He/him. Settler. Geographer at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. Historical+social aspects of mining in Northern šØš¦. Co-author, The Price of Gold: https://www.mqup.ca/price-of-gold--the-products-9780228026174.php
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Not only is #DanielleSmith pleased about the #OilBoss PM #MarkCarney just put in charge of Canada's #MajorProjects & not only is she very pleased, #BigOil 's Premier Danielle Smith is "very, VERY pleased." Get ready, Climate-concerned Canadians. This PM will need RESISTANCE. #cdnpoli #abpoli
Itās almost like, without some education in the humanities, you reproduce racist tropes and power relations in your own work and world. Who could have known?
Depending on the course and whether knowledge/mastery of content is essential, you could also assess participation & products of in-class exercises. Less testy, more process oriented. Iām big on reflections too, but I hear these are being run through LLMs tooātho possibly more easy to detect.
Doing a lot of stuff in class. Itās the only wayāprocess process process. Assessment is a bit tricky but doable. You skip you lose; I didnāt invent CheatGPT
These guys need to, in the words of the noted heterosexualist Shoresy, āGive their balls a tug.ā
There are four main arguments for AI in education: 1. Efficiency, saving teachers time 2. Equity, making education inclusive 3. Improving outcomes by personalizing learning 4. It's inevitable Is it true? Nope. Micro š§µ
This is racist, xenophobic, and a waste of everyone's time. It makes me so angry that Legault is talking about "sending a message to Islamists" and we've got a minister talking about how "proliferation of street prayer is a serious and sensitive issue" (???). www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Oh look, someone invented Cliometrics š
Sad to be on the wrong side of the pond for this event--the seminar and the project look amazing with real relevance and connection to Canada.
Our first Call for Papers is live! If you are interested in writing the history of New Brunswick, engaging with popular audiences, and supporting small museums, then we would love to hear from you! Proposals for submissions are due 30 September 2025. See below for details:
I think Mary Shelley wrote a book about that...
š„“
To wit: a technology that was wastefully overbuilt by kleptocrats and speculators, feeding themselves at the trough of stolen land and degraded ecologies. So, yeah.
The Nexus Centre Presents: A Roundtable with Dr. Josh Lepawsky on "Mapping the Geographical Imaginations of the 'Tech Right'ā Sep 17, 2025 08:30 AM (in Edmonton) Angela Carter, Keif Godbout-Kinney, MĆ©l Hogan, and Anne Pasek respond. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Solidarity with @dalfaculty.bsky.social in their struggle for fairness. Our members @munfaculty.bsky.social weāre her just a couple years ago (though in Feb not balmy August!)
excited to share the call for the workshop EXTRACTIVE NATURES / NATURES OF EXTRACTION happening at @uobrisceh.bsky.social on 6-7 Nov 2025, made possible by the @britishacademy.bsky.social deadline: 10 September! full call below ā¤µ #envhist #envhum
This is like an ugly custody battleā¦
W.T.F.
1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research. This is wrong. And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.
ā¦and the link: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
In other mining related news: The ābig church moveā: Swedish town begins to roll historic building 5km
"In 1919, more than 6,500 Drumheller coal miners went on strike under the banner of the One Big Union to fight for better working and living conditions, and higher wages." - @daveberta.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2021/02/05/t... #labour #mininghistory #envhist #cdnhist
āGiven the ongoing genocide in Gazaā¦we call on Sport Canada and Tennis Canada to forbid Canadian athletes to compete against Israeli athletes at the Davis Cup and all other international events.ā - 413 šØš¦ academics, athletes + sports journalists, inc 3 former UN special rapporteurs + an Olympic š„ist
āuntil all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the swordā¦ā
Weāve bloodied their nose, now time to knock āem right out. The U.S. Alcohol Industry Is Reeling From Canadaās Booze Boycott - The Wall Street Journal
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Stereotypical āsmart peopleā spending fortunes to try to enhance a quantity in their children that does not exist and is nothing but racist pseudoscience. IQ test scores clearly exist but measure nothing more than an enculturated skill at test taking and a real correlation to brain damage.
I had avoided looking til now. JFC. Yup, all the books and more. Consider adding your name. Let's get these f***ers.
May the gods of royalties be with the new edition
"Memorial University has suffered the worst kind of austerity under successive Liberal governments over the last decade, losing up to 50% of its government funding [...] carried out by governments which consistently claim #MUN has autonomy, despite the fact the province appoints 14 of 30..." #nlpoli
Congrats! This is my single-most recommended book for folks wanting to learn about settler-Indigenous relations.
This is he crazy part about investing in fossil infrastructureāitās just a stranded asset waiting to happen. I suspect thatās what fossil companies want, anyway: subsidies now, buyouts later.
Then again, maybe weāll do it again tonight?
I mean, yeah, but even the Flames have won a Cup or two in their years of mid-ness. (Spoken as a long suffering Spurs fan.)
Tottenham Hotspur
Slightly diminish a band: Godspeed! You Black Courtier
Slightly diminish a band: The Mountain Stoats (sorry sorry I hope he doesnāt see this)
We're all gonna be so much safer when cops can open our mail and get all of our private information without judicial oversight. Because if there's one group we can all trust to not routinely abuse every drop of power they're given, it's cops.
Hey @geographers.bsky.social and #geographers please pass this great opportunity on in your networks!
War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength It will be on their money soon enough.
This is the way. Until Americans start withholding labour, thereās no chance of changing the trajectory of their politics. Cutesy signs done up for Saturday protests are easily ignored. Stopping work hits the bosses where they live.
Yoga!
Paging @charliemather.bsky.social
Yukon is known for its Klondike gold rush in the late 1800's, and though 100+ years have passed, some of its minerals legislation is still rooted in the past. Now, the Yukon government is taking steps to revamp its mining laws, but some arenāt happy about it.
A rundown of how major Canadian news outlets headlined the IDF killing Al Jazeera journalists (and which wire service they used): CBC News: Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif among journalists killed in Israeli strike (Thomson Reuters)
Strubās is a better pickle, full stop.
Real āWhitey on the Moonā vibes here.
Canadians literally putting Kentucky distillers out of business. You love to see it. Iām from BC: as me about softwood lumber. Turnabout is fair play.
That Everton has a policy to prohibit the wearing of Palestine football jerseysāa nation that participates in FIFA events under its own flagāis the most blatant example of discrimination possible, not to mention complicity in genocide.
Cool. Now šØš¦ās turn.
Resisting the sacrifice zones of extraction in Alaska. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Having lived in jurisdictions with both public and private insurance, I can testify definitively that public is better, cheaper, and fairer. Auto insurance should be socialized, full stop.
The anti-immigrant rhetoric of Smith, the UCP, and Polievre is anti-Canadian and appalling. We can only hope Albertans stamp it out at the polls every chance they get.
Alberta:
š§µ Dear Republican lawmakers, Canada has the largest intact boreal forest on the planet. An increasingly hotter world due to #ClimateChange makes longer dry seasons, far larger wildfires & yes, more smoke. No amount of "raking" fixes it. The scientists warned of exactly this for a very long time /1
Many of them work on/in the mining industryā¦.
At the risk of being Debby Downer, the šØš¦ Games guests will certainly get a close up view of how shabby Memorial University campus has become after decades of neglect and disinvestment. Once finished, I guess weāll have a nice pool and track tho. š¤·āāļø www.cbc.ca/sports/canad...
AHA is fucking failing us with this absolute garbage.
Justinās list of jobs with highest AI applicability: 1. Listicle Creator 2. Corporate Think Piece Writer 3. Entrepreneur LinkedIn Post Writer 5. AI Conference Presentation Slide Creator 6. AI Conference Panelist 7. Life CoachĀ® 8. Fad Diet Generator 9. CNN Staff Pundit 10. Rage Bait Content Creator
Check out collaborator & co-author John Sandlos' column on the history of the first mine in Arctic Canada/Inuit Nunagat, at Rankin Inlet, NU. #mining #envhist www.canadianminingjournal.com/featured-art...
At the risk of crossing Bluesky streams, the manocene is the stupidest of all recent geological eras.
We have a roundup of the last 4 conversations of Season 5 of NiCHE Conversations w/ @jessicamdewitt.bsky.social Find convos w/ Crystal Gail Fraser, @jdunkin.bsky.social, @ramya.bsky.social, Parineeta Dandekar, @peterfortna.bsky.social, & @arnkeeling.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2025/08/01/n...
š©Old Alberta coal mines are polluting rivers and endangering wildlife, says a new study by government scientists. The study is "a warning flag" for future coal projects in the province, says a former Alberta government scientist in charge of environmental monitoring. www.cbc.ca/1.7599449š #abpoli
Maybe not strictly historical but certainly political enough: Eillie Dunn I Pity the Country youtu.be/79sDTEU2VYk?...
If a scholar of petro-masculinity said that men lust for coal, it would be seen as an exaggeration. But here we are...
I think paying for the tar sands is inevitableālook at whatās happening in the rest of the Alberta with abandoned wells. Only difference is itās a provincial not federal liability.
It's always such an honour to have colleagues assign our work (and that of our students and collaborators!) in their classes.
Readers, if you don't know, course evals are often a nightmare for women & faculty of color. I've had friends & colleagues report students commenting on their appearance, using racial slurs, & making all sorts of misogynistic comments. white male = genius, non-white/female = pushing an agenda.
"We are living in big starvation - and people here also are thirsty... [tomorrow] I don't know if I will be able to get a drink of water or not." Please listen to my friend Hasan Jaber's account of living through war and famine in Gaza. It pains me to hear how weak he sounds.
Yet another long-abandoned #mine goes into federal remediation. With costs for these in the billions, isnāt it time for the industry to pony up to clean up its historical messes? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Thereās so much to be said about how cynical, how bloviating, how utterly beyond the pale this is, but the thing coming up for me most is the audacity to put such conditions on a symbolic gesture that actually does nothing to address the immediate mass starvation and genocide of an entire people.
For years I have been saying we must get rid of course evaluations. Lots of good tools for qualitative confidential feedback. But the bureaucratic centralized course evaluation is a tool for replicating bigotry.
Billions of dollars are given to oil and gas corporations each year in the form of subsidies from governments in Canada. Exactly how many billions is a matter of debate. And what even is a subsidy anyway? @drewanderson.bsky.social explains: thenarwhal.ca/oil-and-gas-...
Our column on Giant Mine was picked up on MSN.com: theconversation.com/yellowknifes...
Argh bears
Iām crushed for Sockeye. BC is salmon countryāno salmon no beats.
Reflecting on the implications of last week's International Court of Justice decision, UBC prof Michael Byers concludes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney"can no longer justify including fossil fuel projects among his infrastructure goals." #cdnpoli #icj www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
I mean, JFC if the FT can say it, so can you @markcarneyforpm.bsky.social
The FT View: The longer it has continued, the more it has borne the hallmarks of a vengeful assault by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuās far-right government to destroy the very fabric of Palestinian society. https://on.ft.com/3UBv3Us
Another installment inšØš¦ās fascination with collapsed post-mining townsāin this case layered onto the particularly weird form of adventurism that passes for āexplorationā these days. Like, Iāve been to UC too and there is a schedule flight, dude, you donāt need to ski. youtube.com/watch?v=xr_-...
Alberta: šØš¦ās pest tent. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Thatās Ok cause $5.50 is 99 cents now
āSvalbard is at the front line of the climate crisis, warming at six to seven times the global average rate" www.404media.co/scientists-r...
Sell it, and The Battery too if anyone will have it.
The era of climate migration is upon us. Residents of Tuvalu are slowly resettling in Australia. This is only the beginningā¦ www.wired.com/story/the-fi...
It is not enough @mark-carney.bsky.social to protest the "deteriorating" humanitarian disaster in Gaza. You must call it as it is. The State of Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Gaza on an ongoing basis, day-in day-out. You must call it. #cdnpoli #abpoli
MUN is vital to our provinceās social and economic well-being. Years of funding cuts has led to the weakening of our public university. Our government must invest in MUN and our future. We stand with faculty, staff, & students in demanding better. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
My piece echos Lynn Jacobs', but focuses on how even the best version of the Treaty includes Indigenous knowledge, but not Indigenous Peoples. Meaning, it's not a rights-based model like the one outlined by the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Canvas just became one of the most powerful surveillance, IP theft, & data monetization tools in the world. OpenAI bought a user-base locked in to long-term contracts. But they canāt make us use their trashware. Boycott. Luddify. Open source. Donāt let them have your work or your students.
Article 54 of the 1977 Geneva Convention Protocol I. 1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.
Nightmare.
When I worked at Lupin Gold Mine back in the day, there was an annual day of friendly competitions. The mine rescue guys were always top notch. I hope these guys get out safe. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Arn Keeling and John Sandos on The Price of Gold in The Conversation: buff.ly/lJR1ZzZ @arnkeeling.bsky.social
Idiots. Oh well, they can look forward to the future when demographic collapse hits the UK and nobody is able to retire and health care is rationed. My schadenfreude plays a long game.
Want a preview of our book, The Price of Gold, with @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social ? Check out our article in @theconversation.com today: theconversation.com/yellowknifes...
Hey look! Our forthcoming book, The Price of Gold, is today's book giveaway in @hilltimes.com: www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/0... @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social
There are of course other practices we could point to: in their lab, my colleague @maxliboiron.bsky.social emphasizes research relations in how authorship & ācreditā are (collaboratively) assigned.
Mmmmm artisanal š¤¤
In some ways, we might ask: what labour is made invisible by invoking the primacy of the PI/author? How might LLMs threaten (human) academic labour of all kinds, while remaining problematically invisibilized? We def need good politics/ethics around this.
Mostly agree... but of course in many fields, research is a distributed & collaborative activity, of which PIs are "managers" of a sort: RAs doing lit searches, lab techs doing experiments, colleagues & collabs shaping conclusions. LLMs are different than that, and problematic. But it's not B + W.