Exercise #3: Connecting Past and Present
Instructions
For Exercise #3, you will make connections between what you have learned in the course about the past and what is happening today through contemporary media.
- Find two recent media items thematically connected in some way to two of the three topics covered in Unit 3: conservation, parks, and urbanization. For each of these, post a paragraph of three to five sentences, connecting the media story to what you learned, or were challenged to consider, from the resources in Unit 3. Provide the web link to the article in each post.
- These postings may be informal but should be grammatically correct. You should be respectful of other students’ opinions, but that does not mean you must agree with their ideas.
- Post your response by clicking ‘Add Submission’ below.
- Then post two separate comments responding to any other student’s posts.
- 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
Urbanization and Calgary Rezoning Bylaw
October 13, 2025 By: Jeff van der Ploeg
In August 2024, Calgary’s City Council approved a broad rezoning policy that allows multiple-family homes, such as apartments and townhouses, in nearly every residential neighbourhood. This change sparked debates between supporters of affordable housing and densification, and those who prefer targeted development permits to preserve community character. From my perspective, I support affordable housing but also value the character and charm of mature communities. Fortunately, Steinberg (2019) reminded me that cities are living ecological communities where we continually reshape our environment. The rezoning plan, aimed at helping lower-income residents, could also threaten mature trees and neighbourhood green spaces. These arguments…
Alberta’s Coal Moratorium
October 13, 2025 By: Jeff van der Ploeg
When I first read about the Alberta government’s decision to lift the coal mining moratorium on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, it reminded me of conservation efforts that prioritize economic benefit or resource extraction over preserving natural landscapes. It strikes me that the government appears to be bending the knee to coal companies, which threatened the Alberta government with $15 billion in lawsuits following the original moratorium. Reading Worster (1990) reminds us that environmental conservation is always political; it is never just about protecting nature. Instead, the debate revolves around who gets to use what and for what…
Connecting Past and Present
September 1, 2025 By: Vraj Bharatkumar Patel
Dr. Mark Butorac HIST 3991 – Environmental History Vraj Bharatkumar Patel – T00785625 Sept 1, 2025 Media Article 1: Urban Heat Island Effect in Canadian Cities ReferenceEnvironBuzz. (2024, August 12). Urban heat island effect in Canadian cities: Why it’s getting hotter and how we can cool down. EnvironBuzz Media. https://environbuzz.com/urban-heat-island-effect-canadian-cities This article discusses how paved and built surfaces trap heat in Canadian cities, worsening summer conditions. In Unit 3, McShane and Tarr’s study of the decline of the urban horse shows how city surfaces changed from organic grounds to hardened ones, increasing environmental stress. Today’s urban heat challenges continue…
Exercise #3
August 15, 2025 By: Jessica McMath
Media Article 1 Canadian Geographic. “CNW Newswire | Canadian Geographic.” Canadian Geographic, 2025. https://canadiangeographic.ca/content/cnw-newswire/. Binnema, Theodore (Ted), and Melanie Niemi. “‘Let the Line Be Drawn Now’: Wilderness, Conservation, and the Exclusion of Aboriginal People from Banff National Park in Canada.” Environmental History 11, no. 4 (October 1, 2006): 724–50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3985800. In a recent news article by Canadian Geographic (2025), it states that the creation of a new national park in Windsor, Ontario is proposed. This connects to Unit 3 through the Parks Movement. Binnema & Niemi’s article shows how early parks such as Banff were created with the exclusion of Indigenous peoples,…
Connecting Past and Present
August 13, 2025 By: Sunisha Rakesh
Exercise #3: Connecting Past and Present Student Name: Sunisha Rakesh Course: HIST_ 3991 Student ID: T00609237 Date: 2025/08/13 The article “The 10-year celebration of Rouge National Urban Park” reflects Unit 3’s focus on urbanization and biodiversity by showing the efficacy of urban parks in promoting community well-being. Rouge protects over 2,000 species while concurrently offering trails and cultural sites to people in a large urban area. Arguably, this supports Anne Bell’s idea of Resourcism, which values nature for the benefits it brings to human life. Moreover, The Conversation’s Ambitious Changes to Canadian Conservation Law article links to Unit 3’s…