Search

The relationships of people with the natural world are expressed in diverse ways, including painting, photographs, sculpture, song, video, and literature. In this document, we review historical and contemporary portrayals of nature as a theme in Canadian literature. Our assessment is intended to explore how Canadians have articulated their feelings about nature through literary expression, and to thereby gain insight into their empathy for natural ecosystems and native species, and their concern about damage caused to those values. We begin with a broad overview of nature as a theme in cultural expression, including overarching ones in Canadian literature, and discuss the influential literary views of Northrop Frye, Margaret Atwood, and their critics. We then examine the expression of nature within seven focal areas: early aboriginal expression, narratives of explorers, stories of settlers, the genre of animal stories, 20th-century poetry, recent aboriginal literature, and environmental ideas in contemporary prose. We identify six dominant themes of the expression of nature in Canadian literature: (1) humans as a part of nature; (2) a bounty of natural resources; (3) fear of an adversarial wilderness; (4) improvement of nature; (5) regret of environmental damage and perhaps despair of the future; and (6) love and respect of species and natural landscapes. Finally, we discuss how nature as a theme embedded in Canadian literature can be harnessed to further the compelling objectives of environmental literacy by providing sympathetic insights into the relationships of people and society with the species and ecosystems with which they share Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that investigated birds breeding in conifer plantations in the vicinity of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick. Analysis of birds in natural, mixed-species forest of the type that has not been clear-cut and converted into plantations; Summary of bird community variables; Variations of the distribution and abundance of birds.

Examines the potential for carbon sequestration in selected Canadian forest settings and prairie agroecosystems under several management scenarios. Development of a simple carbon budget model to quantitatively examine carbon sequestration potential; Establishment of protected forest-carbon reserves for carbon sequestration opportunities; Constraints in offsetting green house gas emissions by increasing carbon storage in forests and agroecosystems.