In the latter half of the twentieth century, legions of industrial pioneers came to northwestern British Columbia with grand plans for mines, dams, and energy-development schemes. Yet many of their projects failed to materialize or were abandoned midstream. Unbuilt Environments reveals that these lapsed resource projects had lasting effects on the natural and human environment. Drawing on a range of case studies to analyze the social and environmental impacts of unfinished project...

Northern Canada's distinctive landscapes, its complex social relations and the contested place of the North in contemporary political, military, scientific and economic affairs have fueled recent scholarly discussion. At the same time, both the media and the wider public have shown increasing interest in the region. This timely volume extends our understanding of the environmental history of northern Canada - clarifying both its practice and promise, and providing critical perspectives on ...

Beginning in 1967 and for just over 30 years, the oil industry toiled in the relative obscurity of Northern Alberta as machines peeled away earth and boreal forest to exhume what has now become one of humanity’s most precious and contentious resources: bitumen. As the years passed, the bitumen mines sprawled, poisonous tailings ponds spread, toxins polluted the environment, cancer reared its head downstream and the price of petroleum soared beyond all expectations.As plans continue...

Edmund Zavitz (1875–1968) rescued Ontario from the ravages of increasingly more powerful floods, erosion, and deadly fires. Wastelands were talking over many hectares of once-flourishing farmlands and towns. Sites like the Oak Ridges Moraine were well on their way to becoming a dust bowl and all because of extensive deforestation. Zavitz held the positions of chief forester of Ontario, deputy minister of forests, and director of reforestation. His first pilot reforestation project was in 1...

Provocative, passionate and populist, RMB Manifestos are short and concise non-fiction books of literary, critical, and cultural studies.First Nations are facing some of the worst water crises in Canada and throughout North America. Their widespread lack of access to safe drinking water receives ongoing national media attention, and yet progress addressing the causes of the problem is painfully slow. First Nations have had little say in how their waters are, or are not, pr...

The Canadian Environment in Political Context is an introduction to environmental politics designed to explain and explore how environmental policy is made inside the Canadian political arena. The book begins with a brief synopsis of environmental quality across Canada before moving on to examine political institutions and policymaking, the history of environmentalism in Canada, and crucial issues including wildlife policy, pollution, climate change, Aboriginals and the environmen...

From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City is a historical geography of the City of Greater Sudbury. The story that began billions of years ago encompasses dramatic physical and human events. Among them are volcanic eruptions, two meteorite impacts, the ebb and flow of continental glaciers, Aboriginal occupancy, exploration and mapping by Europeans, exploitation by fur traders and Canadian lumbermen and American entrepreneurs, the rise of global mining giants, unionism, pollution...

The acclaimed and accessible Hidden in Plain Sight series showcases the extraordinary contributions made by Aboriginal peoples to Canadian identity and culture. This collection features new accounts of Aboriginal peoples working hard to improve their lives and those of other Canadians, and serves as a powerful contrast to narratives that emphasize themes of victimhood, displacement, and cultural disruption.In this second volume of the series, leading scholars and other exp...

Before the Second World War, Canada was a rural country. Unlike most industrializing countries, Canada’s rural population grew throughout the century after 1871 – even if it declined as a proportion of the total population. Rural Canadians also differed in their lives from rural populations elsewhere. In a country dominated by a harsh northern climate, a short growing season, isolated households and communities, and poor land, they typically relied on three ever-shifting pillars of support...

Since 1909, the waters along the Canada-US border have been governed in accordance with the Boundary Water Treaty, but much has changed in the last 100 years. This engaging volume brings together experts from both sides of the border to examine the changing relationship between Canada and the US with respect to shared waters, as well as the implications of these changes for geopolitics and the environment. Water without Borders? is a timely publication given the increased attentio...

The concept of environmental justice has evolved over the past two decades to offer a new direction for social movements, public policy, and public planning. Researchers worldwide now position social equity as a building block for sustainability. Yet the relationship between social equity and the environmental aspects of sustainability has been little studied in Canada.Speaking for Ourselves draws together scholars and activists — Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, established...

Alberta's iconic river has been dammed and plumbed made to spin hydro-electric turbines and used to cleanse Calgary. Artificial lakes in the mountains rearrange its flow; downstream weirs and ditches divert it to irrigate the parched prairie. Far from being wild the Bow is now very much a human product: its fish are as manufactured as its altered flow changed water quality and newly stabilized and forested banks. The River Returns brings the story of the Bow River's transformation f...