As author Kim Stanley Robinson writes in his foreword, "So many new words gathered together like this, each bringing with it a new concept and system, creates a dizzying effect. This is good and right, because we live in a dizzying time. What we do now as a global civilization will create one future out of a vast array of possible futures, an array which ranges from utmost disaster to lasting peace and prosperity. But we can do things, if we can figure out what they are. Various good futures are achievable, even starting from our current moment of high danger. So some really comprehensive analysis, destranding, and remapping is now part of our necessary work. Inevitably new concepts and new words will emerge—lots of them. So this book’s profusion is an accurate foretelling of what will come. It’s a kind of science fiction story in the form of a lexicon, and it postulates and helps to create a future culture more articulate and wiser than we are now. Thus by definition it is a utopian science fiction story."

Language can only take us so far, of course. To add an additional imaginative layer, we challenged fourteen artists from eleven countries to respond to selected entries with original artwork. The result is a transmedia conversation between the originary author, culture, or subculture; a critical thinker; and an artist. These images can be found in full color in the book, and can be purchased as T-shirts, tote bags, and stickers.

An Ecotopian Lexicon is edited by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson and Brent Ryan Bellamy. It is available for purchase from the University of Minnesota Press as well as Amazon and other booksellers. All proceeds will go toward a fund to support creative political and cultural interventions focused on climate justice.