Daniel Macfarlane
banner
danielmacfarlane.bsky.social
Daniel Macfarlane
@danielmacfarlane.bsky.social
Professor in SEGS @ WMU. Dual Canada-US citizen. Books about: Niagara Falls; St. Lawrence; IJC; border waters; Lake Ontario; 🇨🇦-🇺🇸 enviro&energy relations; now working on Lake Michigan & St. Clair
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Once more on the actual anniversary. Toward an environmental history of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. thecurrentowdm.substack.com/p/disaster-o...
Disaster on Gichigami
What if the most famous disaster on Lake Superior never really ended?
thecurrentowdm.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Do you love that we can support open-access books in our Canadian History and Environment series with @ucalgarypress.bsky.social, like the IJC collection edited @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social and Murray Clamen? Then send some $$$ our way so we can keep doing it!

fundrazr.com/niche2025?re...
November 8, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Today, @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social on "Finding Environmental History in 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.'"

The Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, 1975 in Lake Superior.

niche-canada.org/2025/11/07/f...

#envhist #musichistory #greatlakes #envhum
Finding Environmental History in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 ballad immortalized the 1975 Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck, linking Great Lakes industry, Indigenous history, environmental change, and enduring cultural memory.
niche-canada.org
November 7, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Thanks for the exceedingly generous and thoughtful review @ramya.bsky.social!
New book review:
Swayamprakash on Macfarlane, Daniel: _Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History, The_. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024. Published by H-Oceans.
Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20131268
November 4, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Our editor, @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social, examines "The Erie Canal at 200."

"Designing the Erie’s liquid route required amassing knowledge of local landscapes and ecological conditions."

niche-canada.org/2025/10/26/t...

#envhist #envirotech #waterhistory
The Erie Canal at 200
Erie Canal’s 200th: engineering success, reshaped settlement, boosted trade, harmed Indigenous lands and ecosystems, linked U.S.–Canada waterways, now mostly recreational.
niche-canada.org
October 29, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
We have a post coming out this Sunday from @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social on the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal!

#envhist
200 years ago this coming weekend, the Erie Canal opened. That moment was the culmination of a great deal of debate & planning & construction, & also--like the waterway it inaugurated--opens up to a number of fascinating AmericanStudies contexts, from the Early Republic & across our history. 🗃️
October 20, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Sadly, last day of reading week today, but I am looking forward to reading @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social on Natural Allies with my class in Canadian-American relations for next week.
October 17, 2025 at 11:56 AM
If you're in Kalamazoo today and hoping to hear about Niagara Falls, you're in luck!
September 20, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
"Algae coated the water, fisheries crashed, dredging stirred up contaminants such as mercury, DDT, and PCB; Lake Erie was declared dead because of eutrophication and the Cuyahoga River notoriously kept catching fire." - @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2022/04/14/t...

#envhist
September 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Tonight!
Toronto friends, and friends who will be in Toronto for CHA and Congress, I'll be doing a book launch between 5:30-7:30 on Monday @nichecanada.bsky.social
Join Daniel Macfarlane for the launch of Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History at Ben McNally Books in Toronto during #congressh on Monday June 2nd!

More details: buff.ly/wepUzE1
June 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Toronto friends, and friends who will be in Toronto for CHA and Congress, I'll be doing a book launch between 5:30-7:30 on Monday @nichecanada.bsky.social
Join Daniel Macfarlane for the launch of Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History at Ben McNally Books in Toronto during #congressh on Monday June 2nd!

More details: buff.ly/wepUzE1
May 30, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Join Daniel Macfarlane for the launch of Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History at Ben McNally Books in Toronto during #congressh on June 2nd!

More details: buff.ly/wepUzE1
May 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
#WorldWaterDay

Read @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social on the historical cooperation of the US and Canada on actions related to Great Lakes water quality.

niche-canada.org/2023/08/21/n...

#envhist #greatlakes #waterhistory
Natural Allies: Great Lakes Water Quality
In response to Great Lakes pollution, Canada and the US created the Boundary Waters Treaty and International Joint Commission.
niche-canada.org
March 22, 2025 at 4:29 PM
I was interviewed for this long-form article in the Financial Post about Trump and the Great Lakes. What made it even more fun than usual was that they included a pic of me with our kids at Point Pelee last summer - their first media appearance!
financialpost.com/feature/cana...
Forget tariffs, Trump may be targeting the Great Lakes and Canada’s freshwater next
The Southwestern U.S. is tapped out, potentially creating a future point of conflict between two countries already in a trade war. Read on.
financialpost.com
March 13, 2025 at 10:24 AM
I was interviewed for this long-form article in the Financial Post about Trump and the Great Lakes. What made it even more fun than usual was that they included a pic of me with our kids at Point Pelee last summer - their first media appearance!
financialpost.com/feature/cana...
Forget tariffs, Trump may be targeting the Great Lakes and Canada’s freshwater next
The Southwestern U.S. is tapped out, potentially creating a future point of conflict between two countries already in a trade war. Read on.
financialpost.com
March 12, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
If you are interested in learning more about US-Canada environmental relations, we suggest picking up @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social's Natural Allies.

Read the first of four posts highlighting aspects of the book here: Natural Allies: niche-canada.org/2023/08/07/n...

#envhist #cdnpoli #uspoli
Natural Allies: The IJC, BWT, and the Great Lakes
The creation of the Boundary Waters Treaty and International Joint Commission highlights transborder issues in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin.
niche-canada.org
March 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Who (Really) Owns the Great Lakes?

Find out in this episode of Unsalted Great Lakes with our Exec Member, Editor, and resident Great Lakes expert, @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2025/03/03/p...

#envhist #greatlakes #cdnpoli #uspoli
Podcast Episode - Who (Really) Owns the Great Lakes?
Is President Trump angling to take over the Great Lakes? Can the water be diverted to other states?
niche-canada.org
March 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Wu-Tang Clan announce what they say is their "final" tour, with Run the Jewels www.brooklynvegan.com/wu-tang-clan...
February 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
If you want to hear me blather on about what Trump might mean for the shared Great Lakes then listen to this podcast

open.spotify.com/episode/1CZY...
Who (Really) Owns the Great Lakes?
Unsalted Great Lakes · Episode
open.spotify.com
February 24, 2025 at 1:33 PM
My recent article about Lake Ontario with @theconversationca.bsky.social
February 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
#BlackHistoryMonth

"Many people didn’t listen when Black residents of Flint spoke up about their water – but only when white mothers, like Melissa, or experts (like Dr. Hanna-Attisha) raised their voices." - @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2018/12/06/t...

#envhist #envjustice
The End (and Middle) of History: Environment and Politics in Flint's Water Crisis
When does something start, and then stop, being "history"? The Flint water crisis was the product of structural forces and path dependencies that stretch far back into the twentieth century. But since...
niche-canada.org
February 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Daniel Macfarlane
Is Lake Ontario as great as the other Great Lakes? @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social (Western Michigan University), author of "The Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History," tells @jeyantvo.bsky.social that it has been neglected both environmentally and in spirit. #onpoli
Is Lake Ontario the Neglected Great Lake? | The Agenda
YouTube video by TVO Today
www.youtube.com
January 17, 2025 at 7:04 PM