Tag Archives: environmental history

The Dark Side of Disarmament: Ocean Pollution, Peace, and the World Wars

Alex Souchen On 11 November 2018 the world paused for a moment of silence to commemorate the end of the First World War. The solemn occasion offered people around the world an opportunity to honour the dead and pay homage to peace, freedom, and reconciliation. The theme of peace will likely continue as a prominent feature at future Remembrance Day… Read more »

History Slam Episode 117: Breaching the Peace

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/History-Slam-117-Sarah-Cox.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham There are a couple things that are universal in political campaigns. Candidates will talk about creating new jobs and stress the need to leave a legacy for our kids and grand-kids (we do all for the kids, after all). In recent years, with environmentalism becoming increasingly popular politically, politicians have combined… Read more »

Podcast: The 1860s and the Origins of Canada’s Transitions to Fossil Fuels

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Episode-04-Ruth-Sandwell.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadOn April 22, 2017, Ruth Sandwell delivered her talk “The 1860s and the Origins of Canada’s Transition to Fossil Fuels.” The talk was part of ‘The Other 60s: A Decade that Shaped Canada and the World,” a symposium hosted by the Department of History at the University of Toronto as part of its Canada… Read more »

History Slam Episode 108: The Magnificent Nahanni

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/History-Slam-108.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This year, Parks Canada offered free admission to parks across the country to commemorate Canada 150. As visitors flocked to take advantage of the opportunity, however, there was not much reflection in the media about the process through which national parks are determined and operated. In his recent book The Magnificent… Read more »

History Slam Episode Ninety-Seven: Using & Managing Water

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Water.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham In the search for life on other planets, the focus is always on water. If there is water, there is a chance that life, as we know it, could exist elsewhere. In all that excitement and speculation, though, we sometimes lose sight of the way we use and manage water on… Read more »

More than a Few Acres of Snow

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By Elizabeth Jewett and Andrew Nurse This past weekend, Mount Allison University hosted Quelques Arpents de Neige for the first time. Arpents is a conference that takes a workshop-like feel. Its goal is to bring people together to discuss different trends in Canadian environmental history. And, in so doing, it provides an opportunity to think about the development and direction… Read more »

The nature of Confederation

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This is the ninth post in a two week series in partnership with Canada Watch on the Confederation Debates By Sean Kheraj Nature mattered to Confederation.[1] In the minds of many of the legislators from the Province of Canada in 1865, the union of the colonies of British North America was providential and evident in the natural environment. The land, minerals, forests,… Read more »

Climate Change on the Ground

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By Elizabeth Vibert The people of Jomela village in eastern Limpopo Province, South Africa, feel like canaries in a coal mine. The local metaphor features a snail collecting ashes. When I last visited Jomela in April and May, sixty-five-year-old vegetable farmer Daina Mahlaule told me that home food gardens in the village produced “nothing, nothing at all” in the recent… Read more »

What about the People? Place, Memory, and Industrial Pollution in Sudbury

By Stacey Zembrzycki Much of the industrial ruins resulting from nearly 130 years of nickel mining in Sudbury, Ontario, are now hidden from plain sight, camouflaged under a successful re-greening program that has led to the planting of over nine million trees, and the clean-up of many area lakes and thousands of hectares of soil. And yet, despite this invisibility,… Read more »

A Monument to the Past? The Never Forgotten National War Memorial Project

By Jill Campbell-Miller Over this past winter and spring, the controversy around the proposed Never Forgotten National War Memorial Project has become increasingly intense, even reaching the pages of the Guardian. The project, sponsored by the Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation, and specifically, Toronto businessman Tony Trigiani, intends to honour fallen soldiers who served abroad. Positioned overlooking the Atlantic Ocean… Read more »