Episode 12 Industrialization in Subarctic Environments: January 19, 2010.

[24:30]

Between 1920 and 1960, Canada's northwest subarctic region experienced late-stage rapid industrialization along its large lakes. These included Lake Winnipeg, Lake Athabasca, Great Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake. Powered by high-energy fossil fuels, the natural resources of the northwest were integrated into international commodity markets and distributed throughout the world. Whitefish from the large lakes found their way onto dinner plates in New York while uranium from Canada's northwest fueled the world's most destructive weapons, atomic bombs.

Professor Liza Piper joins us this month to discuss her new book The Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada from UBC Press. This book explores a region unfamiliar to most Canadians and how that space was transformed through industrial processes in the twentieth century. Rather than finding industrial technologies dominating the landscape of the northwest, Professor Piper found that humans used those technologies to assimilate nature.

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Sean Kheraj, Canadian History & Environment

http://seankheraj.wordpress.com

Piper, Liza. The Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009.

Music Credits

“R&R&R” by Pitx

“Hapbirmai” by Pitx

Episode 11 Animals, History, and Environment: November 22, 2009.

[55:05]

Environmental history is primarily concerned with the relationship between humans and non-human nature, but the study of non-human nature holds a different set of problems and poses a different set of questions when considering non-human animals. As environmental historians continue to explore the place of animals in stories of the past, they increasingly cross into the rich literature and theory of historical animals studies.

This episode of the podcast looks at the place of animals in environmental history. We begin by speaking with Erica Fudge, the author of several books in historical animal studies, about her 2006 essay "The History of Animals" on the H-Animal Discussion Network. Then Sharon Kirsch joins us to discuss her new book What Species of Creatures: Animals Relations from the New World.

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Sean Kheraj, Canadian History & Environment

http://seankheraj.wordpress.com

Loo, Tina. States of Nature: Conserving Canada's Wildlife in the Twentieth Century. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006.

Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007.

Colpitts, George. Game in the Garden: A Human History of Wildlife in Western Canada to 1940. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2002.

Ritvo, Harriet. "Animal Planet." Environmental History 9, no. 2 (2004): 204-220.

Fudge, Erica. "The History of Animals." Ruminations, H-Animal discussion network, no. 1 (2006).

Kirsch, Sharon. What Species of Creatures: Animal Relations from the New World. Vancouver: New Star Books, 2008.

Music Credits

“Septiembre” by BlondBlood - FG3 Free Guitars Project

“Mirando al Horizonte” Jaime Heras - FG3 Free Guitars Project

“Rumba Sudamericana” by Paco Santiago - FG3 Free Guitars Project

“Epiclatinarabrock” by Daniel Bautista - FG3 Free Guitars Project

Episode 10 Digital Technologies and Environmental History: October 21, 2009.

[41:00]

How have online digital technologies changed environmental history research, communication, and teaching? This episode of the podcast explores this question in the context of the recent NiCHE Digital Infrastructure API Workshop held in Mississauga, Ontario. Online-based Application Programming Interfaces or APIs are just one digital technology that holds the potential to change the way environmental historians access resources, analyze historical data, and communicate research findings. Within the past decade alone, the development of online digital technologies has offered the potential to transform historical scholarship.

This episode includes a round-table conversation with some leading figures in the realm of digital history as well as an interview with Jan Oosthoek, the producer and host of the Exploring Environmental History podcast.

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Sean Kheraj, Canadian History & Environment: http://seankheraj.wordpress.com

Dan Cohen’s Website

http://www.dancohen.org/

Digital Campus Podcast

http://digitalcampus.tv/

Heptanesian Archives

http://heptanesia.net/

Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History

http://canadianmysteries.ca

NYPL Map Rectifier

http://maps.nypl.org

Environmental History Resources

http://www.eh-resources.org/

Environmental History Teaching

http://www.eh-teaching.org/

MSc. Landscape, Environment & History

http://teaching.shc.ed.ac.uk/esh/msc_landscape/examples/

Music Credits

“I Bid Ye Farewell” by AndyExpandy

“Crayonz” by AndyExpandy

“Expandimonium!” by AndyExpandy

“Pancakes” by AndyExpandy

Episode 9 Environmental History Graduate Studies in Canada: September 21, 2009.

[34:22]

After our brief summer break, the podcast returns with an episode that looks at environmental history graduate studies in Canada. Last May, we recorded a round-table conversation with four environmental history graduate students following the Canadian History & Environment Summer School in Ottawa, Ontario. These students discussed their own experiences studying and researching and they spoke about the unique qualities of environmental history training.

Also, Will Knight, the New Scholars in Canadian History & Environment representative, joins us to talk about the New Scholars group and future project ideas.

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Sean Kheraj, Canadian History & Environment: http://seankheraj.wordpress.com

Music Credits

“Global Misery” by Pitx

“Ice and Chilli” by _ghost

“Summer Dance” by Pitx

“Going on Vacation” by Pitx

Episode 8 Aboriginal People and Resource Conflicts in Canada: July 14, 2009.

[38:46]

The history of the resettlement of Canada by European peoples and the dispossession of Aboriginal people from their land was, in part, a struggle over natural resources. Since 1867, the federal and provincial governments of Canada have on many occasions come into conflict with different First Nations over the control of land and access to natural resources. This episode of Nature's Past looks at a historical case study of one such conflict in northeastern Ontario in the Temagami region.

Jocelyn Thorpe, a SSHRC postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia, speaks about her recent article in the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, which examines the social construction of the Temagami region as a wilderness area and its implications for the Teme-Augama Anishnabi.

Also, we speak with Dorothee Schreiber and Siomonn Pulla, organizers of the 14^th annual International Wanapitei Aboriginal History and Politics Colloquium. The colloquium will be held from September 17-20 and you can download the most recent Call for Papers here.

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Thorpe, Jocelyn. 'To Visit and to Cut Down: Tourism, Forestry, and the Social Construction of Nature in Twentieth-Century Northeastern Ontario' Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 19 (1) 2008: 331-357. [Download a copy from Erudit]

Sean Kheraj, Canadian History & Environment: http://seankheraj.wordpress.com

Music Credits

'God-Blessed Our Land (trans-national version)' by colab

'Still I'm Travelling On' by Mississippi Sheiks

'Peg Leg Stomp' by Peg Leg Howell

'Irie Dub' by Neurowaxx

Episode 7 E-Waste and Obsolescence: June 15, 2009.

[39:22]

The problem of e-waste grows with each new mobile phone, music player, laptop computer or other type of consumer electronic device. Because many of these products are made with toxic substances, disposal is a major challenge. The environmental crisis of e-waste can be attributed to a strategy of industrial manufacturing developed over the course of the twentieth-century known as obsolescence. On this episode of the podcast, we hear from Giles Slade, author of the award-winning book Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America, on this historical trend in manufacturing.

Also, Bill Turkel from the University of Western Ontario tells us about a workshop he held called "Hacking as a Way of Knowing".

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Slade, Giles. Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006.

Sean Kheraj, Canadian History & Environment: http://seankheraj.wordpress.com

Music Credits

'Running Man' by short_hopper

'Do It, Bucky' by short_hopper

'Intergalactic Journey' by spinmeister

'Hej rozmaring (Folk Flutes)' by Grizzly616

Episode 6 Teaching Environmental History Special: May 19, 2009.

[1:11:40]

Teaching environmental history at the undergraduate level poses several challenges for instructors in this burgeoning subfield of history. As more and more universities add environmental history courses to their calendars, it is important to take some time to reflect on how we teach environmental history. This special episode of the podcast on teaching draws from the experiences of four environmental history instructors from the University of British Columbia: Matthew Evenden, Eagle Glassheim, Sean Kheraj, and Tina Loo.

Also, we speak with Alan MacEachern, co-editor of Method and Meaning in Canadian Environmental History, about textbooks in the field.

Please be sure to take a moment and review this podcast on our iTunes page.

Works Cited

Feldman, James and Lynne Heasley.'Recentering North American Environmental History: Pedagogy and Scholarship in the Great Lakes Region' Environmental History 12 (4) 2007: 951-958.

Langston, Nancy. 'On Teaching World Forest History' Environmental History 10 (1) 2005: 20-29.

Lewis, Michael. 'This class will write a book': An Experiment in Environmental History Pedagogy Environmental History 9 (4) 2004: 604-619.

Steinberg, Ted. Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Blackburn, David. Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany New York: Norton, 2006.

McNeill, John R. Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World New York: Norton, 2000.

Gaffield, Chad and Pamela Gaffield Consuming Canada: Readings in Environmental History Mississauga: Copp Clark, 1995.

Duke, David Freeland. Canadian Environmental History: Essential Readings Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2006.

Wynn, Graeme. Canada and Arctic North America: An Environmental History Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2007.

MacEachern, Alan and William J. Turkel. Method and Meaning in Canadian Environmental History Toronto: Nelson Education, 2009.

Music Credits

'Recommencer' by DoKashiteru

'Hear Us Now (poptastic mix)' by scottaltham

'Maybe' by DoKashiteru

'Mermaid Song' by J. Lang

Episode 5: April 24, 2009.

[31:42]

In 2006, Vancouver's Stanley Park was struck by an extreme windstorm event, which blew down more than ten thousand trees in the park. This was just one of a series of regular windstorms to strike the park in the twentieth century, including major storms in 1901, 1934, and 1962. The nature of windstorms in British Columbia's Lower Mainland is incredibly complicated and the research of Wolf Read, a graduate student in the Department of Forest Sciences at UBC, will help us try to make sense of it.

Also, Professor Joanna Dean from Carleton University's Department of History tells us about the upcoming Canadian History & Environment Summer School in Ottawa.

Works Cited

Kheraj, Sean. 'Restoring Nature: Ecology, Memory, and the Storm History of Vancouver's Stanley Park' Canadian Historical Review 88 (4) 2007: 577-612.

Music Credits

'Bevel (Walled & Drilled)' by hisboyelroy

'Little Piece' by Pitx

'Long Winter' by Pitx

'Nothing' by Pitx

Episode 4: March 16, 2009.

[26:17]

The typical model of the environmental justice literature has focused on cases in which local communities fought to have government recognize their neighbourhoods as environmentally hazardous and fix the problem. Ken Cruikshank and Nancy Bouchier's research on the environmental history of the Hamilton, Ontario waterfront since 1955 turns this story around by looking at who determines the environmental health of a community.

Also, we speak with Graeme Wynn and Emily Jane Davis about NiCHE's Forest History Cluster.

Works Cited

Cruikshank, Ken and Nancy B. Bouchier,'It doesn't bother me...': Local neighbourhoods, planners and the meaning of environmental justice in an industrial city, 1955-2000' presented at the Quelques arpents de neige workshop on 12 December 2008

Fletcher, Thomas H. From Love Canal to Environmental Justice: The Politics of Hazardous Waste on the Canada-US Border. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2003.

Music Credits

'Sitarial' by DJad

'Black Rainbow' by Pitx

'Track 30 - poolside' by bertjerred

Episode 3: February 16, 2009.

[43:20]

We turn our attention northward in this month’s episode with an extended interview with John Sandlos, author of the award winning book Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Professor Sandlos discusses how he came to write this book and explores some of his main argument regarding Canadian federal wildlife conservation policies in the Northwest Territories. This book makes a persuasive argument about the relationship between wildlife conservation and the colonization of Canada’s sub-arctic and arctic regions. Sandlos challenges previous literature on the history of wildlife policy in Canada by considering the implications for Native people in the Canadian North.

Works Cited

“Cruikshank, Julie. Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters & Social Imagination. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005.

Dick, Lyle. Muskox Land: Ellesmere Island in the Age of Contact. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001.

Piper, Liza. The Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009.

Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margin: Native People and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007.

Music Credits

“Beyond the Dunes” by Sawtooth

“Beautiful People” by colab

“Not Like That” by scottaltham

Episode 2: January 19, 2009.

[34:50]

This month's episode focuses on resource development in British Columbia. Last November, the Nature/History/Society group hosted a roundtable on hydro in BC, featuring Jeremy Mouat (University of Alberta), Tina Loo (University of British Columbia), and Paul Hirt (Arizona State). In this episode we highlight a selection from Tina Loo's talk on hydro-electric development and high modernism called 'Towards an Environmental History of 'Progress'.

You can listen to the full roundtable on hydro in BC in the NiCHE audio archive.

Also, this month we feature an interview with Jonathan Peyton, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography at UBC who is studying the history of resource conflict in the Stikine Plateau region of northern British Columbia.

Works Cited

"On the Environment" Special Issue BC Studies 142/143 (Summer/Autumn 2004)

Music Credits

'See You Later' by Pixt

'Smoke' by Pixt

'No' by Pixt

'Fun Key' by Pixt

Episode 1: December 10, 2008.

[44:30]

On this pilot episode of the show, we introduce listeners to the study environmental history by speaking with Jennifer Bonnell, a graduate student at the University of Toronto who is researching the history of Toronto's Don River. Jennifer's research spans the long history of the Don River and its place in the social and environmental history of the city. From nineteenth-century grist mills to Depression-era hobo jungles to Hurricane Hazel in 1954, we find out more about this river valley on Toronto's eastside.

Also, we speak with Adam Crymble, the website administrator for the Network in Canadian History & Environment, about web resources for environmental history at niche-canada.org

Works Cited

Nash, Roderick. Wilderness and the American Mind. 4th ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

Worster, Donald, ed. The Ends of the Earth: Perspectives on Modern Environmental History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Crosby, Alfred W. "The Past and Present of Environmental History." American Historical Review 100 (1995): 1177-89.

Music Credits

'Revolve' by hisboyelroy

'Yage Cameras (hbe's fractured rework)' by hisboyelroy

'The Return' by BOcrew

'Certain Death (Still Alive Remix)' by Blackberry