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
Caribou Closures
March 17, 2026 By: Daphnee Cairns
For this exercise, I looked at recent reporting on winter recreation closures in northeastern British Columbia aimed at protecting threatened caribou populations. When I first heard about these closures, which prohibit snowmobiles from entering large areas, I did not understand how limiting access would directly benefit caribou. However, after reading more, I learned that packed snow trails created by snowmobiles can make it easier for predators like wolves to access caribou habitat, increasing the risk to them. Additionally, snowmobiles and people in general may force the caribou to move to less ideal habitat, where they will have more difficulty…
Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection
March 15, 2026 By: Michelle Anderson
I believe that civil disobedience is an important, sometimes necessary strategy that works best when it is nonviolent, strategically targeted, persistent, and focused on Indigenous leadership and community objectives. A recent regional example is the Fairy Creek blockades and related actions on Vancouver Island, which used persistent civil disobedience to delay logging, generate public scrutiny, and pressure governments toward policy reviews and old‑growth protections (see coverage in The Narwhal: https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-old-growth-update-2024/). Similar to this, the Wet’suwet’en opposition to Coastal GasLink forced a nationwide debate about Indigenous title and pipeline approvals; although legal outcomes are still up for debate, the campaigns changed…
Documentary Reflection
March 9, 2026 By: Kaiagolab T00755749
Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection — Civil Disobedience and Environmental Change Dr. Norman Fennema HIST 3991: Environmental History Kaia Golab T00755749 Sunday, March 8th, 2026 A local-to-BC environmental issue I keep seeing in the news is the ongoing conflict over old-growth logging, where people turn to civil disobedience (road blockades, protest camps, and injunction-related arrests) to try to stop logging in ecologically significant areas. In late 2025, media reports described arrests and renewed blockades connected to old-growth logging disputes on Vancouver Island (Times Colonist, 2025; Nanaimo Bulletin, 2025). These stories bring up a hard question: when formal political processes move slowly—or…
Environmental Issue: Old-Growth Forest Protests in British Columbia
March 2, 2026 By: Sandra
Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection Media source: The Narwhal. “Fairy Creek Old-Growth Logging Protests.” The Narwhal. https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/fairy-creek-blockade/ One major environmental issue in British Columbia today is the ongoing conflict over old-growth forest logging, especially in places like Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island. Despite public concern and scientific warnings about biodiversity loss, logging of ancient forests has continued. The Narwhal’s reporting shows how activists, Indigenous land defenders, and environmental groups have used protests and blockades to stop logging operations and draw attention to the issue. Reading about this made me reflect on where I stand: I believe that protecting old-growth forests is critical…
Fairy Creek Protests
February 23, 2026 By: Clay Roper-Daniels
Dr. Norman Fennema HIST 3991: Environmental History Clay Roper-Daniels Feb. 22, 2026 Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection https://www.cbc.ca/radiointeractives/features/the-fallout-of-fairy-creek I choose the “The Fallout of Fairy Creek” CBC article as my media report because I’ve never heard of the protest before, even though it was one of the biggest in Canada’s history. In 2020 and 2021, the protests in Fairy Creek involved over 1,100 environmental activists who were arrested for stopping logging of old-growth trees in British Columbia. The protestors used civil disobedience strategies like road blockades and tree-sitting to physically prevent tress from being cut down. These forests are largely…