topic:"Conservation" found 2 records - Research Collections

Abstract: The epic story of the buffalo in America, from prehistoric times to today--a moving and beautifully illustrated work of natural history. The American buffalo--our nation's official mammal-is an improbable, shaggy beast that has found itself at the center of many of our most mythic and sometimes heartbreaking tales. The largest land animals in the Western Hemisphere, they are survivors of a mass extinction that erased ancient species that were even larger. For nearly 10,000 years, they evolved alongside Native people who weaved them into every aspect of daily life; relied on them for food, clothing, and shelter; and revered them as equals. Newcomers to the continent found the buffalo fascinating at first, but in time they came to consider them a hindrance to a young nation's expansion. And in the space of only a decade they were slaughtered by the millions for their hides, with their carcasses left to rot on the prairies. Then, teetering on the brink of disappearing from the face of the earth, they would be rescued by a motley collection of Americans, each of them driven by different--and sometimes competing--impulses. This is the rich and complicated story of a young republic's heedless rush to conquer a continent, but also of the dawn of the conservation era--a story of America at its very best and worst -- Provided by publisher.

Contents: Part 1: The Trail to Extinction -- The Buffalo and the People -- Strangers -- Omen in the Skies -- The Iron Horse -- Kills Tomorrow -- Part 2: Back From the Brink -- A Death Wind for My People -- Just in the Nick of Time -- Changes of Heart -- Ghosts -- The Last Refuge -- Blood Memory -- Big Medicine.

Notes: Dayton Duncan ; based on a documentary film by Ken Burns ; written by Dayton Duncan ; with an introduction by Ken Burns ; picture research by Emily Mosher and Susan Shumaker ; design by Maggie Hinders.; Whyte Museum archival collections utilized.

ISBN: 9780593537343

Accession Number: P2023.25

Call Number: 08 D91b

Collection: Archives Library

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.

Organizing nature : turning Canada's ecosystems into resources

https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/catalogue26201

Medium: Library - Book (including soft-cover and pamphlets)

Published Date: 2023

Author: Biro, Andrew and Cohen, Alice

Publisher: Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press

Call Number: 04 B53o

Author: Biro, Andrew and Cohen, Alice

Publisher: Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press

Published Date: 2023

Physical Description: xviii, 264 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Medium: Library - Book (including soft-cover and pamphlets)

Subjects: Environment; Environmental conservation; Environmentalism; Ecology; Mining; Oil; Fishing

Abstract: Organizing Nature explores how the environment is organized in Canada's resource-dependent economy. The book examines how particular ecosystem components come to be understood as natural resources and how these resources in turn are used to organize life in Canada. In tracing transitions from "ecosystem component" to "resource," this book weaves together the roles that commodification, Indigenous dispossession, and especially a false nature-society binary play in facilitating the conceptual and material construction of resources. Alice Cohen and Andrew Biro present an alternative to this false nature-society binary: one that sees Canadians and their environments in a constant process of making and remaking each other. Through a series of case studies focused on specific resources--fish, forests, carbon, water, land, and life--the book explores six channels through which this remaking occurs: governments, communities, built environments, culture and ideas, economies, and bodies and identities. Ultimately, Organizing Nature encourages readers to think critically about what is at stake when Canadians (re)produce myths about the false separation between Canadian peoples and their environments."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents: 1. Introduction -- 1.1 From How to Why -- 1.2 From Ecosystem Components to Resources -- 1.3 Politics beyond Policy -- 1.4 Resourcification through Six Channels -- 1.5 Book Outline and Common Themes -- 2. Channels: From Ecosystem Components to Resources -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Governments -- 2.3 Communities -- 2.4 Built Environments -- 2.5 Culture and Ideas -- 2.6 Economies -- 2.7 Bodies and Identities -- 2.8 Summary and Conclusions -- 3. From Fish to Fisheries -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Salmon in British Columbia -- 3.3 Cod in Newfoundland and Labrador -- 3.4 Channels in Action: Organizing Fisheries -- 3.5 Summary and Conclusions -- 4. From Forests to Timber -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Growth of Timber: Saint John, New Brunswick -- 4.3 Trees, Not Timber: Port Renfrew, British Columbia, and Darkwoods -- 4.4 Channels in Action: Organizing Forests -- 4.5 Summary and Conclusions -- 5. From Carbon to Energy -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Coal in Nova Scotia -- 5.3 Oil and Bitumen in Alberta -- 5.4 Natural Gas and Fracking -- 5.5 Channels in Action: Organizing Carbon -- 5.6 Summary and Conclusions -- 6. From H2O to Water -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Diversions and Damming -- 6.2.1 Diversion -- 6.2.2 Damming -- 6.3 Drinking Water -- 6.3.1 Vancouver, 2006 -- 6.3.2 Walkerton, Ontario, 2000 -- 6.3.3 Asubpeechoseewagong Netum Anishinabek-Grassy Narrows, Ontario, 1962-? -- 6.3.4 Drinking Water: Summary -- 6.4 Channels in Action: Organizing Water -- 6.5 Summary and Conclusions -- 7. From Land to Property -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Soil -- 7.3 Symbol -- 7.4 Space -- 7.5 Channels in Action: Organizing Land -- 7.6 Summary and Conclusions -- 8. From Bodies to Life -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Wild(?)life: Non-Human Animals -- 8.2.1 Pets and Other Companion Species -- 8.2.2 Fish and Game: Wildness as Economic Resource -- 8.2.3 Parks as Spaces for Wildlife -- 8.3 Human Resources -- 8.3.1 Blood and Plasma -- 8.3.2 Surrogacy -- 8.4 The Channels in Action: Organizing Life -- 8.5 Summary and Conclusions -- 9. Resources: Organized and Organizers -- 9.1 Channels in Action -- 9.2 Common Themes -- 9.2.1 Commodification -- 9.2.2 Indigenous Dispossession -- 9.2.3 Artificial Nature-Society Binary -- 9.3 Why Does 'Resource Thinking' Matter? -- 9.3.1 Winning and Losing -- 9.3.2 Why Is It Important to Think beyond Policy?

ISBN: 9781487594848

Accession Number: P2023.22

Call Number: 04 B53o

Collection: Archives Library

This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and potentially offensive content. Read more.