The car rushes on road towards to a tornado (3D)
“Reap the Wind” is a novel with climate change as big part of the story
Retired environmental lawyer and now novelist Joel Burcat is on The Spark
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Scott LaMar
The car rushes on road towards to a tornado (3D)
Aired; January 31st, 2024.
Even though climate change may be a fact of life today and especially moving forward, there aren’t many books or stories that make a changing climate part of a fictionalized story.
Retired environmental lawyer and now novelist, Joel Burcat has done just that, weaving a love story, self-reflection, ambition and a few twists into his new book Reap the Wind.
On The Spark Wednesday, Burcat said his four books have all been inspired by his work as and environmental and energy lawyer,”My first one was called Drink To Every Beast. And that is a novel about dumping hazardous waste in the Susquehanna River. My second novel, Amid Rage, is about a coal mine permit battle. And my third novel, Strange Fire, is about fracking. So when it came time for me to write a new novel, it was just natural that I would write a novel about climate change. Plus, climate change really is the existential issue of our time. And I really felt that I wanted to do what I’d done in my previous novels, which was to educate people gently the way I like to do that, about climate change through fiction.”
Reap the Wind includes a debate about climate change through the mouths of the characters.
Burcat described the books’ plot,”Reap the Wind is, The Perfect Storm meets The Firm. So we all remember both the book and the movie. The Perfect Storm about the most horrific, storm ever to hit the northeast, happened about 20 years ago. And The Firm, of course, is John Grisham’s great novel about a law firm. That is a very, very dangerous place to work. And, my story is kind of, what would happen if those two stories came together? So, the basic premise of my story is that a young lawyer who is named Josh Goldberg is sitting in his firm’s seminar that they’re putting on down in Houston, Texas. Bored out of his mind. He just wants to go visit with his girlfriend who’s up in a room, and outside is a raging hurricane. And, unfortunately, what happens? She is eight months pregnant and decides ultimately that she’s going to head back to Philadelphia, which is where they’re from. He has to stay because he’s on the program for the next morning. So she gets on an airplane and starts flying off to Philadelphia, only to be diverted to Cincinnati and then ultimately to end up in the hospital. So I can tell you that much without giving too much away of the story, the the important thing is, and this is really what the story is all about, is he decides that he’s got to be with his girlfriend, Kiesha Jones. He’s got to be with her, because she may be having their baby. She’s over eight months pregnant. She may be having their baby, and he wants to be there. But nobody is flying. Nobody. There are no trains running. There’s no nothing. He ultimately is able to rent a Lincoln town car from his friend, the limo driver, and he and his best friend, Geoff Roberts are planning on driving up to Cincinnati together. And at the last moment, his boss, Diane Scanlon, who is a great antagonist decides to come along with them. I tried to make her as evil and vicious as I could. So it’s it’s kind of the the buddy trip from hell.”
