“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water,” W.H. Auden, First Things First. Emotions run high in the issues involving ‘hydrofracking’ in the southern tier of New York State. The Marcellus Shale deposits of natural gas are extracted using the force of water and sand mixed with a secret toxic mix of chemicals to fracture the shale and release the gas. Greed, jealousy, betrayal, anger and fear dominate this local emotional landscape. Love is at the heart of this debate. Love of family, love of the land, love for Nature.  Passion for the protection of fresh water is my sentiment in the debates. Hydrofracking is one of many attacks on the environment. There is no incentive to stop pollution. There is no profit in conservation. Those who maximize profits in the water and gas industries take advantage of a dwindling supply that cannot meet a growing demand. Pitting citizens against each and niggling over the specifics of the techniques and methods is to avoid the larger question of the unsustainable nature of such a model of economic development. Nearly a decade ago, Vandana Shiva brought the focus to the global political economy of water as the new oil for this millennium in her book Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit. Last year Bill McKibben’s Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet made global climate change a foregone conclusion with mounting evidence that we are past the tipping point. There are no snowcaps left on the Andes Mountains…

As the year begins to come to a close, the Thanksgiving holiday reminds me of how much light there is in my life. I live in a community that reads, celebrates books, and supports literary artists and libraries. Books are something I feel passionately about and I’m grateful to have made them my calling, my livelihood, in this chapter of my life. For her skills and talents as an editor, Jenna Goodman appears top of my gratitude list. The professionalism, support and enthusiasm Sharon Yntema, bookkeeper and blogger, brings to Swenson Book Development LLC is appreciated. I am tremendously grateful to Susan Tripp for the administrative and project support she gives to our clients and contacts. For two interns this year, Alanna Rieser and Samantha Kolb, I am fortunate. Chad Lieberman continues to provide excellent service in webhosting and website design/development for Swenson Book Development LLC and our clients. Bringing books into the world is tremendously satisfying and I owe everything to my extraordinary clients. Four new book releases this fall and three publishing contracts for clients in 2017. Several clients with tremendously promising projects to pitch this coming spring. And for all of you who have shared your writing and stories with me as work-in-progress, I am humbled by my luck in finding fascinating people doing honorable work with words. I am grateful to Linda J. Spielman, whose devotion to wildlife in upstate to New York I share. When she contacted me with an idea for a book—a book…