Exercise #1: Local Environmental History
Instructions
For Exercise #1, you will bring environmental concepts home by looking at your neighbourhood’s environmental history.
- Using the submission form, post a photo of your area (Google Street View if you do not want to show your home) on this interactive map and explain the ecological history of this space, as per this example.
- Write a 700 to 1100 word of the ecological history of this physical environment, including where applicable: pre-contact use and settlement; wildlife past and present; early settlement and resource extraction; invasive species; urban development; stewardship actions (urban stormwater retention systems; community gardens; composting facilities).
- You must show where you found your information, either through footnote citations or with links embedded in the text, or a combination of both.
- The writing can be informal, as per the Exercise 1 Sample (you may even use first person, which definitely will not fly with your historiography and major essay projects!) but correct spelling and grammar are expected.
- In most cases, given the readily available information online, this exercise need not take more than 6–8 hours to complete. It is meant to help you think historically about your environment—to read it through an ecological lens. If you live in a rural area or small town, you may think that there is less to say than what you read in the sample based on a Vancouver neighbourhood, but this is not the case. The environmental history will be very different, and you might focus far more on, say, the settlement period of the late nineteenth century, or the implications of the introduction of cattle or irrigation and less on events of the 1960s and 70s.
- Please note, you should write and edit your submission in a separate file then copy and paste it into the submission box. Once submitted to the HIST 3991 trubox site, you will not be able to edit your post.
Are you a student of HIST 3991? Click here to add a submission to this assignment.
Submissions
Latest Posts
Kelowna BC
August 13, 2024 By: Josie Bates
Professor Norman Fennema HIST 3991: Environmental History Josie Bates August 10, 2024 I live in the lower mission area of the city of Kelowna, which is located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Kelowna is well recognized for its stunning lake, mountains and wildlife, as well as its fruit orchards and wineries. Today, Kelowna is the third most populous city in British Columbia, following Vancouver and Victoria [1]. The city of Kelowna was officially founded in 1905, however there were people living here far before that. Kelowna is situated on the ancestral lands of the…
Burnaby, British Columbia
July 22, 2024 By: Sam Al-Alimi
I live in the Metrotown area, on Beresford Street, in the heart of Burnaby, British Columbia. My address belongs to South Burnaby riding. While the Metrotown area or Kingsway-Sussex area as it was called in the past is not new, the neighborhood am in is new across the metrotown SkyTrain station. This area was developed recently and is part of the grand plan of Metrotown’s expansion of high-rise buildings by removing older low level apartment buildings. [1]Indigenous peoples settled in what is today Burnaby 10,000 years ago. Oral history from the Halkomelm and Squamish speaking peoples is evidence of their…
Exercise #1: Local Environmental History
July 19, 2024 By: Heather Prohaska
Exercise #1: Local Environmental History First, I would like to acknowledge that I reside, play, and work on the ancestral lands of the St̓át̓imc Nations between Líl̓wat and N’Quatqua. St̓át̓imc Nations have called this territory home since time immemorial. I live 25 minutes from Pemberton, B.C., in Poole Creek on Pemberton Portage Road. This is a rural area; the closest store is 12 minutes away. My area has only around 20 houses, and I do not see any neighbours from my home. Development here has been slow but not non-existent. Holly Bikadi from the Lil’wat Nation met with me to share…
The Ecological History of Yongsan-gu: From Royal Hunting Grounds to Urban Center
July 11, 2024 By: Jinsu Kim
The Ecological History of Yongsan-gu: From Royal Hunting Grounds to Urban Center I live in Yongsan-gu, a district located in the heart of Seoul, South Korea. The name “Yongsan” means “Dragon Mountain,” reflecting the hilly terrain that characterizes much of the area[1]. As I explore the ecological history of my neighborhood, I’m struck by how dramatically this landscape has been transformed over the centuries. Long before Yongsan became an urban center, this area was inhabited by indigenous peoples who lived in harmony with the natural environment. According to historical records, settlements in the Han River basin, which includes Yongsan, date…
Mackenzie, B.C.
April 7, 2024 By: Danielle Fernstrom
Ecological History of Mackenzie, B.C. The vast mountain ranges, plentiful rivers and abundant natural resources that surround my hometown of Mackenzie have shaped the ways humans have interacted with and altered the environment in the region. The mountain range that Mackenzie is nestled into is over 50 million years old, making the 55 years Mackenzie has existed look like a blink of an eye. However in this small amount of time human behaviour has had large impacts on the ecological state of the region. The Rocky Mountain Trench, in which Mackenzie sits, is a unique and bizarre geological formation that…