274 research outputs found

    Fossil fuels, global warming and democracy: a report from a scene of the collision

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    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

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    "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."-

    The CBC theory and its entailments : Why current models of the origin of consciousness fail

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    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

    Spike Chiseltooth

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    Imagine a Castle of Blue: Romance, feminism, and L. M. Montgomery

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    Without a Paddle: Schitt’s Creek, CBC, and the Return to Community and Family in Uncertain Times

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    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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