Posted by Delightful story of contemporary environmental issues; of discovery, indigenous respect, compassion, conspiracy, suspense, ethics, and tragic ecological devastation.
The Nicholson family spot an oil slick on the Nicola River on the first day of their vacation in Merritt, BC. Julia resolves the oil slick source, and a series of mysteries that follow, involving the oil industry, federal government, and the Nicola-Coldwater First Nations bands opposed to a new pipeline construction. She and her friend Leah discover a serious pipeline break on Coldwater lands and expose a cover-up by the oil company. The pipeline story climaxes with a major oil spill disaster.
Author Biography
Geoff Strong has had a varied career in atmospheric forecasting and research of thunderstorms, precipitation and evaporation processes, atmospheric water budgets, drought, climate cycles, and teaching the above. He continued his research into retirement during the early 2000s, but also took up the call to defend climate science.
While global warming and its cause from carbon emissions were universally accepted by scientists, climate denialists, funded heavily by the petroleum industry through third party think tanks, were using deceptive means to promote doubt and conspiracy theories concerning the science. The denialists use public and social media to spread misinformation rather than through refereed scientific literature. The denialists were successful because they were basically going unchallenged by climate scientists, most of whom rarely talk to the public.
With global carbon emissions unchecked and atmospheric carbon dioxide climbing rapidly, denialists represented a serious problem to mitigating global warming.
Geoff started giving invited public talks, simplified courses, and writing media articles on global warming. Always seeking novel ways to get the correct messages across, he even developed a bible study for the Anglican Church called Questions of Environmental Stewardship Theology (QuEST), which examines the problems of pollution and climate change with a scriptural context. More recently, he started writing novels and short stories on environmental issues. This novela is the third effort directed in this way.
Geoff holds MSc and PhD degrees in atmospheric science. He is a Fellow of and a former national President of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS, 2006-07), and has chaired a number CMOS centres across Canada where he has resided. He has received several CMOS awards for his work over many years. For leisure, Geoff enjoys nature walks with his wife and dogs, gardening, and is an avid reader. While writing novels, he remains involved in scientific studies of severe storms and of climate change.
Praise
“An environmental message that becomes all the more compelling, precisely because it is interwoven with such a heart-warming story. A great read for all ages.”
-Prof. Edward Lozowski, Atmospheric Scientist Emeritus, Uof Alberta
“An exciting piece of fiction for young people interested in environmental issues.”
-Katia Bannister, Youth Climate Activist
If you enjoyed this novel…
If you enjoyed the adventures of the Nicholson family in this novel, then you may appreciate reading about their further exploits a dozen years later in Convenient Mistruths.
Canadian climate scientist Eric Nicholson, and his international colleagues, attempt to warn world governments about potential apocalyptic global warming brought on by methane release from melting northern permafrost and offshore methane clathrates.
Unprecedented severe storms were already occurring throughout the globe in response to the enhanced warming, while desertification of the African Sahel, with its itinerant severe droughts, had been ongoing for several decades.
A rogue international oil conglomerate is funding thugs to delay the release of the methane research, and they are prepared to use break-ins, sabotage, kidnapping, and murder. Meanwhile, Eric’s daughter, Julia, conducting a survey on northern pipelines for her PhD in environmental law, collects data that confirms the methane threat. She becomes a prime target for the thugs. Will governments and people respond in time to avoid a tipping point in the climate, and global catastrophe never before experienced by mankind?
Available from the author or on-line at Amazon.ca or
Amazon.com in print-on-demand or eBook format.
6 x 9 – 150 pages – $21.95
