Disillusioned with the slow rate of carbon emissions reductions worldwide, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist decides to bring an abrupt halt to global warming through geoengineering. His plan: enhance the natural sulphide emissions from a recently revived volcano in Chile, seeding the atmosphere with sulphur dioxide particles, and thus cooling the earth by permanently reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the planet.Three people are in a position to stop him: a microbiologist searching for his missing partner in the vicinity of the remote volcano, the head of an environmental organization better known for staging dramatic protests than taking meaningful action, and the world’s leading volcano adventurer. But should they?
Boiling Point explores the deep divisions in the political, environmental, and scientific communities regarding what should be done about global warming, highlighting the scope of the problem while raising the question: Can anyone know what’s best for the earth?
And the BEST part? I'm leaving in less than a week for a research trip to visit the volcano pictured above, Chaiten Volcano, in Northern Patagonia, Chile! If you're interested in following my travels and travails, check out the Boiling Point blog.
Anyone else had the opportunity to travel to the location where their novel is set?
------------------------
Karen Dionne is the author of Freezing Point, a thriller Douglas Preston called "a ripper of a story," with other rave endorsements from David Morrell, John Lescroart, and many others. Her novel published October 2008 from Berkley Books.
2 comments:
So jealous, Karen. This should be an amazing trip.
Thanks, Dennis! I still can't quite believe I'm doing this. I'm traveling to a fairly remote area of Northern Patagonia to visit the active volcano I'm using in the new story. Chaiten erupted last May for the first time in 8,000 years, and again just this past February. Officially, the town of Chaiten has been evacuated since it's now in the path of a possible future lava flow, so it's without city services like running water and electricity, but that's where I and my son will be staying. I'm working with a guide who lives there, and he's arranged lodging and hot meals for us with a friend of his who rents cabins. Besides visiting a glacier, hot springs, and sea lion colonies, he says he can safely take us a mile and a half from the lava dome. Arranging to get ourselves there has been a bit of a challenge, what with coordinating flight times with a thrice-weekly ferry schedule, but all's shaping up nicely. Can't wait!
Post a Comment