Running head: CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 1

Canadian Environmental History

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 2

SECTION A

1. Define the vision behind “City Beautiful” and “Garden City” urban

planning in the early 20th Century

City Beautiful and Garden City

The rapid growth in urban industrial activities led to a rise in environmental problems

popularly known as Industrial sinks (Wynn,2019). The increased factories also attracted a

significant number of workers who sort accommodation in the nearby surroundings, leading to

further deterioration in the environment. These hazards affected the living conditions of the city

dwellers causing health risks. The city dwellers thus began agitating for hygiene and urban

reforms, which prompted the city administration to re-organize the cities through designs that

would beautify the city and increase citizenry pride in the built environment. The garden city

concept was an urban plan ideal that sort to give a company’s workers an ideal working

environment away from the overcrowded and polluted city surroundings.

2. Why did automobiles create revolutionary new sensibilities of the

countryside and, in parks, an appreciation of “windshield wilderness”?

Automobiles provided an opportunity that shaped the experience of nature in parks.

According to Peter (Stevens,2013), the roads in the wilderness were initially created as part of

nature that allowed for viewing of nature through the windshield. Also, in the countryside, the

emergence of automobiles provided a means to explore the naturally beautiful scenes different

from the congested and polluted environments in cities caused by factories and congestion. These
CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 3

new sensibilities also enhanced the transportation of grains and other farm produce over long

distances, thus facilitating external trade.

3. What was the nature and consequences both in cities and outside of

them of suburban sprawl in North American cities beginning in the 1950s?

Urbanization around cities created spatial zoning that divided cities into industrial,

commercial, and residential zones (Dean et al., 2017). The growth of factories also increased

noise pollution, air pollution and created poor living conditions among the workers. The decline

in environmental hygiene influenced the workers to seek accommodation and recreation outside

the cities to areas that were near rivers and lakes. Because of these movements, industrial cities

also decentralized to less populated areas where they could offer better accommodation and

sanitary hygiene to their workers. Still, the workers created suburbs in the annexed lands near the

factories. They established low-class homes which were unserviced and lacked water and

electricity.

Thus, the suburban sprawl caused the development of low-density homes that were

suitable for a single-family dwelling, growth of the automobile sector as workers relied on the

railroad as a means of transportation, undefined edge between urban and rural areas and spiral

growth of the existing urban centers.

4. Explain the characteristic features of urban development moving from

a period of "proto-industrialization," to industrialization and finally to decentralized

manufacturing in the 19th to the early 20th centuries

CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 4

Urban development in the early 19th Century was characterized by growth and expansion

in manufacturing industries. This growth led to the regional development of cities and the

surrounding environments as workers settled around in cheap housing. The increased population

led to a higher demand for better social and economic conditions (Kuhlberg, 2018). As a result,

the government adopted resource-intensive power and food production methods to meet the

surplus demand in food and electricity for external markets. This resulted in the use of input-

intensive farming, heavy mechanization, and land consolidation to utilize the economies of scale.

Also, as the population grew, industries decentralized due to tax incentives around

annexed lands that were cheap, further leading to the emergence of working-class slums. The

slums created poor accessibility and lacked essential services.

CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 5

SECTION B

5. Explain why the “industrialized” fur trade sparked early animal protection

movements, and in the 1950s, an animal rights campaign that culminated in the 1970s and

80s Anti-Fur movement with significant impacts on Canada’s fur trade and Indigenous

people.

The Canadian Landscape stretching from coast to coast with six time zones has a diverse

natural environment consisting of rolling plains, mountain ranges, beautiful rivers, lakes, and hills

that are home to many wild animals. These animals, most being sources of fur were a treasure to

the aboriginal communities in Canada. The growth in fur trading fueled by post-war forces in

consumption and production led to expanded industrialization in fur production technologies.

However, while the market for fur grew exponentially due to increased demand, the concern for

animal welfare also soared, sparking regional protests and measures to curb the cruelty witnessed

in the harvesting of fur (Binnema et al.,2006). These downsides had a significant impact on both

welfares of animals as well as the consumers of animal fur.

First, the protagonists of animal rights were against the cruelty and pain inflicted on

animals during the harvest of fur. The growth of transport systems in railway and steamships, as

well as fur production technologies, increased production to meet the demand for quality fur held

by the natives. This increased demand led to overhunting of fur animals, especially by the white

trappers who hunted extensively using deadfall traps and leg-traps. The methods of harvesting fur

caused pain to the animals, and this was condescending to animal rights activists who were

championing for the humane killing of animals. Thus, they staged national protests, which led to

global attention against the inhumane slaughter of animals.

CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 6

Second, the anti-fur activists were concerned with the growth of the fur fashion industry

and the fear of extinction on some wild species. The global social and economic changes

diversified the use of fur not just as a necessity but as glamour. Fur accessories thus became a

household name, drawing increased demand, especially among political leaders, athletes, and

female aviators. Hence, this demand also caused a rise in the prices of fur for unique varieties,

which further led to the increased hunting of species such as the white fox, wombats, nutria, and

chinchilla. This excessive hunting especially using diesel technology boats, modern aircraft and

sonar risked extinction of these varieties of animals. The activists were thus not just against the

inhumane killing but also the extermination of those animals.

Third, anti-fur protests were objecting to the killing of animals for fur just for the sake of

it. According to them, fur producing animals were emotional beings who deserved to be left

alone. Therefore, it did not matter whether the propagators of the fur trade used humane or

inhumane methods to kill and harvest fur. To the activists, this little interference in animal

welfare was a violation of their fundamental rights. They hence staged protests that branded the

use of fur as disgusting and uncivilized (Binnema et al., 2006)

Thus, while the industrialization of fur trade led to more wealth and exchange of goods

between the natives of Canada and their trade partners, it also stirred international concern for

animal rights and welfare. These interventions by the activists spurred an evolution in hunting

methods from deadfall and leghold straps to the use of modern aircraft and diesel boats. Still, the

mounting pressure by the activists led to the collapse in the value of the Canadian Seal,

negatively impacting the source of income for most natives, especially the Inuits. The natives

resolved to alternative activities such as seasonal wage work, snowmobile and reliance on welfare

programs as a means of survival (Hydroquebec,2020)

CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 7

6. The 1950s is characterized by both “high modernism” and “resourcism”

in government conservation.

Explain and describe how both came to shape parks management, fish and

wildlife conservation, and mega-project hydro dam building in Canada after World

War II until environmentalists in the 1960s began advocating “critical resourcism” as an

alternative.

Canadian Environmental history explores the complex reciprocal relations that developed

between human society and their natural environment. Specifically, it studied the interplay

between changing environmental forces, patterns in settlement, ecology, and social

transformation (Duke,2006). These changes in human-environmental interaction prompted the

government to institute measures that were aimed at optimizing land, marine, and park life

resource-use. Environmentalists, however, argued against the single-view approach to resource

use, citing the hazards caused by over-exploitation of such resources. According to them, human

society could draw multiple unquantifiable values for their physical and social wellbeing, not just

economic benefits obtained from the production and sale of goods.

To begin with, the rapid industrialization in Canadian cities led to increased demand for

hydropower for urban factories and food to feed the bulging populations in the cities.

Environmentalists such as Ehrlich predicted that the poor feeding of the urban population could

further result in the exertion of pressure on all aspects of the natural world. As a result, the

government of Canada adopted measures that aimed at increasing food production and optimizing

land and water resources usage. To meet this surplus demand, the government adopted Input

Intensive Farming (IIF) and set up of large water dams. These methods of Intensive farming

utilized imported fertilizers as well as the use of heavy machinery. The government also
CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 8

constructed large hydro-electric dams on rivers and lakes to generate power to meet the demands

of modernism in the urban settlements. These approaches thus caused an increased production in

hydro-electric power generated from the dams as well as more food supply for both the rural and

urban settlements, yet they depleted the natural environment.

Further, the government strengthened mechanization by promoting industrialized trawlers,

which harvested a lot of fish and other marine animals. The factory fish trawlers also facilitated

onboard processing and massive trawling nets that collected as much as 70,000MT of fish in

1968 (Duke, 2006). While these approaches further supported piggery, chicken, and piggery

production through the use of fish and borne meals, their impact resulted in over-exploitation of

marine and wildlife, destruction of rivers and lakes through blooming of algae. These approaches

were also unstainable as the costs of gasoline rose, prompting the local farmers into merging of

farms to capitalize on the economies of scale and cut down on production costs.

The negative impact of resource use thus prompted environmentalists to agitate for a

broader perspective and multiple applications of nature, not just as resources for economic value

subject to over-exploitation. Through their efforts spurred by televised publicity and public

support, environmentalists thus championed for the preservation of nature, such as forest

diversity, to support wildlife. They also endorsed rivers and lakes conservation for marine life

and other multiple uses such as sports recreation. Accordingly, they argued that nature impacted

not just the economic domains of one's life but also the physical and spiritual aspects. And thus,

the new set of value sort to preserve wild, marine and park life by curbing the impact of human

activities such as intensive farming, mechanized trawler fishing, use of fertilizers, trapping, and

hunting
CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 9

References

Binnema, Ted & Niemi-Bohun, Melanie. (2006). 'Let the Line be Drawn Now': Wilderness,

Conservation, and the Exclusion of Aboriginal People from Banff National Park in

Canada. Environmental History - ENVIRON HIST. 11. 724-750.

10.1093/envhis/11.4.724.

Social Impacts. Hydroquebec.com. (2020). Retrieved 25 April 2020, from

http://www.hydroquebec.com/hydloandfriends/publications/the-la-grande-hydroelectric-

complex/WWW_SOCIAL/html_institutions/CTA.html.

History, C. (2020). Canadian Environmental History. CSPI. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from

https://www.canadianscholars.ca/subjects/history/books/canadian-environmental-history.

Darcy Ingram History|Society|Environment. (2020). Retrieved 25 April 2020, from

https://www.darcyingram.com/

Stevens, Peter. (2013). "Roughing it in Comfort": Family Cottaging and Consumer Culture in

Postwar Ontario. The Canadian Historical Review. 94. 234-262. 10.3138/chr.600.

(2020). Retrieved 25 April 2020, from

https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/27806/1/9780774890373_Excerpt.pdf

Kuhlberg, M. (2009). Awful Splendour: A Fire History of Canada. The Canadian Historical

Review, 90(2), 371-373.