My sister just published her first book. It's an environmental book, it's an anti-paramilitary book.
Cross posted in General discussion:
It's a love story. It's just a plain old fun read!! It even has recipes for some yummy (mostly vegetarian) dishes that are consumed over the course of the book.
She a Progressive American/Canadian environmental activist who has been involved in Green Party politics in B.C. for years. Especially "Run-of-River" projects. Small hydroelectric generation projects are often called "run-of-river." The World Bank provides a definition: "... developments where no or little impoundment takes place and the natural river flow is utilized with no seasonal regulation."
The term implies more than this, however. Run-of-river implies that no dam is being built, when in fact a significant river barrier is constructed. It invokes an image of an innocuous generator suspended in an otherwise untouched stream, like a float on the end of a fishing line. Not so. Run-of-river is a term used by industry and government to avoid concerns, much in the way the phrase "clean coal" is used to greenwash coal, and "natural gas from coal" is used instead of "coalbed methane" to defuse public aversion.
While this book concentrates on dam expansion, she is very active in stopping these "run of river" projects which are privatizing thousands of small creeks and streams in B.C. the power is being sold at below market price to California.
GREENSTONE RISING
by Andrea Wright
When the town of Greenstone, Montana is thrown into chaos by a planned dam expansion, people from the United States and Canada form a cross-border alliance to save Sweet Grass Valley from flooding. Conflict erupts as passions collide.
As the community blockades the road, the Boggers, a paramilitary group in danger of being flooded, take up arms. Amidst the growing turmoil, love blossoms. In the wake of plans gone awry on every side, difficult soul-searching questions arise.
Meet wise woman Stella as she reaches beyond life on the farm. Absorb the dynamism of Elliot, young Canadian activist, and his flamboyant partner Gitta. Explore the mystery of wilderness with Lawrence, wildlife biologist. Share the numbing pain of an unfortunate accident with Aberdeen, Stella’s daughter. Witness Harold Clay Harding, paramilitary ex-con, scheme his way to power.
The complex relationship between people and nature provides a springboard for this intimate story of power—the power of regular people to act to preserve what is treasured, the power in alliances that surpass nationality, the power of love to heal and redeem, and ultimately, the power of vanishing wilderness to transform heartbreak and reveal the joy that awaits when nature is treated as sacred.
A lifelong resident of the Columbia Basin, Andrea Wright grew up in rural Oregon, and moved to Missoula, Montana in the sixties where she attended the University of Montana. Andrea finally settled in the wilds of British Columbia, Canada where she raised two daughters, ran The Wild Rose Restaurant for twenty years, and became a graduate of the Vancouver College of Counsellor Training.
Prior to Greenstone Rising, which is her first novel, Andrea published Now That’s Poetry, a work of songs, poems and whimsies. At present, she trips around the inland rainforest capturing words that convey the condition of our endangered earthscape.
http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000007282007
Paperback $19.99, Hardback $24.99. It's only $2.69 for the PDF and $2.99 for the Kobo.
