It's the year 2025 in Northern California and the end of nature as we know it.The ozone layer is gone,the oceans are barren,and you can't see the forests because there are no trees.This is the setting for T.C.Boyle's new novel and his worst environmental nightmare.Everything's been poached or encroached out of existence,and the rats have inherited the earth.Everybody has skin cancer and lives in condos; there's no social security,and only the rock stars have electricity.
Ty Tierwater is a 75 year old former eco-terrorist who tried to save the earth back in the late 80's and early 1990's with his band of tree-huggers and eco-warriors.His daughter,Sierra died for the cause,and now he's questioning his old method and his madness."If a protest falls in the woods and there's no one there to hear it," Ty Tierwater asks,"does it make a sound?" T.C.Boyle and "A Friend of the Earth".
