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
March 29, 2025 By: Agambir Bandesha
A recent mainstream media report from The Nation illustrates how the wildfires could reshape the climate movement in California. As the city of Los Angeles debates how it can best address the impacts of increasingly devastating natural disasters, organizers hope to make the most of the moment. The Eaton Fires swept through entire neighborhoods and shifted community understanding of the climate crisis. Both the Eaton and Palisades fires rank among the five most destructive in the state’s history, having destroyed over 12,000 structures and displacing hundreds of families. Civil disobedience has played an important role in the history of…
Indigenous community votes down proposed nuclear waste bunker near Lake Huron
March 28, 2025 By: Alyx Mcintosh
The municipality of South Bruce was one of two regions in consideration to construct a nuclear waste storage facility. Site selection was based on geologic composition, through deep geological repository surveys, the efficiency and safety waste transportation, as well as community acceptance. The proposal was met with both acceptance and opposition. The results of the vote revealed almost a 50/50 split, with only 1.2% more citizens in favour of the project. Support for the facility was based on the economical benefits the facility would bring, including more jobs and subsidies. People who opposed had concerns about decreases to farmland value,…
Documentary Reflection: Open Net Fish Farms
March 21, 2025 By: Jennifer R. Paulsen
As the Global News video linked below explains, the federal government has pulled the plug on BC’s open net fish farms. This news was greeted with a huge sigh of relief by myself and many others who have been concerned by the devastating impact of open net fish farms on wild salmon (and other fish such as herrings) populations. Despite the well documented negative ecological impacts of this industry, however, there is support for the industry from those who stand to benefit economically from the continued practice of open net fish farming. The arguments for open net fish farming…
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…