Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection
Instructions
For your fourth Exercise assignment, you will make connections between the environmental movement in the recent past and today by considering what you are challenged to learn from documentarians of that movement.
- Find a current or recent report in the mainstream or alternative media of an environmental topic or issue in your local or wider region. As you read/ hear about the issue, consider where you stand on it. Identify your position and your thoughts.
- Use the documentaries in this course unit to reflect on the role that civil disobedience has played in the history of environmentalism, researching one other recent example to defend your answer to the question of whether it works to bring positive change.
Use your research in the mainstream and alternative media from Activity 1 of this unit for this exercise Post the media links and your analysis. Aim for a minimum of 300 words.
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.
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Submissions
Documentary Reflection
February 13, 2025 By: Marsha Clarke
The Tyee: Anger as Alberta Lifts Ban on Rockies Coal Mining https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2025/01/22/Anger-Alberta-Lifts-Ban-Rockies-Coal-Mining/ CBC: Why the reversal of a decades-old coal policy sparked controversy in Alberta https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/what-on-earth-alberta-coal-policy-1.6338421 A CBC article by Segal (2022) detailing the reversal of a coal policy launched by Peter Lougheed’s government in 1976 emphasized how Albertans value recreation, tourism, and healthy watersheds. Jason Kenney of Alberta’s United Conservative Party’s provincial government lifted this historical moratorium on mining and exploration in the eastern slopes of the Rockies in 2020. A Tyee article by Nikiforuk (2025) revealed how this enabled several Australian coal speculators to begin exploration activities. However,…
Exercise 4
January 25, 2025 By: Riley Greer
Links: https://www.thenarwhal.ca/bc-logging-without-authorization https://www.cbc.ca/radiointeractives/features/the-fallout-of-fairy-creek An issue that has been taking place across the province of BC in recent years has been logging companies harvesting on land they lack authorization to cut on. According to the report I found, over 170 infractions occurred across the province between 2021 and 2024. It is clear to me that the province has not punished these corporations in ways that would curb this kind of reckless behaviour. Many of these large industrial corporations feel they are above the law, they can harvest wherever they feel fit. It is frustrating to see how widespread the issue…
Assignment 4
January 17, 2025 By: Robert (Borealis) Dowe- Douglas
The Article that this small reflection will be focused on is a CBC article based on the issues facing the logging industry. Naturally the media and the expert that they brought in from UNBC mediated the concerns from the perspectives of the Economy and the environment. Is it the perspective that this reflection takes to which the concerns of the environment are always sidelined to those of the economy, or are always looked at as not as much as a concern in comparison to the environment. The Article made a great deal to show the impact of the logging industry…
Documentary Reflection
January 16, 2025 By: Emmanuel Emmanuel. T00681580
Media Item: “The Fight for Old-Growth Forests in British Columbia” (Global News, 2023) This report covers protests against logging old-growth forests on Vancouver Island. Activists use civil disobedience, reminiscent of historical environmental movements, to draw attention to deforestation. Documentaries like “If a Tree Falls” highlight how such activism has historically driven policy changes (Mitman, 2005). While controversial, civil disobedience has historically been effective in pushing governments toward environmental reforms, as seen in the Clayoquot Sound protests of the 1990s. Reflection: Completing these exercises has deepened my understanding of how environmental history shapes current practices and challenges. Researching Vancouver’s ecological past…
EXERCISE 4
December 30, 2024 By: Alicia Mujuru
Current Environmental Issue: Plastic Pollution in Oceans Ocean plastic waste is currently one of the most urgent environmental issues. Because of its disastrous effects on marine ecosystems and the environment at large, this problem has attracted a lot of attention. Mainstream media reports emphasize initiatives to reduce plastic waste, such as the United Nations’ Global Plastic Treaty discussions. My Position and Thoughts Plastic pollution is an example of how contemporary cultures overuse resources without taking the long-term effects on the environment into account. Parallels between ancient environmental exploitation and the current usage of plastics are highlighted by Alfred W….