Science Literacy Week

Alberta's oil sands represent a vast and untapped oil reserve that could reasonably supply all of Canada's energy needs for the next 475 years. With an estimated 300 billion barrels of recoverable oil at stake, the quest to develop this natural resource has been undertaken by many powerful actors, both nationally and internationally. Using research that integrates the economic, political, scientific, and business factors that have been influential in discovering and developing the sands, this book provides a comprehensive history of the oil sands project and a window on the nature of the complex relationships between industry, government, and transnational players. This book is the first comprehensive volume to examine the origins and development of the oil sands industry over the last century.

Understanding the history of energy and the evolving place of energy in society is essential to facing the changing future of energy production. Across North and South America, national and localized understandings of energy as a common, public, or market good have influenced the development of energy industries. Energy in the Americas brings the diverse energy histories of North and South American nations into dialogue with one another, presenting an integrated hemispheric framework for understanding the historical constructions of contemporary debates on the role of energy in society. Rejecting pat truisms, this collection historicizes the experiences of producers and policymakers and assesses the interplay between environmental, technological, political, and ideological influences within and between countries and continents. Breaking down assumptions about the evolution of national energy histories, Energy in the Americas broadens and opens the conversation. De-emphasizing the traditional focus on national peculiarities, it favours an international, integrated approach that brings together the work of established and emerging scholars. This is an essential step in understanding the circumstances that have created current energy policy and practice, and the historical narratives that underpin how energy production is conceptualized and understood.

For over 130 years, Imperial Oil dominated Canada's oil industry. Their 1947 discovery of crude oil in Leduc, Alberta transformed the industry and the country. But from 1899 onwards, two-thirds of the company was owned by an American giant, making Imperial Oil one of the largest foreign-controlled multinationals in Canada. Imperial Standard is the first full-scale history of Imperial Oil. It illuminates Imperial's longstanding connections to Standard Oil of New Jersey, also known as Exxon Mobil. Although this relationship was often beneficial to Imperial, allowing them access to technology and capital, it also came at a cost, causing Imperial to be assailed as the embodiment of foreign control of Canada's natural resources. Graham D. Taylor draws on an extensive collection of primary sources to explore the complex relationship between the two companies. This groundbreaking history provides unprecedented insight into one of Canada's most influential oil companies as it has grown and evolved with the industry itself.

Climate catastrophe throws into stark relief the extreme, life-threatening inequalities that affect millions of lives worldwide. The poorest and most marginalized, who are least responsible for the consumption and emissions that create climate change, are the first and hardest impacted, and the least able to protect themselves. Climate justice is simultaneously a movement, an academic field, an organizing principle, and a political demand. Building climate justice is a matter of life and death. Climate Justice and Participatory Research offers ideas and inspiration for climate justice through the creation of research, knowledge, and livelihood commons and community-based climate resilience. It brings together articulations of the what, why, and how of climate justice through the voices of energetic and motivated scholar-activists who are building alliances across Latin America, Africa, and Canada. Exemplifying socio-ecological transformation through equitable public engagement, these scholars, climate activists, community educators, and teachers come together to share their stories of participatory research and collective action. Grounded in experience and processes that are currently underway, Climate Justice and Participatory Research explores the value of common assets, collective action, environmental protection, and equitable partnerships between local community experts and academic allies. It demonstrates the negative effects of climate-related actions that run roughshod over local communities' interests and wellbeing, and acknowledges the myriad challenges of participatory research. This is a work committed to the practical work of transforming socio-economies from situations of vulnerability to collective wellbeing.

The pace of technological, social, and environmental change in Canada's Arctic has profound effects on resource management and policy decisions. The chapters in this volume result from a project undertaken by the Ocean Management Research Network that examines the nature of Arctic environmental evolution and sustainability. From the pressures of development, technological advances, globalization, and climate change to social and cultural life, this book attempts to define the nature of competing demands and assess their impact on the environment. Breaking Ice: Renewable Resource and Ocean Management in the Canadian North provide a detailed examination of ocean and coastal management in the Canadian north, exploring a wide range of issues critical to environmental stewardship and breaking the ice to connect academics, government managers, policy-makers, aboriginal groups, and industry.

Calgary, Alberta is a culturally diverse urban metropolis. Sprawling and car-dependent, fast-growing and affluent, it is dominated by the fossil fuel industry. For 30 years, Calgary has struggled to turn sustainability rhetoric into reality. Sustainability Matters is the story of Calgary's setbacks and successes on the path toward sustainability. Chronicling two decades of public conversations, political debate, urban policy and planning, and scholarly discovery, it is both a fascinating case study and an accessible introduction to the theory and practice of urban sustainability. A clear-eyed view of the struggles of turning knowledge into action, this book illuminates the places where theory and reality converge and presents an approach to municipal development, planning, and governance that takes seriously the urgent need to address climate change and injustice. Addressing a wide variety of topics and themes, including energy, diversity, economic development, and ecological health, Sustainability Matters is both a critique of current practice and a vision for the future that uses the city of Calgary as a microcosm to address issues faced by cities around the world. This is essential reading not only for every Calgarian working for a vibrant and sustainable future, but for all those interested in in the future of cities in a post-carbon world.

The International Joint Commission oversees and protects the shared waters of Canada and the United States. Created by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, it is one of the world's oldest international environmental bodies. A pioneering piece of transborder water governance, the IJC has been integral to the modern Canada-United States relationship. This is the definitive history of the International Joint Commission. Separating myth from reality and uncovering the historical evolution of the IJC from its inception to its present, this collection features an impressive interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners. Examining the many aspects of border waters from east to west The First Century of the International Joint Commission traces the three major periods of the IJC, detailing its early focus on water flow, its middle period of growth and increasing politicization, and its modern emphasis on ecosystems. Informative, detailed, and fascinating, The First Century of the International Joint Commission is essential reading for academics, contemporary policy makers, governments, and all those interested in sustainability, climate change, pollution, and resiliency along the Canada-US Border.

The internet is a powerful beast when it comes to science; the answer to any query you may have is just a few keystrokes away. But when there are multiple answers from various sources, how do we know what information is reliable? In Monkeys, Myths, and Molecules, bestselling author Dr Joe Schwarcz takes a critical look at how facts are misconstrued in the media. He debunks the myths surrounding canned food, artificial dyes, SPF, homeopathy, cancer, chemicals and much more. Dr. Schwarcz is the director of the McGill Office for Science and Society ("Separate Sense from Nonsense")

From the smallest parts inside us to the biggest questions about our universe, Jay tackles pressing topics, such as: Could we use a laser to shoot an asteroid that was about to hit earth? What exactly was a dodo and why did it go extinct? What makes peppers spicy? Touching on everything from food to robots to space to the animal kingdom, The Science of Why 3 is perfect for anyone who has stayed up late into the night pondering the weird and wonderful world we live in. Ingram has a Calgary connection as the co-founder of the annual creative science festival Beakerhead.