Margaret Atwood goes green on tour
Booker prize winner Margaret Atwood goes green while promoting her newest book
Margaret Atwood, the Booker prize winner, is attempting a book tour with a difference for her latest novel The Year of the Flood.
Beginning in the UK in September, the Canadian author embarked on a zero carbon footprint tour which will see her visit the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the US and Canada, as well as Britain.
As the 70-year-old travels to promote her latest work, she is using trains and boats rather than planes, getting local musicians involved at each location, serving local food and making donations to green charities.
The author is also blogging and peddling ringtones on The Year of the Flood website, as well as tweeting and running a YouTube competition.
Speaking to Reuters, Ms Atwood revealed that she is working with a carbon offset and reduction company to enable her to see how high her carbon footprint is and offset the difference.
While the novelist believes that her individual efforts will not make a difference to the environment, she argues that overall the tour can have an impact.
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"First of all, the problem is huge so me individually making a difference? Doubtful. Getting some ideas out? Yes. Raising a bit of money and quite a lot of awareness for our RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), Birdlife International, the mess we're in - quite a bit," she told the news agency.
The Year of the Flood deals with a virus which spreads around the world, killing all but a few people within weeks.
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