The Great Green North

Jack McGinnis and the Blue Box

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:19:00 +0000

One of the many interesting people I've interviewed while researching my dissertation is Jack McGinnis. Presently with Durham Sustain Ability, he's been involved with a number of influential environmental groups, including the Is Five Foundation and the Recycling Council of Ontario, both of which he founded, and Resource Integration Services Ltd., which he co-founded. All of these groups factor into the chapter I am currently working on about the recycling movement in Toronto. If you head over to YouTube there's an interesting video of Jack talking about the origins of the Blue Box. It's well worth the four and a half minutes, and you can find it here.

"Whose Community Is It Anyways? A Prince Edward Islander's View of Banff"

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:44:00 +0000

In October I participated in an environmental history workshop in Banff. The event was put together by the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta, and my participation was funded by the folks at NiCHE. I wrote a short article based on my experience, titled "Whose Community Is It Anyways? A Prince Edward Islander's View of Banff," and it is now available here. While not particularly about the environmental movement, I do believe that there are some important dynamics at play in Banff that need to be addressed.

You can check out NiCHE's original call for applicants here.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Drs. Liza Piper and Zac Robinson for leading this event. It was a real eye-opener.

Donald Chant and the CBC Digital Archives

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:30:00 +0000

A while back I wrote a post highlighting some of Dr. Donald Chant's contributions to the environmental movement in Canada. (You can read it here.) In 1972 Dr. Chant was interviewed on Distinguished Canadians, a program on CBC television. If you're interested in hearing what a cutting-edge environmentalist had to say back when the movement was still developing, you won't find a better source than this. Check it out here, care of the folks at the CBC Digital Archives.

Population Control Redux?

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Population control was once a vital component of the environmental movement. The logic was straightforward and hard to refute - fewer people would result in less stress to the Earth's fragile ecosystems. This position was championed by Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb (1968) and co-founder of Zero Population Growth (ZPG). In the late-1960s and early 1970s most environmental organizations supported policies that would limit population growth, particularly in the form of financial incentives for having two or less children. In time the concept lost popularity, in large part due to the negative image it developed. No matter how hard its advocates tried, they couldn't shake the perception that it was an elitist, xenophobic, and racist concept. The fact that ZPG changed its name to Population Connection in 2002 shows how unpopular this idea had become.

(You can read more about the rise and fall of population control advocacy in Roy Howard Beck and Leon J. Kolankiewicz's "The Environmental Movement's Retreat from Advocating U.S. Population Stabilization (1970-1998): A First Draft of History," which appeared in the Journal of Policy History back in 2000.)

In recent times it seems that few are willing to broach this topic. Radio personality/podcaster Adam Carolla occasionally addresses the idea in his rants (for an example, click here), but that's about it. However, this month has seen the concept addressed in editorials appearing in two of Canada's most prominent newspapers. The first, "The inconvenient truth? Overpopulation," was written by Diane Francis and appeared in the Financial Post on 7 December 2009. In it, Francis argues that "The 'inconvenient truth' overhanging the UN's Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world." She goes on to state that "A planetary law, such as China's one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently of one million births every four days." Anything short of this, she argues, would lead inevitably to the destruction of all life on Earth. Sounds like a return to the golden age of Ehrlich and ZPG, doesn't it?

Eleven days later, in a Globe and Mail op-ed called "Planetary birth control gone mad," Lysiane Gagnon called Francis's support of a global one-child policy "odious." Noting that China's much-touted adoption of this policy has turned it into a rapidly aging society, Gagnon points out the deleterious effect it has had on the "social and cultural fabric of the country." Once a land renowned for its strong sense of family, "it has become a country of single, often obese and egocentric children, who've grown up without siblings and nephews and who have been idolized by two sets of siblings and nephews and who have been idolized by two sets of grandparents frustrated in their desire for grandchildren." Clearly, Gagnon rejects the idea of following China's lead.

This all leads me to wonder whether debate concerning population control is about to make a comeback, or if this is merely an aberration. I suspect that the former is more likely, as people continue to scramble for solutions to our ongoing degradation of the environment.

---
In case you missed it: Diane Francis appeared on Fox News to discuss her idea on 11 December 2009. You can watch it here.

The small party project

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:47:00 +0000

I recently received word that NiCHE has approved my project proposal to create an online exhibit documenting the small party. This group contested the 1980 federal election on an anti-nuclear platform, and is seen as the point of origin for the Green Party of Canada. I hope to have the project online early in the new year.

If you have any information on this group, please do not hesitate to send me an email.

You can find out about more projects that are sponsored by NiCHE here.

Op-ed about Copenhagen

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:07:00 +0000

Jeremy Marks and I had an op-ed in the London Free Press yesterday (12 December 2009). In it we discuss Copenhagen and the opportunity that the climate talks provide Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Click on the article above and it will expand, making it easier to read.

A special thanks to James Reaney at the Free Press for his support.

"Bring Prince Edward Island back to the land" opinion piece

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

An opinion piece of mine appears in today's edition of the Charlottetown-based Guardian newspaper. In it I address Prince Edward Island's ever-growing concern of rural depopulation and suggest one possible solution. My idea is based upon my research on the 1970s back-to-the-land movement on the Island. You can read it by clicking here.

the Amchitka concert

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:54:00 +0000

The story of Greenpeace's maiden voyage to Amchitka has been told many times. What a lot of people don't realize is that it was funded, in part, by a concert featuring Phil Ochs, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor. That concert, held 16 October 1970, is now available from Greenpeace here.

For more information about the concert, check out this recent newspaper story.

Pollution Probe and the Phosphate Problem

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:59:00 +0000

One of the early concerns of Canadian environmentalists was the high level of phosphates in laundry detergents. This, of course, led to massive algal blooms in the Great Lakes. While the International Joint Commission recommended in 1965 that the governments of Canada and the United States should resolve the issue immediately, in the ensuing four years little had changed. As such, Pollution Probe took it upon itself to break the deadlock. During the 1969 Christmas holiday a team of Probe volunteers analyzed the phosphate content of a wide range of laundry detergents. On 8 February 1970 Brian Kelly and Peter Middleton appeared on the popular CBC television program, Weekend, to announce their findings. (Watch it here.) The plan was to arm consumers with the information they needed to make an eco-friendly decision at the marketplace. The list appeared in magazines, newspapers, and even on store shelves throughout the country.

According to Jennifer Read, Probe "helped to concentrate public concern and kept the issue before the government while the parliamentary committee considered the legislation." Consumer pressure, meanwhile, led the manufacturers to lower the phosphate content of their products.

Premier Angus MacLean on the Environment

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:21:00 +0000

"I believe that civilizations decay when ... people lose sight of the fact that we humans are merely part of the intricate web of life, and that if we damage that web, we do so at our own peril."

-- J. Angus MacLean

Angus MacLean was one of Prince Edward Island's most successful politicians. Serving in the House of Commons from 1951-1976, including a six year term as Diefenbaker's Minister of Fisheries, he later served as premier from 1979-1981. A Progressive Conservative, he was well known for his love of the environment. Upon retiring from politics in 1982 he focused on raising sheep and farming blueberries. As he explains in his memoirs, "I still hoped to be of service to my home province and perhaps to the world outside it, but I also planned to devote much of my time to husbanding the land my ancestors had hacked out of the wilderness. My modest goal was to enhance one tiny corner of the world." (249)

I wrote my undergraduate honours paper at the University of Prince Edward Island on MacLean's provinical election campaigns. Currently I'm working on a paper with Jeremy Marks exploring Angus MacLean, conservative politics, and environmentalism. I'll post an update when that paper is available.

A Green Party breakthrough in the offing?

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:19:00 +0000

One of the interesting storylines in the as-of-yet unannounced forthcoming federal election (I know, that's a mouthful) will be whether the Green Party of Canada can send its first candidate to the House of Commons. It is generally assumed that the candidate with the greatest chance of winning is Elizabeth May, given her accomplished background and national profile. There's a somewhat smarmy article in today's National Post that assesses May's chances in the Vancouver Island riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. Journalist Dan Arnold, a self-professed "active Liberal," devotes much of the article to mocking the Green Party before finally admitting that May's decision to contest this riding "was actually a fairly solid choice." Hardly a ringing endorsement, but one doesn't expect much better from the Post.

You can read the article here.

(Edit: Turns out that Arnold jumped the gun. According to this Canwest interview with May, published August 12, she has not yet decided where she will run in the next election. However, she claims to be "strongly leaning" towards the Saanich-Gulf Islands option. You can read a much more positive assessment of May's chances in this riding at Camille Labchuk's intriguing blog, found here.)

Lawrence Solomon on the death of the nuclear industry

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Lawrence Solomon of Energy Probe had an interesting piece in this weekend's edition of the National Post about the decline of the nuclear industry. You can read it here. You can also read an earlier post of mine about Solomon, Energy Probe, and nuclear power here.

Anniversaries in the Movement

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:29:00 +0000

This is a big year for environmentalist organizations across Canada. As mentioned previously in this blog, it marks the fortieth anniversary of Toronto's Pollution Probe and the British Columbia-based Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC). Of course, that's not all. Also celebrating their fortieth anniversaries in 2009 are the Conservation Council of New Brunswick -- which I understand is the oldest environmentalist organization in the Maritimes -- and the Conserver Society of Hamilton & District, which was originally known as Clear Hamilton of Pollution (CHOP). I wouldn't be surprised if there are other groups celebrating their fortieth anniversary in 2009 ... and if so I hope somebody sends me an email about it.

I wonder how many of these organizations have taken the time to write down their histories. I suspect very few. That said, there's no time like an anniversary to undertake such a project.

"it's no longer a movie": Three Mile Island, The China Syndrome, and Anti-Nuclear Activism in Canada

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:59:00 +0000

On March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania experienced a partial core meltdown. Just twelve days earlier The China Syndrome, a Hollywood blockbuster starring Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas, made its theatrical debut. Suddenly, the safety of nuclear energy was at the forefront of public debate.

Energy Probe, a Toronto-based organization, had long expressed concerns about the economic and environmental shortcomings of nuclear energy. As it turns out, Lawrence Solomon had just finished an anti-nuclear pamphlet the morning of the Three Mile Island accident. Upon hearing the breaking news, he quickly changed the headline to read "it's no longer a movie: it just happened in Pennsylvania (and it could happen here)". After churning off a batch on the Energy Probe Gestetner machine, staff visited nearby theatres and handed out the copies to unsuspecting moviegoers. As Solomon explained to me in an interview, "The China Syndrome ended up being a perfect fundraising opportunity for us." Funding would take on particular importance the following year, as the organization severed its relationship with the Pollution Probe Foundation and struck out on its own.

"The Air of Death and the Origins of the Environmental Movement in Canada" audio available

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:41:00 +0000

Back in May I presented a paper at the annual gathering of the Canadian Historical Association. The paper, titled "The Air of Death and the Origins of the Environmental Movement in Canada", was recorded and the audio can be heard here.

Thanks to the folks over at NiCHE for making this available.

C.O.P.E. and the failure to catch on ...

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:17:00 +0000

Back in 1970 a number of Toronto's community organizations decided to band together and join the fight against pollution. They called themselves the Council Organized to Protect the Environment, or C.O.P.E. This ad, created by the renowned Vickers & Benson agency, ran in The Telegram on 10 October. It seemed that the group had a promising future ahead, but in short order it faded into obscurity. Could it be that Toronto only had room for one successful environmentalist organization, and that role was already occupied by Pollution Probe?

Click on the photo for a detailed view.

More "Back to the Island" press coverage

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:13:00 +0000

There's a nice story in Charlottetown's Guardian newspaper last week about the "Back to the Island" project Alan MacEachern and I worked on. In this story Mary MacKay looks at the stories of a few of the back to the landers that I interviewed. You can read the story here.

Call for Papers: "Talking Green: Oral History and the Environment"

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:46:00 +0000

Below is a call for papers for a project I'll be guest editing with Alan MacEachern.

Oral History Forum d’histoire orale invites submissions for a special 2010 issue on “Talking Green: Oral History and the Environment.” Over the last several decades, environmental history has bloomed. How have oral historians engaged with this new field? What stories about nature, environmental activism, ecological disaster and natural catastrophe, green living, conservation, climate change, etc. have oral historians collected and interpreted? This special issue will feature scholarly articles as well as op-ed pieces, reports on works-in-progress, teaching resources, discussions, and reviews. Oral History Forum d’histoire orale is a peer-reviewed online journal of the Canadian Oral History Association, welcoming submissions from around the globe that present and discuss oral history research.

This special issue will be guest edited by Ryan O’Connor and Alan MacEachern of the University of Western Ontario. Proposals of maximum 500 words should be sent to roconno3@uwo.ca by 1 June 2009. Final papers are to be submitted by 1 November 2009. This special issue will be opened online in 2010.

Oral History Forum d’histoire orale is co-edited by Alexander Freund, Nolan Reilly, and Kristina Llewellyn. It is a multimedia journal that utilizes image, audio, and video files, as well as PDF-format files of articles and other contributions. Its editors encourage the inclusion of audio and video excerpts and high-quality photographs to accompany the articles. For more information about the journal, please visit http://journal.canoha.ca or contact forum@uwinnipeg.ca.

Looking for Canadians involved in the first Earth Day!

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:06:00 +0000

I've been researching the ways Canadians celebrated the first Earth Day back in 1970. Without any large governing body the event was marked by numerous, small-scale activities across the country. I've uncovered some interesting stories in interviews, newspapers, and at the archives, but I'd like more. So, if you (or somebody you know) were involved in activities associated with the first Earth Day here in Canada I would love to hear from you. Contact me at thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com

Thanks!

Interview with CBC Radio

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Last Wednesday I spoke with Karen Mair, host of CBC Prince Edward Island's "Island Morning." We discussed the "Back to the Island" project. You can hear the interview in Real Audio format here.

Tracing the roots of the environmental movement in Canada

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:22:00 +0000

One of the major challenges facing a historian is tracing the origins of an event. I've assigned myself the task of determining when and why the environmental movement started in Toronto. There are a lot of ways to look at this. In my work I differentiate between the development of an "environmental ethos" and the "environmental movement." For example, Jennifer Read argues in "'Let us heed the voice of youth': Laundry Detergents, Phosphates and the Emergence of the Environmental Movement in Ontario" that environmental values were in place in Ontario by the mid-1960s. That's wonderful, but without a concerted effort to effect change we don't have much of a movement.

I begin my study by examining The Air of Death, a controversial CBC documentary that was broadcast in October 1968. It caused such a sensation that it became the subject of two high profile investigations. Industry's efforts to discredit the film, producer Larry Gosnell, host Stanley Burke (pictured above), and the CBC itself ultimately inspired a reaction among Torontonians, and resulted in the formation of the city's initial environmentalist organizations. It is here, I argue, that we see the birth of the movement.

I recently completed revising the latest draft of my chapter on The Air of Death. I'll be presenting this at the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, scheduled to occur in Ottawa this coming May. If you happen to be around I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

"Back to the Island" website

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:44:00 +0000

The website for "Back to the Island: The Back-to-the-Land Movement on PEI" is now up and running. It features interviews I conducted in 2008 with members of Prince Edward Island's back-to-the-land community. It also includes a narrative written by Alan MacEachern and some fantastic photos from George Zimbel. Go take a gander, and if you happen to be a Prince Edward Island back-to-the-lander, past or present, with stories you'd like to share feel free to contact us here.

Funeral for the Don River

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:10:00 +0000

One of Pollution Probe's first high profile events was the Funeral for the Don. Held on Sunday, November 16, 1969, it was an act of guerilla theatre designed to attract attention to the fact that the once majestic Don River had become an industrial waste sink. Beginning with a funeral procession from Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto, an estimated two hundred mourners headed to the Prince Edward Viaduct. Once there, a forty minute ceremony was held. Meredith Ware, assuming the role of Elizabeth Simcoe, read a journal entry detailing the river's past grandeur, while Tony Barrett, portraying fictional industrialist Sir Simon Greed, was pied in the face for his transgressions. The theatrical nature of this event garnered significant media attention. As Ware infomed me during a recent interview: "I was on the cover of newspapers across the country. I have an aunt in Vancouver and she phoned my dad and said 'Meredith's on the cover of the Vancouver Sun!'"

The poster seen above was used to promote the event. If you left click on the poster it will enlarge. As you can see it provides a map of the funeral route, as well as a brief description of the rationale behind it.

The Environmental Movement in Quebec

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Although my PhD research focuses rather narrowly on environmentalism in Toronto, I am more broadly interested is how the movement came together across Canada. While the literature on this subject is still in its infancy, an early and indispensable study exploring the Quebec story is Jane Barr's "The Origins and Emergence of Quebec's Environmental Movement: 1970-1985." Completed in 1995, this MA thesis argues that "Unlike its parallel in the United States, Quebec's movement had few historical or ideological links with efforts to preserve wilderness and it developed social - rather than nature - protection principles." An interesting argument that is worth a perusal if you're interested in the subject.

Paper at the forthcoming World Congress of Environmental History 2009

thegreatgreennorth@gmail.com (Ryan) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:17:00 +0000

I recently received news that my paper, "Ideology and the Environmental Movement in Canada: An Analysis of Pollution Probe, 1969-1979", has been accepted for presentation at the World Congress of Environmental History to be held this coming August in Copenhagen, Denmark. I have also received one of seventeen travel grants provided by NiCHE for Canadian scholars attending this event. I notice that one of the other presenters, Jon Clapperton of the University of Saskatchewan, will be presenting on "Environmental Colonialism?: Environmental Protest and Logging in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia." You can find a complete listing of the seventeen presenters receiving travel grants from NiCHE here.

I've included a copy of my paper abstract below. If you have any comments, please don't hesitate to pass them along.

Ideology and the Environmental Movement in Canada:
An Analysis of Pollution Probe, 1969-1979

Ryan O’Connor
The University of Western Ontario

The Canadian environmental movement is commonly associated with the confrontational and anti-corporate tactics of Greenpeace. Despite Greenpeace’s international renown, its brand of environmentalism does not reflect the broader movement within Canada. In an effort to expand our understanding of the ideological origins of the environmental movement in Canada, this paper will explore the activities of the country’s most influential organization, the Toronto-based Pollution Probe.

Founded in 1969 by students and faculty at the University of Toronto, Pollution Probe rose to prominence with a series of impressive accomplishments. Canada’s oldest and most successful environmentalist organization, Pollution Probe also assumed an early leadership position insofar that it helped develop and support similar groups across the country. While Canadian historians typically depict environmentalism as a left-wing movement, the Pollution Probe example demonstrates that the movement was built on a wide spectrum of ideologies. While Pollution Probe’s leadership maintained a centrist approach, internal factions maintained highly divergent ideological views. Most notable were the conflicting views of the teams responsible for urban and energy issues. The urban team focused on issues affecting the welfare of inner-city residents, such as tenants’ rights and the opposition of development plans that negatively affected existing neighborhoods. Consisting of community-minded activists, the urban team maintained a solidly leftist belief that the welfare of people must prevail above market forces. This contrasted sharply with the team responsible for energy issues, which believed a strict adherence to free market principles was the only way to resolve the mounting environmental crisis. This tension ultimately resulted in the energy team splitting off to form a separate entity.

In addition to reassessing outdated and overly simplistic notions regarding the ideological underpinnings of Canada’s environmental movement, this paper provides insight into the activities of Pollution Probe, the organization most closely associated with many of the country’s early environmental victories. As such, this will enable a more accurate understanding of environmentalism in Canada.