Green Options - What a Love Story Can Teach Us about Sustainability: Queenelle Minet’s “In Memory of Central Park”

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg on December 4 on Sustainablog. Today's post includes a review of "In Memory of Central Park: 1853-2022" by Queenelle Minet.

Despite having agreed to review Queenelle Minet's In Memory of Central Park: 1853 - 2022, I really wasn't that excited about reading it. Described as "a thought-provoking work combining insight into the mind of a therapist, a poignant love story, and a commentary on both right-wing politics and our troubled environment" in press materials accompanying the book, I thought "Oh, no -- fiction with an agenda. That almost never works."

I was wrong.

In Memory of Central Park follows in the tradition of the great works of dystopian fiction: Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World. Set in New York City in 2050, the novel's protagonist and narrator Noah is a psychotherapist with plenty of issues of his own. He's in love with his brother's wife Margaret. He struggles with unresolved resentment about his relationship with his deceased father. And he, along with the other characters, live in a city that's not only seceded from the United States, but has also encapsulated itself in a huge dome in order to protect itself from terrorism and other outside threats.

As you might imagine in this environment, Noah stays pretty busy with his psychotherapy practice. Though skilled at helping other resolve some of their own emotional problems, he's distant from those around him. His eventual affair with Margaret fails because he's unwilling to allow her to leave Adam, her successful and politically-connected husband, and move in with him (Noah, like many of the residents of the city, lives in a single room). He's frustrated because, despite his best efforts, he can't seem to help a difficult patient who's obviously dying. And he just doesn't get the ideas underlying "clown show" performances by an underground street theater group that seems to pop up everywhere.

Volume Two of Torpedo is available now (with our stickers!)

We wrote few months ago on our collaboration with Falcon vs. Monkey, Falcon Wins, a Melbourne-based independent publishing company that is publishing Torpedo, a printed fiction quarterly, available exclusively through their site (that way they can give 50% of the very modest cover price to the contributors, who thus earn royalties for their work every quarter).

We want to update you that Volume Two of Torpedo has now been released and is available for purchase on falconvsmonkey.com. Like with volume One, also Volume Two of Torpedo will be balanced out with Eco-Libris: for every copy to be purchased, a new tree will be planted and the buyer will also receive Eco-Libris sticker.

The following genii are featured on Volume Two: Rod Hunt on cover duties; Kelly de Meyer & Ricky Butler on illustration detail; Paul O'Connell, Brian Hoang, Tom Larkey & Jeffrey Brown take care of graphic fiction; Aaron Gwyn, Jeff Goldberg, Josephine Rowe, Christian TeBordo, Tony D'Souza, Justin Taylor, Luke May, Jon Bauer, Yannick Murphy, Greg Ames, Holly Tavel & Ryan Crawford thrill you with fiction.

There will be several launches - one in Brooklyn, New York (date and venue tbc) and one in Melbourne on Saturday 5th July at the relaunch of the Federation Square Book Market (more details on the site shortly).

Volume Two sounds really great, so all of you fiction lovers are welcome to grab a copy and enjoy the fiction and graphic fiction works of all these talents!

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Options - Eco Kids’ Books: William is Going Green

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Jennifer Lance on May 13 on Eco Child's Play. Today's post is about a new book written by a father and his son about a garbage truck and what happens to it when it finds it needs to go green to keep itself employed.

William is Going Green, written by James Martin II and James Martin III, is the story of a garbage truck that loses his job, because he is too polluting. In search of a new job, William travels from town to town until he finds a green, clean city. He is told he could be hired as a recycling truck, if only he had a hybrid engine. Unfortunately, out-of-work William does not have the money for a new, cleaner engine, until he rescues a cat from a sewer. The cat Gage belongs to a mechanic, and William is given a hybrid engine and coat of green paint in reward for the rescue. The author explains, "My son James III and I created the William the Garbage Truck & Crew series to share what we learned about global warming and the benefits of conservation.”

My son, like many boys, adores trucks. He enjoyed William is Going Green when his sister read it to her, but there is one thing about the story I find a bit awkward. I do think that city garbage trucks should have hybrid motors, but as mentioned in the book, the cost to convert a truck is expensive and not readily available. William's reward for rescuing a cat is not the solution for most city garbage trucks, and I think it is a little misleading to children who really want to see change. Perhaps there is another way William could have gotten a new hybrid motor from recycling proceeds, donations, gas taxes, etc. Maybe I am too much of a realist, but I like my green children's fiction to address the realities of environmental change. This part of the story didn't bother my children at all, and they really did like it.