Every month I carefully track the most popular and significant environmental history articles, videos, audio, and other items making their way through the online environmental history (#envhist) community. You can read all of our past #EnvHist Worth Reading lists right here. Here are my choices for items most worth reading from April 2025.
1. Fish, mines and Indigenous Rights ensnared in court case in northern Ontario
Set against the historical precedent of the Robinson Treaties (1850), Emma McIntosh writes for The Narwhal about Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg, an Anishinaabe community on White Lake in northern Ontario; last year the community raised concerns about walleye poaching during the spawning season, a period vital to both ecology and cultural tradition. Alleging inadequate action from Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources, the community set up its own patrols. Tensions escalated as Netmizaaggamig accused members of nearby First Nations, Garden River and Batchewana, of overharvesting. A related court case, sparked by disputes over mining consultation and territorial rights, highlights complex treaty histories and unresolved claims. “The situation remains unresolved, with implications for Indigenous sovereignty and resource stewardship across the region.”The roots of the dispute can be traced back over 170 years to a report written by Crown representatives a year before the treaties covering the northern shores of lakes Huron and Superior were signed. The result is a mess created by the Crown, leaving First Nations divided,” McIntosh argues.
2. Militarism: A Leading Cause of Environmental and Climate Crises
This article written for International Union of Scientists by Manabendra Nath Bera is a solid overview of the negative impact of militarism and war on the global environment, both historically and in present-day. “Modern warfare not only results in human casualties but also leaves a trail of climate and environmental harm that can persist for decades or even centuries,” he writes. Though this argument may not be new to most environmental historians, it is important to see this discussion being had within the scientific community and to see a scientist writing about environmental history. The environmental impact of militarism is a topic that is ripe for interdisciplinary cooperation, as Alex Souchen and others have shown.
3. Atomic Secrets: a Chornobyl scientist warns of a toxic future
This The Guardian short documentary features Dmitry Kalmykov, a Ukrainian scientist who has spent his career researching nuclear sites, starting at Chornobyl and now in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. The site in Semipalatinsk was decommissioned three decades ago, but Kalmykov discusses how the community near the site is just starting to grapple with the long-term impacts of nuclear exposure. The video pairs well with the Nuclear Natures project that we featured on our site last year.
4. Radical Environmental Humanities – Nnimmo Bassey
Resistance: A Journal of Radical Environmental Humanities is edited by Marco Armiero. “Radical environmental humanities,” the journal explains, “encompass any approach that challenges the current status quo in both society and academia, aligning with grassroots movements and marginalized individuals, while contributing to research that fosters more equitable socioecological relationships.” Armiero hosts an online lecture series. In this lecture, Nnimmo Bassey joins Armiero to speak on varying topics related to the overarching theme of interconnectedness.
5. Seed Oil Scare: The Curious Case of Canola
In this episode of Gastropod, they use RFK Jr.’s recent rants on the dangerousness of seed oils as a launching off point to talk about the history of canola, from how its cold climate hardiness contributed to its rise in popularity in Canada and other northern countries, as well as what its original uses were. In addition to its agricultural history, the episode also looks as its evolution as a foodstuff.
Feature Image: “Sky Canola” by djking is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
