't gone away, and in some ways Ecotopia can only exist because the rest of the world continues to chug along in its polluted, industrial-capitalist state. Reporter Will Weston is repulsed, but eventually seduced, by what he finds when he crosses the border into this strange new land.

Ralph Nader endorsed Ecotopia when it came out because it's one of those rare books that works as a political treatise while also being a damn entertaining read. If you're looking for another world to visit during this time of conspicuous consumption, Ecotopia is the ticket.