We have a choice when we write about fracking, climate change and other controversial issues. We can take a pro-approach, an anti-approach, or try to go down the middle. How do you handle the balance? How do you handle the compelling moral issues involved? If your work is strongly anti-fracking, for example, will you turn off a part of your intended audience or will you only attract readers looking for a book/story with which they agree? How do you handle the significant scientific issues involved in your story? This class will examine the compelling issues we face when writing about the environment.

A former Philadelphian, Joel Burcat has published three environmental legal thrillers, DRINK TO EVERY BEAST (2019, about illegal dumping of hazardous waste), AMID RAGE (2021, about a coal strip mine permit battle), and STRANGE FIRE (2022, about fracking). All were published by Headline Books, Inc. He is a retired environmental lawyer and was selected as the 2019 Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation (for Central PA) by Best Lawyers in America. He has also edited two award-winning books: PENNSYLVANIA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND PRACTICE and THE LAW OF OIL AND GAS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Burcat lives in Harrisburg, PA.