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.
Alice Cohen is a professor in the Departments of Earth and Environmental Science and the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program at Acadia University.Andrew Biro is a professor in the Department of Politics at Acadia University.
List of Illustrations and TablesList of MapsList of BoxesAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations1. Introduction1.1 From How to Why1.2 From Ecosystem Components to Resources1.3 Politics beyond Policy1.4 Resourcification through Six Channels1.5 Book Outline and Common ThemesDiscussion Questions2. Channels: From Ecosystem Components to Resources2.1 Introduction2.2 Governments2.3 Communities2.4 Built Environments2.5 Culture and Ideas2.6 Economies2.7 Bodies and Identities2.8 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion Questions3. From Fish to Fisheries3.1 Introduction3.2 Salmon in British Columbia3.3 Cod in Newfoundland and Labrador3.4 Channels in Action: Organizing Fisheries3.5 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion QuestionsPedagogical Resources4. From Forests to Timber4.1 Introduction4.2 Growth of Timber: Saint John, New Brunswick4.3 Trees, Not Timber: Port Renfrew, British Columbia, and Darkwoods4.4 Channels in Action: Organizing Forests4.5 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion QuestionsPedagogical Resources5. From Carbon to Energy5.1 Introduction5.2 Coal in Nova Scotia5.3 Oil and Bitumen in Alberta5.4 Natural Gas and Fracking5.5 Channels in Action: Organizing Carbon5.6 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion QuestionsPedagogical Resources6. From H2O to Water6.1 Introduction6.2 Diversions and Damming6.2.1 Diversion6.2.2 Damming6.3 Drinking Water6.3.1 Vancouver, 20066.3.2 Walkerton, Ontario, 20006.3.3 Asubpeechoseewagong Netum Anishinabek–Grassy Narrows, Ontario, 1962–?6.3.4 Drinking Water: Summary6.4 Channels in Action: Organizing Water6.5 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion QuestionsPedagogical Resources7. From Land to Property7.1 Introduction7.2 Soil7.3 Symbol7.4 Space7.5 Channels in Action: Organizing Land7.6 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion QuestionsPedagogical Resources8. From Bodies to Life8.1 Introduction8.2 Wild(?)life: Non-Human Animals8.2.1 Pets and Other Companion Species8.2.2 Fish and Game: Wildness as Economic Resource8.2.3 Parks as Spaces for Wildlife8.3 Human Resources8.3.1 Blood and Plasma8.3.2 Surrogacy8.4 The Channels in Action: Organizing Life8.5 Summary and ConclusionsDiscussion QuestionsPedagogical Resources9. Resources: Organized and Organizers9.1 Channels in Action9.2 Common Themes9.2.1 Commodification9.2.2 Indigenous Dispossession9.2.3 Artificial Nature–Society Binary9.3 Why Does ‘Resource Thinking’ Matter?9.3.1 Winning and Losing9.3.2 Why Is It Important to Think beyond Policy?GlossaryReferencesIndex
