Episode 63: Unbuilt Environments

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Environmental historians of Canada have written a lot about resource development. Resource development histories can tell us much about the changing relationships between people and the rest of nature in an industrial economy driven by the exploitation of natural resources.

But what can we learn about human-nature relations by studying resource projects that failed? Those that were halted part-way? Those that were stopped before any construction? And those that fell apart after years of extraction?

Jonathan Peyton refers to these resource development stories as unbuilt environments in his new book from UBC Press, Unbuilt Environments: Tracing Postwar Development in Northwest British Columbia.

This episode features an interview with Peyton about his new book.

Guests:

Jonathan Peyton

Works Cited:

Peyton, Jonathan. Unbuilt Environments: Tracing Postwar Development in Northwest British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017.

Music Credits:

Mickael Huchet, “Motivation”

Hannes Hofkind, “The Future Will Be Wonderful”

Photo Credit:

“Looking down Stikine River from Telegraph Creek, B.C., 1887” Source: Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN 3308423.

Citation:

Kheraj, Sean. “Episode 63: Unbuilt Environments” Nature’s Past: Canadian Environmental History Podcast. 25 March 2019.

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Sean Kheraj

Associate Professor at York University, Department of History

Sean Kheraj is the director of the Network in Canadian History and Environment. He's an associate professor in the Department of History and associate dean of programs in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University. His research and teaching focuses on environmental and Canadian history. He is also the host and producer of Nature's Past, NiCHE's audio podcast series and he blogs at http://seankheraj.com.

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