National historic sites commemorate decisive moments in the making of Canada. But seen through an environmental lens, these sites become artifacts of a bigger story: the occupation and transformation of nature into nation. In an age of pressing discussions about environmental sustainability, there is a growing need to know more about the history of our relationship with the natural world and what lessons these places of public history, regional identity, and national narrative can teach us. Nature, Place, and Story provides new interpretations for five of Canada’s largest and most iconic historic sites (two of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites): L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland; Grand Pré, Nova Scotia; Fort William, Ontario; the Forks of the Red River, Manitoba; and the Bar U Ranch, Alberta. At each location, Claire Campbell rewrites public history as environmental history, revealing the country’s debt to the power and fragility of the natural world, and the relevance of the past to understanding climate change, agricultural sustainability, wilderness protection, urban reclamation, and fossil fuel extraction. From the medieval Atlantic to modern ranchlands, environmental history speaks directly to contemporary questions about the health of Canada’s habitat. Bringing together public and environmental history in an entirely new way, Nature, Place, and Story is a lively and ambitious call for a fresh perspective on natural heritage.

Imagining how prominent national historic sites might confront critical issues in environmental history.

A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Winner of the Bancroft Prize. "No one has written a better book about a city…Nature's Metropolis is elegant testimony to the proposition that economic, urban, environmental, and business history can be as graceful, powerful, and fascinating as a novel." —Kenneth T. Jackson, Boston Globe

This unique resource offers new ideas, stories, creative activities, and methods for people working in conservation, outdoor learning, environmental education, youthwork, business training, sustainability, health, social and economic change. It shows how to encourage pro-environmental behavior in diverse participants: from organization consultants and employees, to families, youth and schoolchildren. The stories and their exploration engage people with nature in profound ways. The book describes how this engagement enhances participants' emotional literacy and resilience, builds community, raises awareness of inter-species communication and helps people to create a sustainable future together. Its innovative techniques establish connections between place and sustainability. Facilitators can adapt all of this to their own situation.

With more than $3.7 billion in assets and annual revenue of $800million, the Nature Conservancy has generated staggering growththat would be the envy of any business. Incorporated in 1951 by a small circle of concerned ecologists, theConservancy has grown financially into the world's largestenvironmental organization. It has one million members--up from500,000 in 1990--and 3,500 employees operating in 50 states and 28countries across the world. Nature's Keepers offers readers an inspirational leadershiptale and management chronicle, as it goes behind the scenes anddetails the inner workings of the Nature Conservancy. Highlightingthe efforts of nine extraordinary leaders, Nature's Keepersexamines the organization's culture and management, strategy anddecisions, and courageous and ingenious individuals who havededicated their lives to conservation. Author Bill Birchard reveals how the Conservancy's sometimescontroversial business practices--entrepreneurial approaches topreserving ecosystems while meeting human needs--have earned thepraise of management gurus such as Peter Drucker. The Conservancy'sway of operating, though not free of failings, is both widelyemulated in the nonprofit community and greatly respected bybusiness scholars and CEOs nationwide.

A controversial, timely reassessment of the environmentalist agenda by outstanding historians, scientists, and critics. In a lead essay that powerfully states the broad argument of the book, William Cronon writes that the environmentalist goal of wilderness preservation is conceptually and politically wrongheaded. Among the ironies and entanglements resulting from this goal are the sale of nature in our malls through the Nature Company, and the disputes between working people and environmentalists over spotted owls and other objects of species preservation. The problem is that we haven't learned to live responsibly in nature. The environmentalist aim of legislating humans out of the wilderness is no solution. People, Cronon argues, are inextricably tied to nature, whether they live in cities or countryside. Rather than attempt to exclude humans, environmental advocates should help us learn to live in some sustainable relationship with nature. It is our home.

Within the pages of a book exists a world drawn from a writer’s deepest imaginings, one that has the ability to pull readers in on a visceral level. But the audience’s fascination will only last if the writer can describe this vibrant realm and its inhabitants well. The setting achieves this by offering readers a unique sensory experience. So much more than stage dressing, the setting can build mood, convey meaning through symbolism, drive the plot by creating challenges that force the hero to fight for what he wants, and trigger his emotions to reveal his most intimate feelings, fears, and desires. Inside this volume you will find: • A list of the sights, smells, tastes, textures, and sounds for over 100 settings revolving around school, home, and nature • Possible sources of conflict for each location to help you brainstorm ways to naturally complicate matters for your characters • Advice on the many effective ways to build mood, helping you steer both the character’s and readers’ emotions in every scene • Information on how the setting directly influences the plot by acting as a tuning fork for what a character needs most and by testing his dedication to his goals • A tutorial on figurative language and how different descriptive techniques can bring settings alive for readers while conveying a symbolic message or deeper meaning • A review of the challenges that arise when writing description, as well as special considerations that apply specifically to rural and personal settings The Rural Setting Thesaurus takes “show-don’t-tell” to new heights. It offers writers a roadmap to creating fresh setting imagery that impacts the story on multiple levels and keeps readers engaged from the first page to the last.