Will I love Fire Weather?

At first I thought this was likely to be another grim book about climate change, but I loved Vaillant's earlier "The Golden Spruce" so I decided to give it a try. What a great read this is! Above all I liked the graphic, hour-by-hour description of the apocalyptic 2016 wildfire close to Fort McMurray and Canada's oil sands and Vaillant's interactions with all those involved with battling it, from firefighters to local business owners and wealthy oil executives. He lets these individuals speak for themselves and is not judgmental. But a picture emerges of a society that has profited so… show more.

Another Canadian story, this time of the terrible fire and evacuation of Fort McMurray, a few years back. Fort McMurray is a town completely and utterly entwined with the energy sector. This book starts off telling us all about that. It is enough to make you feel queasy, the way the earth is treated, so violently, with such disregard for ecosystems, and creatures and everything that is beautiful in the north.

The colossal fire, that caused the evacuation of an entire city, then burned a large portion of it is next, another wretched story. What keeps you going, keeps you… show more.