Kheraj, Sean. “Episode 12: Industrialization in Subarctic Environments.” Nature’s Past Podcast, 19 January 2010. MP3, 24:30. http://niche-canada.org/2010/01/19/natures-past-episode-12-industrialization-in-subarctic-environments/.
Between 1920 and 1960, Canada’s northwest subarctic region experienced late-stage rapid industrialization along its large lakes. These included Lake Winnipeg, Lake Athabasca, Great Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake. Powered by high-energy fossil fuels, the natural resources of the northwest were integrated into international commodity markets and distributed throughout the world. Whitefish from the large lakes found their way onto dinner plates in New York while uranium from Canada’s northwest fueled the world’s most destructive weapons: atomic bombs. Professor Liza Piper presents her book The Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada from UBC Press. The book explores a region unfamiliar to most Canadians and how that space was transformed through industrial processes in the twentieth century. Rather than finding industrial technologies dominating the landscape of the northwest, Piper found that humans used those technologies to assimilate nature.
Industrialization in Subarctic Environments (22.43 MB)
Music credits: “R&R&R” by Pitx, “Hapbirmai” by Pitx
Nature’s Past podcasts are posted on a monthly basis on the website of the Network in Canadian History & Environment / Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l’environnement (NiCHE). The podcasts contain discussion about the environmental history community and research in Canada. They are hosted by Sean Kheraj, an assistant professor in the Department of History at York University in Toronto, Canada.
