Summarize, describe and explain the field of Canadian environmental history. Briefly list and describe the central theories (theorists), debates and problems, and the topics that scholars in this field are interested in. Identify one of the key scholars that influenced this field, and describe their contributions to it.

The environmental history shows that people were more associated with the endless forest, snow capped mountains, myriad lakes, prairie, games and abundant fish. The contemporary picture gallery of Canada contains more distracting images such as polluted waterways, melting ice caps, deforestation, depleted fisheries, and other environmental issues. The drastic issues are defined by chronological and thematic approaches. Macdowell and Laurel Sefton worked to explore the human interactions with the origin and lands. The interaction defines damaging conditions and current environmental crisis. The issues illustrated by exploration of past are certainly different from many perspectives.

The traces of colonials in Canada and the other national developments that are carried out in the recent era are facing environmental problems such as climate changes, urban sprawl, and collapse of fisheries. The studies show that human interaction with the environment results in changing the provocative new features that need to be defined with less complexity in the environmental problems. The aboriginal European contact with the people caused variation in the cultural and environmental conditions and the significant issues raised by the movement of wildlife, plants and people (Hirschman & Mogford, 2010).

The environment was then transformed according to the perspective of the people. Such as fur trade caused slaughtered millions of animals and destroyed the ecosystem. As a result of modern people action, the aboriginal people were left with very little sustainable conditions. The trade was facing political and economic developments and there as a new wave of settling in the ecosystem. Canada remains a grim narrative in the wildlife history with the higher variation in the natural ecosystem and environmental system.

MODULE 2: The Industrial Revolution

2.      Drawing on the readings and content items from Module 2, explain and describe the Industrial Revolution. Where and when did it happen, why was it ‘revolutionary,’ and what was were the technologies that were associated with it. Briefly list and explain the major social and environmental effects of the Industrial Revolution. 400 -750)

The general history discussed here started with the human past on the planet. The political historians analyzed the phenomenon and social histories that can be categorized in different classes such as economic conditions, race, gender and ethnicity. For the environmental historians the nature of the human development and social life are both different. The historians focused on the interdependent relationship between the natural world and the human beings with their environment. The environmental history is, however, relatively new that emerged in past 1970s and 1980s and got attention of humans for how they reached this planet. Some histories of Canada suggest the relationship between conflicts and trade. Canadian environmental history puts in different perspective of that are complex and are often reciprocal to the human societies. In the era of the increasing awareness, the Canadians are becoming aware of the environmental policies and actions. The study of history interplays a major role that force towards different conditions such as changing ideas, political factors, resource issues and usages, pattern settlement, and ecology.

The size and selectivity of the immigrant community in Canada was disproportionate to the residence in the large cities. The half of the manufacturing workers in 1920 and third generation were included as immigrants in the industries (Kim, 2012). The two third of the workers in the manufacturing sector were from the immigrants and they were having better working conditions with higher wages. The industrial revolution was might be slow and it closed the doors to the mass immigrations in 1920s. The increased recruitment in industries was from the native born workers in the industrial cities in middle decades of 20^th century (Hirschman & Mogford, 2010).

MODULE 3: The Consumer Revolution

3.      Describe and explain how and why Cancun, Mexico was created as a tourist destination. Identify and explain the social and environmental impacts of tourism in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, also known as the “Mayan Rivieria” (500 words or less). Students may also consider consulting Juarez (2002) for additional context and support in answering this question.

The books of Canadian history recast different context such as environment and encourages the students to understand different concepts such as bioregionalism, ecological theory, and environmentalism. The theories are related to understanding of patterns of new Canadian settlement, sensibilities, resource use and changing conditions of environment. The work on history contributes in the critical analysis of environmental changes and how it causes adverse impact on the human life. The comprehensive illustration of Canadian history helps in contextualization of major factors.  

The coastal tourism was often considered as a process to generate foreign revenues due to its fact of engendering the environmental and social impacts. The growth of Cancun in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo was late in 1960s. There were different social and, physical and financial considerations that impact suggest the centralized planning process (Hirschman & Mogford, 2010). The factors that induced impact on the tourism of the state are changes in the land usage, population, control, emphasis, tourism market, penetration of foreign market, weak regulatory enforcement, and short-term economic gain. The tourism there is now ranked as second or third most important industry in Quintana Roo state (Hirschman & Mogford, 2010).

The tourism revenues are 1/3 and 90% of whole industries. There are different social and environmental factors that are often largely documented in the world. The source of attraction for the tourist is abundant natural and cultural attractions and different organizations are working together to improve and maintain these tourist places. The most prominent organizations include national council for tourism, and they developed national tourism development plan in 1961 and 1962  (Murray, 2007).     

4.      Identify and differentiate the key themes, messages, and symbols communicated in post-2007 oil sands advertisements. Summarize and describe how oil sands advertising is ‘greenwashed’, and explain how environmental activists have protested this. (400-750 words)

Canada always used industry advertisement campaign to develop a strong environment. The key focus and the objective of the industry is to provide visual commitment that restore, preserve, and reclaim the natural environment. Different subsequent campaigns worked individually and collectively to undertake the multidimensional strategy of campaign. The prominent consideration is to celebrate the oil ubiquity and the consumer culture, different advertisement strategies were used such as key themes, symbols, and short messages. The most common method was to use thematic and visual advertisement methods. It was first introduced in 2006 before the 2007 oil sands advertisement (Kim, 2012).

The example of greenwashing of oil is Canadian multinational oil and gas corporation and they indicate that products are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in actual these products were increasing the greenhouse gas emissions. The advertainment strategy used in this way is illegal according to the standard guidelines of advertisement. The reason is that the companies are addressing misleading claims.  The reason is that the greenwashing is not good for the environment and companies claim that the product and services are helping the users to safe environment. The Canadian oil sands that were derived from the sands were dirty due the lifecycle of greenhouse gas emissions (Kim, 2012).

 The emission is released over the course of refining, consumption, production, and transportation. The conservative estimates show one barrels of tar sand crude oil results as production of 17 percent emissions. The greenhouse gas emission from Canadian oil sands is estimated as 82%. Therefore, using this strategy could be misleading as majority of people find it wrong (Kim, 2012).

References of A Brief History of Humans and the Environment

Hirschman, C., & Mogford, E. (2010). Immigration and the American Industrial Revolution From 1880 to 1920. Soc Sci Res., 38(04), 897-920.

Kim, R. (2012). Refining Advertisements of the Canadian Tar Sands. Seattle journal for social justice, 10(02), 845-850.

Murray, G. (2007). Constructing Paradise: The Impacts of Big Tourism in the Mexican Coastal Zone. Coastal Management, 35(01), 339-355.