Exercise #3: Connecting Past and Present
May 8, 2026 By: Yanran Lu
The Conservation Movement
Article: “Canada Falls Short of 2025 Conservation Target,” The Narwhal, January 22, 2026.
https://thenarwhal.ca/canada-misses-2025-conservation-target/
Canada promised to protect 25% of its land and water by 2025. It didn’t come close. By December 2024, only 13.8% had actually been conserved. That felt really familiar to me. It’s the same debate we’ve been reading about all unit: how do you use natural resources for economic growth while still protecting them?
Pinchot thought science could help us do both. But this article shows that tension was never really resolved. Canada now wants to mine lithium and copper for electric car batteries and solar panels. It sounds green. But about 35% of those mineral deposits sit on lands that are also critical for biodiversity. Even clean energy creates the same conflict Pinchot faced. Do we dig up the land, or leave it alone?
The part about Indigenous communities also stood out. They’ve submitted over 100 conservation proposals. Most are stuck without stable funding. Gillis and Roach would not be surprised. Their argument is that good conservation ideas fail because governments don’t follow through with long-term support. This is a clear example of that.
Urbanization
Article: Omstead, Jordan. “How ‘Re-Wilding’ Can Make Canada’s Cityscapes More Climate Resilient and Bee Friendly.” The Canadian Press, April 22, 2026.
People in Toronto are rewilding their city. They’re planting native flowers and plants in laneways, churchyards, and vacant lots. These small patches of habitat support bees and butterflies. They also help cool the city and absorb stormwater.
This connects well to Steinberg’s “organic city” idea. Melosi makes a similar point. Both argue that cities aren’t separate from nature. Toronto’s rewilding movement shows that in action. The city is part of ecology, not apart from it.
It also reminded me of Cronon’s argument in “The Trouble with Wilderness.” He says we’ve been trained to think real nature only exists in faraway, untouched places. That idea blinds us to the nature right in front of us. The rewilding movement pushes back on that. A laneway or an empty lot matters ecologically too. Urban nature is the nature most people actually live with.