By Robert Emmett Morris
Review by Jim Turner
Robert Emmett (Bob) Morris is a national leader among Sierra Club volunteers. His latest contribution is his Climate Change novel “The Owl and the Oak”. The novel conveys Morris's concern that as we try to steer America toward sustainability, we struggle against leaders of the oil and coal industries whose interests lie in maintaining present consumption trends.
Morris indicates that we need to be as personally “fired up” as were the protesters of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights marchers of the 1960s. To that end, his novel presents strongly drawn characters who are distinctly recognizable as good and evil from an environmental point of view. It makes for the same intensity that readers have found (from a very different point of view) in Tom Clancy's novels.
I quote from the back cover:
“Aaron Woods, the graying single father of a troubled pre-teen adopted son, is determined to directly confront the [oil and coal] industries by organizing a boycott … The new Executive Director of the Natural America Club, Tony Albritton, seizes on Aaron's idea to push himself and NAC to national prominence. Tony's energetic assistant, Wendy Sparks, develops a campaign that quickly becomes the seed for a growing movement“.
For Sierra Club members, this novel gives an interesting viewpoint on the respective roles of volunteers, professional staff, and activist leaders. But the plot involves far more than meetings. It is a well-paced narrative with plenty of action, and we learn more about the characters as we go. Morris has developed them boldly. His novelistic style seemed good and I was immersed in the story.
Some day in the future, we will know that environmentalism is prevailing, when we will see a writer of the stature of John Updike produce a tale of a typical thoughtful American who is deeply engaged by a shift to sustainability. But in the meantime, we have need for a novel like Morris's. “The Owl and the Oak” presents a view that we environmentalists need to dig deep and find 1960s- scaled dimensions of effort within ourselves, if we are to protect coming decades from the ravages of climate change. .