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nichecanada.bsky.social
NiCHE Canada
@nichecanada.bsky.social
The Network in Canadian History & Environment.

NiCHE is a confederation of researchers & educators who work at the intersection of nature & history.

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NiCHE
Network in Canadian History & Environment | Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l'environnement
niche-canada.org
Really interesting account of a changing landscape and its impacts on human uses of the land, including the utility of camels.

Why India’s Thar Desert is turning green

youtu.be/24TaCbZ_tgc?...

#envhist #climatechange #india
Why India’s Thar Desert is turning green | THE WEEK EXCLUSIVE | Climate change | Documentary Film
YouTube video by The Week
youtu.be
February 12, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Scientists Discover A Volcano Caused the Black Plague

"The volcano triggered crop failures, forcing Italian merchants to import grain from the Black Sea. But that grain was infested with plague-carrying fleas..."

www.youtube.com/shorts/p5NrA...

#envhist #histmed #climhist
Scientists Discover A Volcano Caused the Black Plague
YouTube video by Today I Learned Science
www.youtube.com
February 12, 2026 at 5:34 PM
War on the Land | @aptninvestigates.bsky.social

"Reporter Kenneth Jackson investigates a toxic legacy left by wartime government and industry in a small Ontario town, and meets a First Nation chief demanding the land back, but only after the damage is undone."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mhw...
War on the Land | APTN Investigates
YouTube video by APTN News
www.youtube.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:14 PM
The latest article in our Winter Olympics & Their Environments series is "Politics and Memory of Olympic Winter Games in the Canadian Rockies" by PearlAnn Reichwein

niche-canada.org/2026/02/11/p...

#envhist #olympics #sporthistory #cdnhist
Politics and Memory of Olympic Winter Games in the Canadian Rockies
Calgary’s Olympic ski venues emerged through decades of failed bids, environmental politics, and contested site selection shaping enduring sporting landscapes.
niche-canada.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:19 PM
"Auger-bored wells typically yielded more water and were less prone to surface contamination than dug wells; regional hydrogeology also made them preferable to deeper, drilled wells." - @forrestpass.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2025/11/28/o...

#envhist #cdnhist #waterhistory
On Drought, Dowsing, and Deep Drilling: Thinking About Groundwater History in an Age of Climate Emergency
Canada’s 2025 drought exposed groundwater precarity; in the past, Ottawa Valley settlers adapted to this precarity through dowsing, augers, and evolving well technologies.
niche-canada.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
February 12, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
New podcast! We talk to historian of science
@lachlanfleetwood.bsky.social about early 19th C. imperial science in the #Himalaya & the emergence of a 'vertically oriented view of the world' where altitude comes to define mountains #HistSci #EnvHist
shorturl.at/51fJe
@nichecanada.bsky.social
February 12, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
"counterprogramming a Spanish-language show with a song about mowing your lawn is an irony so dense that light can’t escape from it." Thanks to Mike for finding this article. My own Japanese immigrant grandpa worked as a landscaper in Ontario (family forced to leave BC)
@nichecanada.bsky.social
February 11, 2026 at 8:48 PM
"The Ancient Wall" by Eleanor Stephenson is our latest featured excerpt from Mountain Voices: The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Western Canada, part of our book series with @ucalgarypress.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2026/02/10/t...
The Ancient Wall
Stephenson's helicopter-accessed alpine fieldwork retraced 1927 survey photos, aligning landscapes, observing climate change, and finding enduring scree.
niche-canada.org
February 11, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
"Economic growth can coexist with poverty, exclusion, violence, and serious violations of human rights..."

We need to "assess whether development is truly improving human wellbeing, advancing equity, and safeguarding sustainability...”
Global economy must move past GDP to avoid planetary disaster, warns UN chief
Exclusive: António Guterres says world’s accounting systems should place true value on the environment
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:10 AM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
Look, it's nice that you're expecting a kid, although no one really cares what gender your baby is. But if you leave your garbage all over a beautiful national park? Yeah, that we care about.
A gender reveal at Lake Louise is facing backlash after visitors discovered leftover debris in one of Canada’s most iconic landscapes.

Watch more video: https://ow.ly/AhJU50YcLnl
February 11, 2026 at 3:43 PM
"Light pollution is yet another form of environmental injustice." - @sarabpritchard.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2026/01/26/u...

#envhist #urbanhistory #night #light
February 11, 2026 at 8:08 PM
A Vanishing Fishing Village in Richmond, BC

"In this video, I explore Finn Slough in Richmond, British Columbia, walking through the village while explaining its history, origins, and significance in Canadian coastal life."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RTr...

#envhist #coastalhistory #bchistory
A Vanishing Fishing Village in Richmond, BC
YouTube video by Canadian Backroad History
www.youtube.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:23 PM
"As scholars Zoe Todd and Heather Davis argue, the Anthropocene’s origins lie not in the 20th century but in 1610, when colonial genocide measurably altered atmospheric carbon levels." - @aadita.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2026/01/14/c...

#envhist #anthropocene #colonialism
Chasing Flames: Roving Methodologies and Narratives Towards Future Pyrosocial Worlds
Aadita Chaudhury's dissertation uses fire, phlogiston, and speculative methods to expose racial capitalism, valuation, and more-than-human knowledge worlds globally.
niche-canada.org
February 11, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
"Originally inspired by the Western genre, in which landscapes take on deep symbolic meaning ... Project Grizzly actually belongs to what he calls the "Northern" genre. Rather than echoing the mythology of the American West the film reflects a distinctly Canadian narrative"
@nichecanada.bsky.social
Project Grizzly at 30: The wild story behind Canada’s cult classic doc | CBC Arts
Director Peter Lynch sits down with Q guest host Talia Schlanger to look back on the 1996 film that turned one man’s obsession into a distinctly Canadian myth.
www.cbc.ca
February 10, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
🗃️
February 10, 2026 at 7:45 AM
REMINDER - Get your proposals in to @ramya.bsky.social by February 15th for our Canadian Heritage Rivers series.

What does it mean to be a heritage river in 2026? What does a designation mean/bring with it?

niche-canada.org/2026/01/16/c...

#envhist #rivers #cdnhist #cdnheritage
Call for Proposals- Canadian Heritage Rivers
What does it mean to be a heritage river in 2026? What does a designation mean/bring with it? How do these designations honour First Peoples? How are heritage rivers portrayed in Canadian media and pu...
niche-canada.org
February 9, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Our Winter Olympics & Their Environments series, edited by @theliftline.bsky.social and M. Blake Butler, begins today with "The High-Energy Afterlives of Lillehammer’s Olympic Cabins" by @finnarne.me

niche-canada.org/2026/02/09/t...

#envhist #olympics #energyhistory #sporthistory
The High-Energy Afterlives of Lillehammer’s Olympic Cabins
Lillehammer’s “Green Games” housing created high-energy cabin villages, reshaping Norwegian leisure culture while undermining long-term sustainability goals.
niche-canada.org
February 9, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
I might not care one bit about watching the winter olympics, but I have a new #envhist #energyhistory piece out in @nichecanada.bsky.social on how the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic media village built on Norwegian cabin traditions - and transformed them after the games. niche-canada.org/2026/02/09/t...
The High-Energy Afterlives of Lillehammer’s Olympic Cabins
Lillehammer’s “Green Games” housing created high-energy cabin villages, reshaping Norwegian leisure culture while undermining long-term sustainability goals.
niche-canada.org
February 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
@nichecanada.bsky.social is calling for contributors for their Canada’s Great Acceleration Series.

Proposals should be a short 200-word expression of interest and are due February 18, 2026.

Find more info here: activehistory.ca/blog/2026/02...
February 9, 2026 at 4:22 PM
ICYMI:

Get your proposals in to Andrew Watson by February 18th for our series on Canada's Great Acceleration

If the Earth has shifted from the Holocene into a new epoch of planetary history, then Canada has served as an incubator for its defining concepts...

niche-canada.org/2026/02/06/c...
Call for Contributors: Canada’s Great Acceleration
The Great Acceleration refers to the period after WWII when the pace and scale of socioecological changes departed dramatically from previous trajectories.
niche-canada.org
February 9, 2026 at 3:25 PM
"Households developed a number of strategies to the evictions including, migrating to nearby urban areas or reserves, crossing the border to Mozambique, or settling as 'squatters' on the edge of the plantation." - Mathew Ruguwa

niche-canada.org/2022/08/10/t...

#envhist #foresthistory #aghist
Transforming the “Wonderful”: Forest Plantation and Displacement in Bvumba (Chirara), Zimbabwe, 1948-1970
In his dissertation, Mathew Ruguwa sought to illustrate the endurance of the family in times of trouble.
niche-canada.org
February 9, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by NiCHE Canada
Throwbackkkk
February 8, 2026 at 7:34 PM