274 research outputs found
"Becoming Wise," an intellectual profile of engineer, inventor, & writer Copthorne Macdonald, for CBC Ideas
Fossil fuels, global warming and democracy: a report from a scene of the collision
What happens to democracy when the fossil fuel industry collides with global warming?
Introduction
Democracy is caught in a collision between two forces: the need to respond to global warming by cutting carbon emissions, and the demands of the fossil fuel industry to increase carbon use and production. This is a slow motion collision that will take decades to conclude, though its ending seems inevitable: coal, and then oil and natural gas, will be replaced by more sustainable energy sources, but only after great damage to the environment.
In this paper I explore the question, What happens to democracy when the fossil fuel industry collides with global warming?
This collision is already making its marks on democratic practices. The fossil fuel industry is using every tool it can to preserve its wealth and power by pressuring governments, political parties, universities, regulators, courts, and voters. It is a process of tough, aggressive, and sophisticated politics that ultimately depends on denying the evidence that global warming poses a danger that needs to be urgently confronted.
Without a theoretical framework to focus this inquiry, it could easily produce little more than a list of anecdotes about politics and influence. The value of good theory is that it reveals the patterns in the evidence, showing how the disparate pieces are connected to one another, and to larger historical, social, and economic factors. In this paper, I drew theory from (among others) Valerie Bunce, Timothy Mitchell, and most importantly Terry Lynn Karl.
I use the work of these scholars to focus on the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta provides an example of what can happen to democracy in places where fossil fuel production predominates. From time-to-time I link the paper to Australia, which depends even more than Canada on mineral extraction, and which is on the burning edge of global warming.
This paper should be read as a warning to people everywhere who are concerned about fossil fuel dependence, global warming, and democracy. Those who value democracy must ask, Can democracy as we know it survive global warming
Recasting history how CBC Television has shaped Canada's past
"This book explores Canadian history documentary and docudrama programming on CBC television since its beginnings in 1952. During this fifty-year period, television was a uniquely powerful medium --at once intimate and widely shared, reaching millions of people. CBC was the only Canadian broadcaster to consistently show history programming and has played a unique role in shaping Canadians' perceptions of their history. Analyzing the major works of Canadian history on CBC television over fifty years -- Explorations (1956-63), Images of Canada (1972-76), The National Dream (1974), The Valour and the Horror (1992), and Canada: A People's History (2000-02) -- reveals patterns and developments in content and presentation. As the author argues, these developments were not arbitrary but were impelled by a wide range of external factors: developments in broadcasting policy and regulation in Canada; television industry developments, including competition from a growing American market and for new Canadian broadcasters (such as CTV and Global) for viewers and for advertising revenue; the evolution of television itself, including the standards and financing of production and attention to ratings, technological change, and job creation; and the evolution of journalism and the role of journalists as supposed authorities. This book is both a critique of public history and a political economy of television production. The author has three major findings."-
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2I Negotiating Author Agreements
This fall, ACRL New England’s Scholarly Communication Interest Group is offering both a one- or two-day copyright workshop, in two different locations, taught by the New England Copyright Crew (NECC)! NECC includes Laura Quilter (Copyright and Information Policy Librarian, UMass Amherst), who spearheaded this approach last year at UMass, Kyle Courtney (Copyright Advisor, Harvard University), Ellen Finnie Duranceau (Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing, Copyright & Licensing, MIT Libraries), and Joan Emmet (Licensing & Copyright Librarian, Yale University).Advanced Topics : Licensing, Negotiation, and Scholarly Communication (Dec. 2 Boston, Dec. 16 Amherst) Laura Quilter, UMass - Authors & Scholarly Communication. Includes an overview of copyright in relation to author contracts, a hands-on exercise reviewing an author publication agreement, and pointers about talking with authors about their publication agreements
The CBC theory and its entailments : Why current models of the origin of consciousness fail
Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). The Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) model of biological consciousness is based on the assumption that life and conscious sentience are coterminus. All living organisms, are conscious, self-aware, and have valenced sensory and perceptual experiences
Assessing the value of a life: COVID-19 triage orders mustn\u27t work against those with disabilities
Author: Professor Roxanne Mykitiu
Without a Paddle: Schitt’s Creek, CBC, and the Return to Community and Family in Uncertain Times
Background The Canadian television landscape is a key site through which national identity is expressed and debated. This article examines one such site—the recent CBC hit comedy Schitt’s Creek(2015–)—that depicts economic uncertainty, family, and community. Analysis A textual analysis of the show and a cultural analysis of its production highlight the parallels between precarious Canadian identity and precarious economic conditions in the neoliberal era. Conclusions and implications Schitt’s Creekbuilds on other “retreatist” texts that portray small-community life and family as sites of stability in times of uncertainty. Yet it de-localizes this community from the Canadian context, using stars and the CBC platform, rather than content, to signify place. The author argues that these alternative signifiers of “Canadian-ness” along with a marked shift in tone potentially account for the show’s broad appeal. </jats:p
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Open Access, Nonexclusive Licensing, Author Rights
An overview of copyright in relation to author contracts, a hands-on exercise reviewing an author publication agreement, and pointers about talking with authors about their publication agreements. Also includes an overview of Creative Commons licensing and how open access policies can change the copyright default for authors and provide a legal mechanism for institutions to share author works
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