Calgary writer's Tar Sands book wins U.S. award

Calgary writer and environmentalist Andrew Nikiforuk has become the first Canadian to win the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award from the U.S.-based Society of Environmental Journalists.

Nikiforuk was named winner for his book Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, published by Greystone Books and the David Suzuki Foundation.

The $10,000 US award is named for the author of Silent Spring, the seminal environmental book that alerted North Americans to the dangers of pesticides.

"As oil reserves dwindle worldwide, this book sheds frightening new light on the future of energy," the Society of Environmental Journalists says in its citation.

Nikiforuk argues in Tar Sands that Canada is getting little benefit and suffering a huge environmental cost with the tarsands projects of northern Alberta. The government is kowtowing to big oil in the face of environmental degradation that affects an area the size of Florida, he writes.

Two other books received honorable mention:

• Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health by David Michaels.
• Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town's Toxic Legacy by Nancy A. Nichols.

The Society of Environmental Journalists also presents awards for environmental reporting in newspapers and broadcasting. The awards will be presented Oct.  7 in Madison, Wis.