Author: Jennifer Ellis
Confessions of a Failed Environmentalist is an environmental romantic comedy, which at first might seem like an oxymoron, but hopefully it’s not. It’s about serious issues, but it’s lighthearted and pokes fun at some of the challenges and absurdities of trying to live an environmental life, while still living in the real world, looking for love, recovering from a divorce, and holding down a job.
Alana, the main character, cares about the earth and wants to do the right thing for the environment, but she also wants to wear makeup, color her hair, and spend some time on a yacht, preferably with a very hot companion. The story explores some of Alana’s internal struggles and encounters with “real” environmentalists as she navigates the politics of recycling, looking appropriately environmental, the parent advisory council, hot lunch day with processed meatballs, and living in a small town where the economy is dependent on resource extraction. It’s kind of Bridget Jones’ Diary meets Greenpeace.
These days there are lots of somber non-fiction books about the environment, and there are also lots of very dark post-apocalyptic tales like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood that explore what might happen if we don’t change our environmental ways (although the precise reason for the apocalypse in The Road is left unsaid). I wanted to take a different approach and look at where a lot of us are with respect to the environment right now: trying to do our best, but often failing at least somewhat along the way, and some of the funny situations that arise as a result. It takes a more satirical look at eco-hypocrisy (like the Simpsons Movie), but still features a strong environmental theme and tries to look at all sides of the environmental debate.
As a long-term environmental researcher for my day job, I know a lot about what we should be doing for the environment, and yet often I fail to do it, or fail to do it as well as I could. I like nice things, and looking nice, and traveling and I often feel torn about the right way to live my life (those darn yacht fantasies). Adding in the financial pressure of having to earn a living in often non-environmental ways makes things even more difficult for many people.
In Confessions of Failed Environmentalist, Alana decides to take a job with a mining company because it pays twice as much as her environmental jobs and she has to pay the mortgage on her farm, she is forced to confront her environmentalism and her environmental friends in a whole different way. When the conflict over the
mining development heats up, Alana finds herself crumbling under the pressure.
Confessions of an Environmentalist also has a dash of romance and a charming and
attractive hero of course, because what is a novel without some romance… and
chickens?
mining development heats up, Alana finds herself crumbling under the pressure.
Confessions of an Environmentalist also has a dash of romance and a charming and
attractive hero of course, because what is a novel without some romance… and
chickens?
Author Bio
Jennifer lives in the mountains of British Columbia where she can be found writing, hiking, skiing,
borrowing dogs, and evading bears. She also works occasionally as an environmental researcher.
Jennifer writes science fiction, romance and dystopian fiction for children and adults, including
Apocalypse Weird: Reversal in Wonderment Media’s Apocalypse Weird world and A Pair of Docks,
which was a bestseller in children’s time travel fiction. She has also contributed to several
anthologies, most notably Synchronic: 13 Tales of Time Travel, which hit #16 in the Kindle Store.
She may or may not have a Ph.D. and dabble in tarot card reading and cat sitting.
Apocalypse Weird: Reversal in Wonderment Media’s Apocalypse Weird world and A Pair of Docks,
which was a bestseller in children’s time travel fiction. She has also contributed to several
anthologies, most notably Synchronic: 13 Tales of Time Travel, which hit #16 in the Kindle Store.
She may or may not have a Ph.D. and dabble in tarot card reading and cat sitting.
GIVEAWAY!
5 winners will receive an eBook copy of “Confessions of a Failed Environmentalist” and one winner
will receive a $10 Amazon giftcard!
5 winners will receive an eBook copy of “Confessions of a Failed Environmentalist” and one winner
will receive a $10 Amazon giftcard!
