Category: Book Review

Today, Heather rediscovered her copy of the nomination document for the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve, dated July 2001.

I was interested in checking the designation of the buffer zone. At that time, the buffer zone included:

55 sq.km within Kejimkujik National Park (zone 3 and 4)

37 sq.km provincial crown land adjoining Kejimkujik National Park

53 km lower portion of the Shelburne River

Nova Scotia Power lands at north end of Lake Rossignol and upper reaches of the Mersey River.

Crown managed lands at Indian Fields, west of Tobeatic Wilderness Area.

Endorsements (i.e. in charge of the management of the buffer zone)

Nova Scotia Minister of Natural Resources, Fisheries and Agriculture

Freeman and Son Ltd

Nova Scotia Power Inc.

Mersey Woodlands

Where are we today, in 2020?

Clearly the description of the buffer zone (in 2001) did not satisfy the ten year UNESCO MAB review.

Today, we need to know :

a) the 2020 definition of the buffer zone. Which lands, where and size?

b) the parties in charge of the management of the buffer zone.

In the 2001 nomination document, there is a description of the values upheld by SNBRA.

“Ultimately the identity and success of the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve in addressing issues associated with advancing ecological, cultural and economic sustainability will depend on goodwill and civic spirit of the organization and citizens participating as members of the Association.”

The same is true today.

On Sunday, November 29, 2020 there was an opportunity to watch the TVO documentary, Striking Balance that reaffirms these values. There is also the opportunity to protest the lack of transparency by the provincial government on its management of crown lands.

Acknowledgements

Heather produced the original submission in 2001. Edward added the graphics to this blog.

Reference

SNBRA, July 2001. Biosphere Reserve Nomination. Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve
(link to 2010 Nomination Overview document)

Brian, my neighbour, was over this morning to fix the bookcases. They had collapsed, likely under the weight of the books. This has given me the opportunity to rediscover a number of books collected in our travels. For example, shelf 6 focuses on Haida Gwaii.

As I try to understand the stand off between the citizens in rural Nova Scotia with their concern for the forested landscape and associated species and the provincial government, intent on clear-cutting and spraying, I wonder whether there are lessons from Lyell Island on Haida Gwaii.

My starting point was the book by Joseph Weiss, Shaping the Future: life beyond settler colonization on Haida Gwaii.

Is there life beyond settler colonization in Nova Scotia?

On the same shelf, I found Islands in the Salish Sea: a community atlas.

Two quotations, from Geographers struck home. In the Preface from Robert Bateman,

“In our global, packaged world we are losing a sense of place. This is a philosophical tragedy. It results in a lack of caring, a lack of sense of community and a neglect of civil responsibility. It is also an environmental and human tragedy. For with the loss of knowledge of and intimacy with our home place, we are losing our sense of spirit.”

In the Foreword, Briony Penn:

“One thing I have learned as a professional geographer is that whoever has the maps in their hand controls the fate of the land. Cartographers have been at the forefront of turning land and nature into polygons of commodities.”

I would also recommend the writings from Robert Bringhurst and Ian Gill. For readers interested in Haida Gwaii, I have provided a list of titles from Shelf 6. Perhaps, at a later date, we can visit other shelves.

Acknowledgements

Heather shared the Haida Gwaii experience. Edward provided the graphics.

References

Joseph Weiss, 2018, Shaping the Future: life beyond settler colonization on Haida Gwaii. UBC Press.

Sheila Harrington and Judi Stevenson (Ed), 2005, Islands in the Salish Sea: a community atlas. The Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia.

Christie Harris, 1992, Raven’s Cry. Douglas and McIntyre.

Ian Gill, 2004, Haida Gwaii Journeys through the Queen Charlotte Islands, Rainforest Books.

Karen Duffek and Charlotte Townsend-Gault (Ed), 2005, Bill Reid and Beyond: expanding on modern native art, Douglas and McIntyre.

Robert Bringhurst (Ed), 2009, Solitary Raven : the essential writings of Bill Reid, Douglas and McIntyre.

Thom Henley, 2017, Raven walks around the World, Harbour Publishing.

Robert Bringhurst, 2012, A Story as Sharp as a Knife. Douglas and McIntyre.

Ian Gill, 2009, All that we say is ours: Guujaaw and the reawakening of the Haida Nation, Douglas and McIntyre.

Dennis Horwood and Tom Parkin, 2006, Haida Gwaii: the Queen Charlotte Islands, Heritage House.

Ruth Kirk, 1986, Wisdom of the Elders: native traditions on the Northwest coast, Douglas and McIntyre.

Christie Harris, 1977, Mouse Woman and the Mischief-maker, McLelland Stewart.

Sean Markey et al., 2005, Second Growth: community economic development in rural British Columbia, UBC Press.

Monday, we headed up to Wolfville. I could not resist a quick stop at the Odd Book. Within minutes, I had found two keepers.

The Practice of the Wild, essays by Gary Snyder. It seemed very appropriate to the battle we face trying to preserve the forested landscape in Nova Scotia. The first essay, The Etiquette of Freedom talks about the words, Nature, Wild and Wilderness. The second essay, The Place, the Region and the Commons covers the world is places, understanding the Commons and Bio-regional perspectives.

The second book published by Gorsebrook Studies in the Political Economy of the Atlantic region, Contested Countryside : rural workers and modern society in Atlantic Canada 1800-1950, edited by Daniel Samson. Within the chapter by Erik Kristiansen, Time, Memory and Rural Transformation: Rereading History in the Fiction of Charles Bruce and Ernest Buckler, it places Buckler into the economic context after the Second World War. Not an easy read, but thought provoking. There is also an Afterword by Daniel Samson Capitalism and Modernization in the Atlantic Canada countryside. With that in mind, move forward to 2020.

The third book is by Antony Berger and is the biography of his mother, Ella Manuel. This one came from the Lawrencetown library. Heather has snagged it, so this is an indirect review. It describes her life in Western Newfoundland, after the Second World War, a single Mother with young children, and the economic life in Lomond and Bonne Bay. Interestingly, Berger has also written about Bonne Bay: This Good and Beautiful Bay, a History of Bonne Bay to Confederation and a little beyond. Berger now spends his time between Wolfville and Woody Point.

All three books raise the question: what is the impact of the surrounding landscape and rural economy on the writers view of the world?

In the case of Gary Snyder, it is the Yuba River country in the Sierra Nevada of Northern California. For Ernest Buckler, it is the Annapolis Valley. For Ella Manuel and Antony Berger it is Bonne Bay, Western Newfoundland.

I would encourage reading the chapter in Contested Countryside, Rereading of History, by Eric Kristiansen; challenging, but definitely relevant to our times.

Last weekend, we attended the Dave Gunning concert in Bridgetown. We came away with two CDs. This week, I have been listening to ‘These Hands’ and ‘Circle of Boots’.

Finally, I had the chance to drop off some excess books at Endless Shores in Bridgetown and thus obtain a credit. The ones that were not of interest to Jennifer, I took to the Bridgetown post office.

Acknowledgements

The Odd Book in Wolfville, close to the university, is a readers’ goldmine. Jaki at the library obtained the Ella Manuel biography. Heather for her comments on the book. Edward for his graphics.

References

Gary Snyder, 1990. The Practice of the Wild. North Point Press.

David Samson (Ed.), 1994. Contested Countryside. Rural workers and modern society in Atlantic Canada 1880-1950. Acadiensis Press.

Antony Berger, 2014. The Good and Beautiful Bay: A History of Bonne Bay to Confederation and a little beyond. Flanker Press.

Antony Berger, 2020. No Place for a Woman. The life and Newfoundland stories of Ella Manuel. Breakwater Books.

Dave Gunning CDs No more Pennies 2012. Up against the Sky. 2019.

Visiting New Glasgow for the Thanksgiving Weekend, I had the opportunity to catch up on the October/November magazines from Saltscapes, Volume 21 #5.

“Some would make us just names on a list. But we are people in a place - and resist.” 

This seemed very appropriate at the time of our municipal elections.

From Walrus, there is notice of a new book by Robert MacFarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris, published by Anansi Press, The Lost Spells. In the latest Brain Pickings, see too, The Unwinding by Jackie Morris published in July 2020.

From Canadian Geographic, Volume 140 #5, there is a rich trove of articles.

• Michif Revitalized: How to save an endangered language.
• Mapping Canada’s biggest islands.
• How to avoid the sixth extinction.
• Keeping the inlet wild – Princess Louisa Inlet raised $3m in 3 months .

Meanwhile online, Emergence Magazine Episode 6. The Power of Revitalization of Language Keepers: The struggle for Indigenous language survival in California. (Podcast link HERE)

From Chelsea Green Publishing, Chris Smaje’s book, A Small Farm Future. ‘Chris Smaje has worked a small farm in Somerset, southwest England for the last seventeen years. Previously, he was a university-based social scientist’.

At resilience.org you can find Podcast from the Prairie: Respecting your tools. A conversation with Wes Jackson, now 84 years old, from the Land Institute.

Acknowledgements

John Stewart for his rich collection of magazines. Heather Stewart and Siqsiq, my travel companions. Sandra Stewart and Don Higgins for the wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner. Edward for searching out the links and associated graphics.

Joan Francuz is now a resident of Annapolis Royal. She has written and self-published a fascinating memoir of her life as a technical writer, within the context of the history of technological change, or in her terms ‘Scribes from Babylon to Silicon’. Many of us have participated in these technological changes throughout our working lives.

Her research reminds us of the long history of technological change from the earlier industrial revolutions. It offers a sobering moment of reflection, as we experience the current pandemic changes.

Somewhere in her book (I have tried to find the page) she references IDRISI.

Ah! Found it.

“Pockets of knowledge existed even outside the universities. King Roger II of Sicily, for example, gathered scholars at his court, including an Arab Muslim geographer named al-IDRISI (1100-1165) who collected information about the known world. The result was a document whose Arab name can be translated as “The delight of one who wishes to traverse the regions of the world.” The world map and 70 secondary maps that al-IDRISI produced would be the most accurate depicting of our planet for the next 300 years.” p.60.

In my earlier days, teaching the application of GIS technology, there was a software product, developed by Geographers at the University of Edinburgh, of that same name.

This weekend, we went to New Glasgow. We stopped downtown to look at the renovations to the Roseland Theatre. The building has been restored by James MacGillivray. There are murals by Christian Toth commemorating Viola Desmond. Plus artwork by local citizens, including Heather’s sister – Sandra Stewart.
I was impressed by the number of new business developments in the downtown core.

We had the opportunity to walk in the waters of the Northumberland Strait at Melmerby Beach. Stop for Sunday brunch at Pictou Lodge, before driving along the Blue Cycle Route from Pictou to Truro. Then through the Rawdon Hills from Shubenacadie to Windsor, and home.

Last word to Joan Francuz:

“ So what I tell my grandchildren is this: look out for barbarians, build your agricultural surplus, and everything will be all right in the end.” p.155.

I recommend a trip to Endless Shores Books in Bridgetown, and DO pick up a copy of ‘Press Enter to Continue’.

Acknowledgements

Heather for the companionship on our weekend road trip. Edward for his graphics contribution. Joan Francuz for putting the act of writing into such a rich cultural context.

Reference

Joan Francuz, 2018. Press Enter To Continue: Scribes from Babylon to Silicon. 1920 House Press

In Lunenburg, I picked up George Monbiot’s book Feral. It has taken me several weeks to read this well-researched work. There are excellent chapters on his travels in the Amazon, South Africa and Indonesia. His adventures off the Welsh coast in a sea kayak. At the time of writing, Monbiot was living in Central Wales. A major concern was the impact of sheep farming on landscape ecology.

‘The National Ecosystem Assessment states that agricultural land occupied some 1.64 m hectares or 79% of Wales in 2008 and that crops now account for only 3% of the agricultural land area’ p.159.

‘According to Kevin Cahill, the author of Who Owns Britain, 69% of the land here is owned by 0.6% of the population’ p.181.

Monbiot includes chapters on Rewilding the Sea, and the potential for Marine Protected Areas.

From a Nova Scotia perspective, it is interesting to speculate on the potential for Rewilding of the land and sea in Southwest Nova Scotia. Would this change our treatment of the landscape?

Feral was written in 2013. To obtain an update, I went online. Monbiot has written two new books. In 2017, How did we get in this mess? And 2018, Out of the Wreckage.

On the web site fivebooks.com he makes some suggested reading, plus: Jeremy Lent The Patterning Instinct and Martin Adams, Land: a new paradigm for a thriving world.

Postscript

Today, at Endless Shores Books in Bridgetown, I found Joan Francuz, Press Enter to Continue. From the back cover, ‘Like Cicero, she believes that if you have a garden and a library, you have everything that you need’.

I look forward to the day when I can check out some of these books through the services of inter-library loan. Meanwhile, the garden is enjoying the latest rain showers.

References

George Monbiot, 2013. Feral: rewilding the land, the sea and human life. University of Chicago Press.
From fivebooks.com Monbiot recommends:
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Thomas Piketty, Capital
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine
Paul Verhaeghe, What about me?
Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics

Joan Francuz, 2018. Press Enter to Continue: Scribes from Babylon to Silicon. 1920 House Press.