Where the Waters Divide: First Nations,Tainted Water and Environmental Justice in Canada

Abstract

We have survived Canada's assault on our identity and our rights … Our survival is a testament to our determination and will to survive as a people. We are prepared to participate in Canada's future—but only on the terms that we believe to be our rightful heritage.

Wallace Labillois, Council of Elders, Kingsclear, New Brunswick

This paper argues for a strengthening of the theoretical relationship between neo-liberalism and environmental justice. Empirical research involving First Nations communities in southwestern Ontario suggests that neo-liberal reforms introduced in the mid-1990s were particularly discriminatory against Canada's indigenous peoples, serving to exacerbate historical disparities in health, environment pollution, and well-being. In particular, under neo-liberal reform in Ontario, recognition of environmental injustices has become much more difficult for First Nations communities. Furthermore, this ‘new’ form of environmental governance has broadly reduced legitimate opportunities for First Nations to participate in environmental governance that affects their health and welfare. In short, this research supports a widening of the definition of environmental justice advocated by David Schlosberg and others (Environmental Politics, 13(3) (2004), pp. 517–540; Agyeman, Bullard and Evans 2003 Agyeman, J., Bullard, R. D. and Evans, B. 2003a. “Joined-up thinking: bringing together sustainability, environmental justice and equity”. In Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World, Edited by: Agyeman, J., Bullard, R. D. and Evans, B. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.  [Google Scholar]; Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Research Advisory committee 1997; Di Chiro 1998 Di Chiro, Giovanna. 1998. “Environmental Justice from the Grassroots: Reflections on History, Gender and Expertise”. In The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States, Edited by: Faber, D. NY: Guilford.  [Google Scholar]) if we are to understand the subtle, complex and multiple ways that this new form of environmental governance is particularly harmful to marginalized groups, such as First Nations in Canada.     

New national parks for Scotland: coalitions in conflict over the allocation of planning powers in the Cairngorms

The introduction of national parks in areas where existing authorities have traditionally been responsible for developing policies, preparing plans and making decisions on development proposals, can be a threat to longstanding interests. This paper explores this problem by examining the struggle for control of planning in one of Scotland's first national parks, the Cairngorms. Recent research (McCarthy et al., 2002 McCarthy J Lloyd G Illsley B (2002) National parks in Scotland: balancing environment and economy Research briefing European Planning Studies 10 (5) pp. 665–670 [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]) has established the policy context for this investigation. Informed by research focusing on the consultation process which led to the establishment of the national park, this paper analyzes how alternative approaches to the allocation of planning powers were captured in competing storylines, around which polarized coalitions of interest formed. Opening such insights into the considerations that shape institutional design—a combination of contested problem framing and straightforward political struggles over the locus of regulatory power—starkly reveals the challenges to the new park authority as it seeks to establish consensus between conflicting interests.     

Hybrid economy research in remote Indigenous Australia: seeing and supporting the customary in community food economies

Hybrid economy research in remote Indigenous Australia is what Gibson-Graham [2008. Diverse economies: performative practices for “other worlds”. Progress in Human Geography, 32 (5), 613–632] describe as a performative ontological project. This research seeks to address the marginalisation of customary economic activities that contribute to the well-being of Indigenous Australians. It aims to make the customary sector more real, more credible and more viable as an object of policy and activism, challenging the dual dominance of the state and the market as the focus of development (cf. Gibson-Graham 2008 Gibson-Graham, J. K. 2008. Diverse economies: performative practices for “other worlds”. Progress in Human Geography, 32(5), 613–632. doi: 10.1177/0309132508090821[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This paper outlines how hybrid economy research has sought to broaden views of the economic landscape in remote Indigenous Australia amid the withdrawal of key policy and programmatic support by the Australian Government. This research draws on Canadian national surveys of Indigenous peoples, harvest studies and programmatic support for customary harvest – hunting, fishing and gathering of bush foods – to identify ways in which the Australian Government might better see and support Indigenous community food economies.     

Planning for global environmental change in Bangkok's informal settlements

Government agencies in cities across Asia recognise that municipalities must take steps to adapt to projected climate changes if people and places are to be kept above water. This paper focuses on planning for climate change in Bangkok because it ranks among the top 10 port cities vulnerable to climate change related flooding. It is also understood that the most devastating impacts of climate change will be suffered by the city's most vulnerable residents: the poor. Not only do impoverished people occupy physically vulnerable space, such as riverbanks, but they are also the least equipped to recover from the disruption of their livelihoods.

Several scholars have identified “institutional traps” that prevent the Thai government from successfully aiding poor and marginalised flood victims in the past. These include poor coordination, lack of monitoring and evaluation, rigidity, crisis management and elite capture. Lebel, Manuta, and Garden (2011, 56) Lebel, L., J.B. Manuta, and P. Garden. 2011. “Institutional Traps and Vulnerability to Changes in Climate and Flood Regimes in Thailand.” Regional Environmental Change 11 (1): 45–58.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] pose the crucial question: “How have individuals – from local community leaders through to national level politicians and bureaucrats – successfully influenced policy and programmes to avoid institutional traps and improve adaptive capacities to climate change?”

In this paper, we begin to address this question through examining emergent methods of “community based adaptation” and reviewing case studies of adaptation action from other vulnerable communities in the Global South. These lessons – such as overcoming institutional rigidity and avoiding elite capture – are important for Bangkok and other cities in the Global South that face many different challenges by global environmental change.     

Policy,Institutional and Market Barriers to the Implementation of Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) in China

China is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world, with potentially about two thirds of total Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) for Asia on the world carbon market (). Since 68% of its primary energy is from coal, China's average energy intensity is 7.5 times higher than the EU and 4.3 times higher than the US (EU, 2003 The European Union on-line. (2003). (http://europa.eu.int/index_ns_en.htm accessed Oct 2003  [Google Scholar]). Therefore, introducing advanced clean technologies and management to China represents opportunities for Annex I countries to obtain low-cost CERs through CDM projects, and access to one of the largest potential energy conservation markets in the world.

CDM can provide a win-win solution for both China and Annex I countries, and the Chinese government considers that the introduction of CDM projects can bring advanced energy technologies and foreign investment to China, thereby helping China's sustainable economy and generating CERs. As energy efficiency is generally low and carbon intensity is high in both China's energy supply and demand sectors, numerous options exist for cost-effective energy conservation and GHG mitigation with CDM.

This paper reviews current Chinese policies and administrative and institutional settings for CDM cooperation, and discusses existing policy, institutional and other barriers in the energy market by drawing on observations and experience from previous initiatives such as Cleaner Production and energy efficiency. Some options to remove these barriers are addressed. In order to make CDM projects feasible, China's government needs to promote awareness, streamline administrative systems, and be more active in building a competitive edge in the world carbon market.     

Effect of Nutrient Management Planning on Crop Yield, Nitrate Leaching and Sediment Loading in Thomas Brook Watershed

Government priorities on provincial Nutrient Management Planning (NMP) programs include improving the program effectiveness for environmental quality protection, and promoting more widespread adoption. Understanding the effect of NMP on both crop yield and key water-quality parameters in agricultural watersheds requires a comprehensive evaluation that takes into consideration important NMP attributes and location-specific farming conditions. This study applied the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to investigate the effects of crop and rotation sequence, tillage type, and nutrient N application rate on crop yield and the associated groundwater ${\text{NO}_{3}}^{ - } {\text{-N }}$ leaching and sediment loss. The SWAT model was applied to the Thomas Brook Watershed, located in the most intensively managed agricultural region of Nova Scotia, Canada. Cropping systems evaluated included seven fertilizer application rates and two tillage systems (i.e., conventional tillage and no-till). The analysis reflected cropping systems commonly managed by farmers in the Annapolis Valley region, including grain corn-based and potato-based cropping systems, and a vegetable-horticulture system. ANOVA models were developed and used to assess the effects of crop management choices on crop yield and two water-quality parameters (i.e., ${\text{NO}_{3}}^{ - } {\text{-N }}$ leaching and sediment loading). Results suggest that existing recommended N-fertilizer rate can be reduced by 10–25 %, for grain crop production, to significantly lower ${\text{NO}_{3}}^{ - } {\text{-N }}$ leaching (P > 0.05) while optimizing the crop yield. The analysis identified the nutrient N rates in combination with specific crops and rotation systems that can be used to manage ${\text{NO}_{3}}^{ - } {\text{-N }}$ leaching while balancing impacts on crop yields within the watershed.     

Electricity consumption and economic growth nexus in Zimbabwe revisited: fresh evidence from Maki cointegration

This study explores the relationship between electricity consumption, real gross domestic product per capita and carbon dioxide emissions in Zimbabwe. To achieve this, the study set off by examining the stationarity properties of the variables under review with the Zivot-Andrews (1992 Zivot, E., and D.W.K. Andrews. 1992. Further evidence on the great crash, the oil-price shock, and the unit-root hypothesis. Journal Of Business and Economic Statistics 10:251-270. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1391541.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) unit root test that accounts for a single structural break. Subsequently, Maki (2012 Maki, Daiki. 2012. “Tests for Cointegration Allowing for an Unknown Number of Breaks.” Economic Modelling 29 (5): 2011–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECONMOD.2012.04.022 [Google Scholar]) cointegration test, which accounts for multiple structural breaks, is applied for equilibrium relationship between the variables under review while the long run regression of dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) is employed for long-run coefficients as estimation procedures. In order to account for the direction of causality flow, the Toda-Yamamoto (1995 Toda, H Y.., and Taku Yamamoto. 1995. Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes. Journal Of Econometrics 66 (1–2):225–50. doi: 10.1016/0304-4076(94)01616-8.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) causality test is used for annual frequency data set spanning from 1971–2014. Empirical evidence from the Maki cointegration test shows that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between electricity consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and real gross domestic product per capita over the sampled period. The long-run regression suggests that there exist a positive statistically significant relationship between real income and electricity consumption. Thus, corroborating the electricity-led growth hypothesis. This result is supported by the causality test, as one-way causality is observed running from electricity consumption to real gross domestic product. Thus, this is suggestive to government administrators and policymakers that the Zimbabwean economy is electricity dependent. However, there is a tradeoff for environmental quality. As the increase in electricity consumption increases carbon dioxide emissions. The need for diversification of Zimbabwe energy portfolio to cleaner and environmentally friendly energy sources is recommended, given the world global consciousness for cleaner energy consumption.     

The Potential of Using Solar Energy to Process Full-Fat Soybeans (Glycine max) to Reduce Urease Activity

The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of panel solar cookers in reducing urease activity in full-fat soybeans (Glycine max). Changes in urease activity of soaked (SM), coarse-milled (CM) and whole dry (WM) full fat soybeans were investigated by roasting for 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min in multiple reflector panel solar cookers, in a 3 3 3 factorial experiment. Soaking soybeans for 14 h reduced (p<0.05) ^{1 1}P < 0.05 means that the probability (p) of falsely concluding significant difference between values obtained after statistical analysis was less than 5% (0.05). urease activity by 9%, from 6.58 meqNH₃/g DM to 5.98 meqNH₃/g DM. After 180 min of solar roasting, urease activity levels had declined by 81%, 67% and 23% in soaked, milled and whole dry soybeans respectively. Full fat soybean urease activity can be reduced faster in soaked than in dry soybeans. Findings suggest that there is potential in using multiple reflector panel solar cookers to reduce urease activity in full fat soybeans.     

Regional impervious surface estimation: an urban heat island application

This paper describes a GIS-based estimation method that can be used to forecast future amounts of impervious surface as a mitigation measure for urban heat island effect in a metropolitan region. The method is unique because it employs a regression model that links the existing amount of impervious surface to population and employment at the census tract level. This approach provides a means to forecast future amounts of impervious surface based on projected population and employment. The method also includes a detailed analysis of high-resolution aerial photography to divide impervious surfaces into different categories. Subdividing impervious surfaces is necessary to evaluate potential urban heat island mitigation policies for different types of impervious surface. The analysis here shows that the impervious surface in the metropolitan Atlanta region will increase to 2638 km2 2. “The Albedo is defined as the hemispherical reflectivity averaged over the solar spectrum. A perfect reflector has a = 1, and a perfect absorber has a = 0” (Pomerantz et al. 1999 Pomerantz, M. 1999. Reflective surfaces for cooler buildings and cities. Philosophical magazine B, 79: 1457–1476. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar], p. 1458). View all notes in 2030, an increase of 45% from 2000. The most common type of impervious surface is dark-coloured pavement. Within this study area, the analyses showed that two-thirds of impervious surfaces are dark. Replacing dark pavement with light pavement materials, therefore, represents an important opportunity to mitigate the urban heat island effect in the Atlanta region.     

Breathtaking Clarity,Delicious Ambiguity

Abstract

A new institutional architecture is emerging in Wales to govern sustainable development. The National Assembly for Wales (hereafter referred to as the ‘Welsh Assembly’)1 ¹The National Assembly for Wales is the legal entity and title given to the devolved body in Wales. ‘Welsh Assembly Government’ is the term used by the current administration. has a statutory duty to promote sustainable development in the exercise of all its functions; its response has been to design a set of political and organizational arrangements to manage this policy area, and to prepare a Scheme that sets out how it proposes to discharge this duty. Devolved government in Wales has also been the catalyst for the emergence of collaborative relationships and partnerships between different sectors and interests. The Welsh Assembly and the Welsh Local Government Association have published a Compact jointly committing them to promote sustainable development; national non-governmental organizations such as Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature have set up Welsh agencies; local government sustainable development coordinators have formed a national network; a national Sustainable Development Forum has been created; and the Welsh Assembly has taken the lead in establishing a European network of countries interested in sharing best practice on sustainable development. A new Wales-specific structure and system is materializing and the test now is how far this will be effective in delivering sustainable development policies and solutions at local and national levels. This paper examines the challenges in managing sustainable development, and the potential for success of this new governance system, drawing on recent research undertaken by the author on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The examination is set in the context of different theories of governance, and sustainable development is conceptualized as a ‘wicked issue’—one that cannot be resolved by organizations and agencies acting autonomously, but rather needs concerted focus and action across all sectors.     

Global sustainability: Toward measurement

The widespread interest in the concept of sustainable environment and development has been accompanied by the need to develop useful systems of measurement. We discuss the use of indicators which might be used to assess such conditions. Our characteristics, or criteria, for desirable global sustainability indicators are:

sensitivity to change in time

sensitivity to change across space or within groups

predictive ability

availability of reference or threshold values

ability to measure reversibility or controllability

appropriate data transformation

integrative ability

relative ease of collection and use

We discuss the basis of these characteristics, and examine two categories of indicators (soil erosion and population) and two specific indicators (physical quality of life index and energy imports as a percentage of consumption) for their value as sustainability measures.     

Investigations on Blade Tip Tilting for Hawt Rotor Blades Using CFD

The main purpose of this paper is to study the aerodynamic effects of blade tip tilting on power production of horizontal-axis wind turbines by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). For validation and as a baseline rotor, the NREL Phase VI wind turbine rotor blade is used. The Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes Equations are solved and different turbulence models including the Spalart–Allmaras, Standard k-?, k-? Yang–Shih and SST k–ω models are used and tested. The results are shown in terms of power generation at different wind speeds and the pressure distribution at different sections of the blade, and the comparisons are made with the available experimental data. For tip tilting analysis, 16 different geometries belonging to four different configurations are studied. The geometries are generated based on changing the twist and the cant angles of the winglet. The four different configurations are obtained from tilting the blade tip toward pressure side, suction side, leading edge, and trailing edge. The effect of the different configurations on the flow characteristics and hence on the power production of the wind turbine is investigated.     

Reducing Livestock Effects on Public Lands in the Western United States as the Climate Changes: A Reply to Svejcar et al

Svejcar et al. (Environ Manage, 2014) offered several perspectives regarding Beschta et al. (Environ Manage 51:474–491, 2013)—a publication that addressed the interacting ecological effects of climate change and domestic, wild, and feral ungulates on public lands in the western United States (US)—by largely focusing on three livestock grazing issues: (1) legacy versus current day impacts; (2) grazing as a fire reduction tool; and (3) the complexity of grazing. Regarding these issues, we indicate that (1) legacy effects to western ecosystems were indeed significant and contemporary livestock use on public lands generally maintains or exacerbates many of those effects; (2) livestock grazing has been a major factor affecting fire frequency, fire severity, and ecosystem trajectories in the western US for over a century; and (3) the removal or reduction of grazing impacts in these altered ecosystems is the most effective means of initiating ecological recovery. Svejcar et al. (Environ Manage, 2014) offer no evidence that livestock use is consistent with the timely recovery of grazing-degraded uplands, riparian areas, or stream systems. We thus conclude that public-land ecosystems can best persist or cope with a changing climate by significantly reducing ungulate grazing and related impacts.     

Feature Extraction Techniques for Measuring Piñon and Juniper Tree Cover and Density,and Comparison with Field-Based Management Surveys

Western North America is experiencing a dramatic expansion of piñon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) (P-J) trees into shrub-steppe communities. Feature extracted data acquired from remotely sensed imagery can help managers rapidly and accurately assess this land cover change in order to manage rangeland ecosystems at a landscape-scale. The objectives of this study were to: (1) develop an effective and efficient method for accurately quantifying P-J tree canopy cover and density directly from high resolution photographs and (2) compare feature-extracted data to typical in-situ datasets used by land managers. Tree cover was extracted from aerial-photography using Feature Analyst^®. Tree density was calculated as the sum of the total number of individual polygons (trees) within the tree cover output file after isolation using a negative buffer post-processing technique. Feature-extracted data were compared to ground reference measurements from Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources Range Trend Project (DWR-RTP). We found that the proposed feature-extraction techniques used for measuring cover and density were highly correlated to ground reference and DWR-RTP datasets. Feature-extracted measurements of cover generally showed a near 1:1 relationship to these data, while tree density was underestimated; however, after calibration for juvenile trees, a near 1:1 relationship was realized. Feature-extraction techniques used in this study provide an efficient method for assessing important rangeland indicators, including: density, cover, and extent of P-J tree encroachment. Correlations found between field and feature-extracted data provide evidence to support extrapolation between the two approaches when assessing woodland encroachment.     

Environmental Ethics and Biomimetic Ethics: Nature as Object of Ethics and Nature as Source of Ethics

While the contemporary biomimicry movement is associated primarily with the idea of taking Nature as model for technological innovation, it also contains a normative or ethical principle—Nature as measure—that may be treated in relative isolation from the better known principle of Nature as model. Drawing on discussions of the principle of Nature as measure put forward by Benyus (Biomimicry: innovation inspired by nature, Harper Perennial, New York, 1997) and Jackson (Consulting the genius of place: an ecological approach to a new agriculture, Counterpoint, Berkeley, 2010, Nature as measure: the selected essays of Wes Jackson, Counterpoint, Berkeley, 2011), while at the same time situating these discussions in relation to contemporary debates in the philosophy of biomimicry (Mathews in Organ Environ 24(4): 364–387, 2011; Dicks in Philos Technol, doi: 10.1007/s13347-015-0210-2, 2015; Blok and Gremmen in J Agric Environ Ethics 29(2):203–217, 2016), the aim of this paper is to explore the relation between the principle of Nature as measure and environmental ethics. This leads to the argument that mainstream formulations of environmental ethics share the common trait of seeing our ethical relation to Nature as primarily involving duties to protect, preserve, or conserve various values in Nature, and that, in doing so, they problematically either overlook or dismiss as anthropocentric the possibility that Nature may provide measures, understood in terms of ecological standards, against which our own practices, or at least some of them, may be judged—a way of thinking I call “biomimetic ethics”. The practical consequences of this argument are significant. Whereas mainstream environmental ethics has been applied above all to such issues as wilderness preservation, natural resource management, and animal rights and welfare, biomimetic ethics is applicable rather to the question of how we produce, use, and consume things, and, as such, may potentially provide the basic ethical framework required to underpin the transition to a circular, bio-based, solar economy.     

Modeling Fire Susceptibility to Delineate Wildland–Urban Interface for Municipal-Scale Fire Risk Management

The wildland–urban interface (WUI) is the region where development meets and intermingles with wildlands. The WUI has an elevated fire risk due to the proximity of development and residents to wildlands with natural wildfire regimes. Existing methods of delineating WUI are typically applied over a large region, use proxies for risk, and do not consider site-specific fire hazard drivers. While these models are appropriate for federal and provincial risk management, municipal managers require models intended for smaller regions. The model developed here uses the Burn-P3 fire behavior model to model WUI from local fire susceptibility (FS) in two study communities. Forest fuel code (FFC) maps for the study communities were modified using remote sensing data to produce detailed forest edges, including ladder fuels, update data currency, and add buildings and roads. The modified FFC maps used in Burn-P3 produced bimodal FS distributions for each community. The WUI in these communities was delineated as areas within community bounds where FS was greater than or equal to ?1 SD from the mean FS value ( ${\text{WUI}} = {\text{FS}} \geqslant - 1 \, [\bar \chi - \sigma ]$ ), which fell in the trough of the bimodal distribution. The WUI so delineated conformed to the definition of WUI. This model extends WUI modeling for broader risk management initiatives for municipal management of risk, as it (a) considers site-specific drivers of fire behavior; (b) models risk, represented by WUI, specific to a community; and, (c) does not use proxies for risk.     

Advocates for environmental justice: the role of the champion in public participation implementation

That segment of the community I would say is just in general pretty disenfranchised. We found that if you want participation you have to go to them. I mean there are days when you just need to go knock on the door.

Brownfields developer in a poor urban neighbourhood

This article considers the role that champions play as advocates for socioeconomically disadvantaged community member involvement in environmental management decision-making. Six case studies of brownfields redevelopment projects located in poor urban neighbourhoods are examined. Analysis of these case studies reveals how champion behaviour, which has typically been studied only in the context of technological innovation, is enacted in public participation efforts in the service of environmental justice. The study finds that champions who emerge in these settings lead the development and implementation of non-standard public participation process innovations.     

Telos and the Ethics of Animal Farming

The concept of animal welfare in confinement agriculture—and an ethical theory based upon this concept—necessitates an idea of what kind of being it is that fares well and what “well” is for this being. This double-question is at the heart of understanding and adequately defining welfare as qualitatively embedded in the experiencing subject. The notion of telos derives (philosophically) from Aristotle and is a way of accounting for the good life of an animal from the unique speciesness of the animal in question. The first part of the article will address the contemporary philosophical and ethical analysis of animals based upon this Aristotelian idea (Rollin in Animal rights and human morality (1st ed. 1981). Prometheus Books, New York, 2006b). Telos is here employed to illustrate the dimensions of what matters in welfare assessment and ethical evaluation. The second half of the article addresses some of the welfare problems in modern animal agriculture and how they relate to the telos concept. Two main examples are dealt with: Boredom (Wemelsfelder in Mental health and well-being in animals. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2005) is argued as being the suffering of choicelessness in animals that are inherently beings that choose—and loneliness is the suffering of social isolation in animals for whom standing in active relations to others is part of what they are.     

Assisted Migration,Risks and Scientific Uncertainty,and Ethics: A Comment on Albrecht et al.’s Review Paper

In response to Albrecht et al.’s (J Agric Environ Ethics 26(4):827–845, 2013) discussion on the ethics of assisted migration, we emphasize the issues of risk and scientific uncertainty as an inextricable part of a comprehensive ethical evaluation. Insisting on a separation of risk and ethical considerations, although arguably common in many policy contexts, is at best misguided and at worst damaging.