First, some news. Hot off the press, is a snippet from an upcoming review of the Midnight Rambler by Diane Donovan in the Midwest Book Review (full review out Feb 10). “Contrasts between Italian backdrops and culture and American perceptions and landscapes create realistic and thought-provoking scenarios as each of the characters finds themselves drawn […]
Grazie Il Ramingos! Read More »
Today is the publication date for my eco-thriller novel The Midnight Rambler. I couldn’t be happier to finally share the story of EPA special agent Sophie Grant pursuing a toxic waste dumping cartel in Italy’s Amalfi Coast. You can buy it here from one of these great booksellers: Here’s what other have to say about
The Midnight Rambler is Alive! Read More »
I was interviewed by the awesome podcast Minnesota Medleys about my debut novel and what I love about Minnesota. https://minnesotamedleys.podbean.com/e/minnesota-authors-don-carr/ And our great local news outlet SW Voices did a preview here https://www.southwestvoices.news/posts/local-author-celebrates-midnight-rambler-at-terzo
Great Local Coverage of The Midnight Rambler Read More »
Dr. Chris Jones recently retired from the University of Iowa as a research engineer. A trained chemist, his tenure included penning an incisive blog series that took aim at water quality issues in Iowa. Because his writing was honest, accurate, and well-informed, it rubbed some powerful people the wrong way. You can read more about
A Swine Republic Primer: Q and A with author Chris Jones Read More »
About a year ago I started writing about how environmentalists were portrayed in scripted entertainment . In their new fall issue, Sierra Magazine allowed me to write 1,400 words on the subject for their Critic’s Notebook section. To that end, I put together some clips to visually demonstrate my point. Enjoy.
Previously published in Sierra Magazine Looking back, it seems the problem started with Ghostbusters. In the 1984 blockbuster comedy, William Atherton plays Environmental Protection Agency investigator Walter Peck. Alarmed by media reports about the Ghostbusters’ shenanigans, Peck stops by their headquarters, looking for “the presence of noxious, possibly hazardous-waste chemicals.” Ghostbuster Peter Venkman, played by Bill
Can Hollywood get beyond its stereotypical portrayals of environmentalists? Read More »
Talking eco-anxiety and environmental storytelling with the author and green leader. Heather White spent the better part of two decades helming environmental groups in Washington DC and Montana. Last year she wrote One Green Thing: Discover Your Hidden Power to Help Save the Planet. Heather also is the founder & CEO of OneGreenThing, a nonprofit
One Green Thing's Heather White Read More »
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a new film about extreme environmental activism. But it’s no preachy screed. Instead it’s an Ocean’s 11 style heist caper with something to say about the futility of watching the planet burn while fossil fuel companies continue to rake in record profits. How to Blow Up a Pimple
How to Blow Up a Pipeline Interview Read More »
I Talk With the Creator of Apple TV+’s New Series on Climate Change Last week I had the opportunity to review Apple TV’s new climate change series Extrapolations for Sierra Magazine. The assignment included talking with show creator Scott Z. Burns. Burns is best known for producing An Inconvenient Truth and writing the scripts for Contagion and The Bourne Identity. Burns had a
Apple TV’s new cli-fi series, Extrapolations, envisions a future that feels all too close to the present First published in Sierra Magazine. The year is 2037. Fires rage across the globe. Activists are protesting government gridlock on climate change as corporate CEOs defend their greed with arguments that a strong economy is worth a couple
Despite a Twister Remake, the Climate Crisis is Still Woefully Underrepresented Onscreen. A recent report created in partnership by the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center and Good Energy Stories contains sobering news. Only 2.8% of the 37,453 scripted TV shows and movies released between 2016 and 2020 mentioned climate change. Contrast that with a Pew poll showing two thirds of Americans
You Can’t Say Hollywood Doesn’t Recycle Read More »
New Mexico Convenes the State’s First Environmental Crime Task Force Environmental crime is on the rise both in America and worldwide. While the Biden EPA is doing its best to ramp up enforcement after the polluter-friendly Trump years, some states see a need to also bolster local eco-policing. “You can’t say you have the nation’s best ozone
The Thin Green Line Read More »
The fifth season of Paramount’s hit drama Yellowstone, started on Sunday. More popular than ever, it was the most watched scripted premier of 2022. The first two episode’s tension hinges on the historic Dutton Montana cattle ranch and the forces jockeying to take away patriarch John Dutton’s way of life. Coastal developers, Native American tribes
Was Yellowstone's John Dutton an Eco-Terrorist? Read More »
Experts weigh in on environmentalists’ negative portrayals in scripted entertainment. In early October I took a light-hearted look at the recent spate of green-minded comic book villains adapted for the big screen. The more I dug around, I found overwhelming evidence that environmentalist are often portrayed in scripted entertainment as the bad guy, a punchline,
Live Green or Die Hard Read More »
A deep dive into the EPA’s Quarterly Crime Bulletin Maybe like me you were surprised to learn the US Environmental Protection Agency uses actual special agents to hunt down criminal polluters. “It’s traditional law enforcement in a non-traditional area,” former EPA Criminal Investigation Division Director Doug Parker told me for an investigation into biofuel fraud. “Some of us
Welcome to the Inaugural Flower Power Roundup Read More »
On the 55th anniversary of the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Sasquatch film, I talk with Finding Bigfoot’s Ranae Holland. For ten years Ranae Holland co-hosted the hit show Finding Bigfoot on Discovery’s Animal Planet. Cast as The Skeptical Scientist opposite a trio of Squatch-believers, Holland used her scientific training to debunk evidence of the perennially elusive cryptid. Less well-known is Holland’s
When was the last time a movie portrayed a fictional environmentalist as anything other than a villain, a punchline, a scold, or all three? Environmentalists can’t catch a break. Not in the literal sense. Not like how the ghoulish politicians responsible for the Flint water crisis escaped accountability for poisoning children with toxic lead. Or how a
We Don’t Need Another Green Anti-Hero Read More »
In August, the International Criminal Police Organization released a report on increased organized environmental crime. In their analysis, INTERPOL warned that “the organized crime-pollution crime nexus is a global phenomenon, involving a wide variety of perpetrators and organizational structures.” Based in Lyon, France, INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization. It’s also the only multi-national law
In my investigation of environmental crime — Grease thieves, corn oil and fraud: How biofuel scam artists bilked U.S. taxpayers of billions — I learned much about US Environmental Protection Agency special agents. Like other federal agencies, the EPA has its own police arm, known as the Criminal Investigation Division. EPA special agents are trained in the
The Power Behind the Flower: EPA Special Agents 101 Read More »
Demand for vinyl records is soaring, but there’s something funky about this musical comeback – the energy and chemicals involved with producing the iconic circular discs creates pollution, adds to the climate crisis and may harm our health. But it’s not all sour notes, because some vinyl producers are experimenting with ways to make records
Vinyl Records’ Revival Threatens Environment and Health Read More »
