A research snapshot of five Canadian New Scholars, presented in their own words
Foreword by Alan MacEachern
Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s Forty. Forty sneaks up on you, trust me. One moment you’re an impassioned, fearless youth, the next you’re defining yourself by words like “experienced”. You’ve hit the exemplary stage of life. As far as I can tell, the trick is accepting the perks of middle age – above all, the presumption of maturity – while striving to retain the attributes of youth. Do not go gentle into that mid-afternoon.
This April 22, Earth Day turns forty. It has evolved from a rather peripheral, presumably one-off event to an annual focal point for environmental consciousness, a fixed part of our calendar. And yet, in terms of that thoroughly modern metric, it registers far fewer Google hits than St. Patrick’s or Valentine’s Day. Much more importantly, the environmental awareness that it seeks to foster is still scarce, the environmental problems that it seeks to publicize still abundant. The need for impassioned maturity is greater than ever.
In honour of Earth Day’s 40th birthday, NiCHE asked five young scholars working on some facet of nature and the Canadian past to talk about their research. What have you found, and what do you want people to learn? Does environmental thinking inform your work? Why should Canadians concerned about the environment be looking backward as well as forward? Their answers speak to the interesting and important nature of Canadian environmental research today.
- Living on the Edge by Merle Massie (U Sask).
- The Lessons from Asbestos, Quebec by Jessica Van Horssen (UWO).
- Tracing the Public Transit-Environment Connection in Toronto’s Automobile Age by Jason Young (York U)
- Environmental Change in the North: Toward Different Stories by Emilie Cameron (Queens - formerly)
- Enlisting Historical Knowledge for BC’s Forests by David Brownstein (UBC)
