Publications: Boojum: 20 Years of Ecological Engineering, by David Lees.

29 pages, colour, 8.5 X 11 inches, spiral-bound

Publisher: Boojum Research Ltd.

June 2002, Toronto. Tel. 416-861-1086 $25.00

This intimate tale of a Canadian success story is a good story well-told. It begins and ends in the former East Germany, where the founder of the company, Margarete Kalin, was born, and where she has recently achieved international acceptance.

Kalin and coworker Martin Smith are well-known for their work in finding botanical brooms to clean up the worst environmental problems facing uranium and sulphide mines: radioactive and acid mine drainage. Their clients are many of the big names in mining including Denison, Cameco, Inco, Billiton Shell, Talisman Energy and Asarco.

The author manages to present the chemistry and biology of Boojum’s work in an easy-to-digest story that shows you what it takes to move chara algae around northern Ontario in the winter on a shoe-string budget, or to get cat-tails to take hold in an alkaline pond. And the story isn’t over. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for sustainable solutions to environmental tailings problems.