In late April I gave a talk surveying the history of the relations between Canadian science and the Canadian environment � part of a larger interest of mine in the relations between the history of science and environmental history. This was at a conference at York University, organized in memory of Richard Jarrell, former professor at York, and a founder of the study of the history of Canadian science and technology.
After touching on the assorted connections (today and historically) between science and the environment, I noted that Jarrell had set the tone for much of our understanding of this topic in A Curious Field-Book, the book of primary sources that he and Trevor Levere edited way back in 1974 (see the slide below � my copy has coffee stains: it's been well-used!) Texts from the 1800s drawn from this book can illustrate some of the connections made historically between science and the Canadian landscape, in terms of policy, practice, and place.
I then went on to survey some of our current understanding about the history of Canadian science and the environment, with my talk organized in terms of these three themes.
Considering policy, I noted the formation and expansion of diverse scientific and resource management institutions � by both government and, increasingly, by other actors. The relation between science and policy has also been evident in the application of science to the extension of national territory, whether on the ground or in the air. In fact, the concept of "territory" has itself taken on diverse meanings.
Turning to practice, I discussed the relations between the production of credible scientific knowledge and the material practices of scientists. Of particular note as well are the relations between these practices and scientists' evolving social identities.
And finally, I discussed the relations between science and place: why, for example, scientists find particular places, such as the Arctic, scientifically interesting. There have been a variety of reasons, and these together illustrate how place-based opportunities for science can be defined, at least in part, in terms of the relations between place and discipline, through which are formed "places good to think with". I also noted that scientists don't just study places, they sometimes also contribute to constructing the identity of a place � such as the Oak Ridges Moraine, a landform north of Toronto (and a place in which Richard Jarrell took a special interest).
I think these three themes � of policy, practice, and place � can form a useful basis for thinking about how science relates to environmental history.
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