http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050206EB.shtml
Debate on Global Warming Helps Produce a Brisk Seller
By Ian Austen
The New York Times
Monday 01 May 2006
Canada's Conservative government, which was elected in January,
has been distancing itself from the greenhouse gas emission cuts the
country promised to make under the Kyoto Protocol, the climate treaty
requiring reductions.
And along the way, the environment minister, Rona Ambrose, has
helped turn an obscure science-fiction novel about global warming
into a widely known book title in Canada.
"Hotter Than Hell" describes a war between Canada and the United
States over fresh water in the wake of a global-warming catastrophe.
The author, Mark Tushingham, is a climatologist at Environment
Canada, the government department now headed by Ms. Ambrose.
Last month, DreamCatcher Publishing, the small house in St.
John, New Brunswick, that published Mr. Tushingham's book, organized
a lunch at the National Press Club of Canada in Ottawa.
But shortly before the event began, Elizabeth L. Margaris, the
publisher, received a call from Mr. Tushingham telling her that Ms.
Ambrose's office had ordered him not to attend the lunch or to
discuss his book with the news media.
"When I told the lunch that he wasn't able to speak, the whole
place went wild," Ms. Margaris said. "This is a democratic country,
and we have freedom of speech."
Ms. Margaris and many Canadian environmentalists say they
believe that Mr. Tushingham has been effectively gagged because his
novel does not mesh with the government's attempts to play down the
potential impact of global warming.
But Ryan Sparrow, Ms. Ambrose's spokesman, said the book's
contents had nothing to do with it.
"The reason we did this is that proper procedure was not carried
out," Mr. Sparrow said. According to Mr. Sparrow, Mr. Tushingham had
identified himself as an Environment Canada employee in connection
with the event, without first seeking first permission from the department.
But Ms. Margaris said her company had always been careful to
identify Mr. Tushingham as an Ottawa scientist. Mr. Tushingham is not
speaking to reporters.
Still, the incident may be paying off for the book. The initial
2,000 copies of "Hotter Than Hell" are now more or less sold out. Ms.
Margaris is about to complete a second printing that should run to
10,000 copies.
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