Nature and humans have had a long, complex, reciprocal relationship, making for certain conceptions, processes, and complexities to develop. Those developments have led to three main areas of historical overview and deeper consideration:
1) How Canadians, including Indigenous people, have thought about the natural environment and colonized landscapes;
2) How development of resources and industrialization/urbanization in Canada have had short and long term effects; and
3) How Canada’s conservationists and environmentalists have responded at various junctures to address concerns.
Using an array of interdisciplinary sources emerging in the burgeoning environmental history field, this course ultimately places the dynamic interplay between the environment and people under study to better understand that relationship over time.