Mary Baxter
LightNews LightNews
banner
maryeb.bsky.social
Mary Baxter
@maryeb.bsky.social
290 followers 640 following 64 posts
Passionate about putting Ontario's southwest into words; currently on a deep dive into history @ Western University. Beaglist.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
Nomination are now open for the 2027 NiCHE Prize for Best Article or Book Chapter!

This prize is awarded every other year for meritorious publications that make important and innovative contributions to the field of Canadian environmental history, broadly conceived

niche-canada.org/2026/09/28/2...
2027 NiCHE Prize Call for Nominations
Nominations now open for the 2027 NICHE Prize for best journal article or book chapter!
niche-canada.org
September 28, 2026 at 4:49 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
That feeling of when you wait and wait and wait for your computer's operating system upgrade to download and you are NEARLY there ... and then comes the message, "Failed to download."
September 17, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
americanstudier.bsky.social
+ @etiennetoussaint.bsky.social @aheartofgould.bsky.social @solzyatthemovies.com @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social & many more! Add more below, please share the whole thread widely if you're able, & enjoy, all!

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 293 (9/13/26) – Black and White and Read All Over
Here it is, my 293rd #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, &...
blackwhiteandread.com
September 13, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
Our editor @maryeb.bsky.social got to sit down with Thomas G. Andrews to discuss his new book The Great Horse Flu: A Forgotten Contagion and the Fate of Reconstruction America ( @uncpress.bsky.social 2026). Read the interview, watch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify.

niche-canada.org/2026/09/12/w...
What a Horse Flu Reveals about Societies at the Dawn of Industrialization: In Conversation with Thomas G. Andrews about The Great Horse Flu
Historian Thomas G. Andrews discusses his book on an 1872 equine flu outbreak and its insights into 19th-century society.
niche-canada.org
September 12, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
"Pitching, Pitfalls, Soundbites and Historians: Lessons from the Lake Ontario Naming Dispute" is a conversation between our two editors @maryeb.bsky.social and @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social about Macfarlane's recent Lake Ontario media attention.

niche-canada.org/2026/09/05/p...

#envhist #cdnhist
Pitching, Pitfalls, Soundbites and Historians: Lessons from the Lake Ontario Naming Dispute
After a controversial presidential proposal regarding Lake Ontario, historian Dan Macfarlane gained sudden media attention, sharing advice on handling press.
niche-canada.org
September 9, 2026 at 7:09 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
Depending on your IP address, I would suspect, here is what you would get when looking at the Great Lakes on Google Maps. However, you also get the image on the left if you have the map zoomed out. Lake Ontario only seems to appear the closer you get and Google recognizes your IP.
August 30, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
"Southern Ontario is one of the most common places for tornadoes to occur in the country, along with the southern regions of our prairie provinces." - Jessica Linzel

niche-canada.org/2023/03/09/t...
Tornado in Niagara: An 18th Century Canadian Catastrophe
So was this really the first tornado to touch Niagara’s soil since the formation of the landscape 4,000 years prior? Likely not.
niche-canada.org
July 23, 2026 at 3:58 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
In 1991, Canada and the United States established the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement to work cooperatively on the pollution that was causing acid rain that was affecting both countries.
July 18, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
Read @maryeb.bsky.social 's conversation with @riffsandmeaning.bsky.social about his book here: niche-canada.org/2026/06/10/e...

#envhist #envhum #clifi #scifi #filmstudies
July 17, 2026 at 7:31 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
Just found out that I won the James Pritchard Student Article Prize from the Canadian Nautical Research Society for my article about sand suckers at Point Pelee that published earlier this year in The Northern Mariner! What a delightful surprise! Here is the article: doi.org/10.25071/256...
Point Pelee’s Disappearing Act: Sand Suckers, Erosion, and Conflict Along the Shores of a Canadian National Park | The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord
doi.org
June 30, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
"I didn’t realize they were the 'primary care providers' of our relationship with our landscape—managing floods, protecting forests and wildlife, and curbing farm runoff." - @maryeb.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2026/02/14/o...

#envhist #ontario #conservation #onpoli #cdnpoli #cdnhist
Ontario's Conservation Authorities: Past, Present and Future
Ontario’s conservation authorities evolved from watershed-based environmental management but now face restructuring, funding pressures, politicization, and criticism over balancing development and eco...
niche-canada.org
June 27, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
Our editor, @maryeb.bsky.social, got the opportunity to chat with @riffsandmeaning.bsky.social about his new book Post-Catastrophe Film: Cinematic Visions in the Aftermath of Disaster (@intellectbooks.bsky.social 2026)

niche-canada.org/2026/06/10/e...

#envhist #envhum #scifi #clifi #books #film
End of the Road or New Beginnings? Stephen Lee Naish Reflects on the Post-Catastrophe Film's Relationship to Climate Change
"What is interesting about post-catastrophe narratives is that they explore the immediate reaction and confusion to a disaster in a real and relatable way and then proceed with the work that has to be...
niche-canada.org
June 11, 2026 at 4:18 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
A pivotal moment in Canadian history in which feminism, environmental protest and the Cold War crossed paths. Well worth a read:
nichecanada.bsky.social NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · May 7
Today we have "The Voice of Women’s Radiation Brief: Mobilizing Motherhood for Citizen Science" by Emma Schroeder

This is the first post in our series “Mobilizing Motherhood,” focused on mothers in twentieth-century industrial and environmental activism.

niche-canada.org/2026/05/07/t...

#envhist
The Voice of Women's Radiation Brief: Mobilizing Motherhood for Citizen Science
In 1960s Canada, VOW women conducted citizen science on radiation, blending motherhood and activism amid internal debates over politics, science, and femininity.
niche-canada.org
May 7, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
"Through marine social sciences, ocean humanities and Indigenous knowledge, other pathways can be explored toward a better understanding of human-ocean relationships." - @suereid.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2025/05/07/c...

#oceans #deepseamining #mining
Current legal frameworks can’t protect the oceans from deep-sea mining and the negative impacts on humankind
The U.S. shift to domestic seabed mining highlights weak international protections, flawed International Seabed Authority (ISA) oversight, and growing calls for reform.
niche-canada.org
May 1, 2026 at 7:04 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
Nearly five years ago, I took a chance and launched in a new direction. Still writing, still research, still southwestern Ontario as my beat, but looking back in time even as I continue to cover the present. This journey has been profoundly rewarding. It's not just... (thread)
May 1, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
Today we are highlighting the new special issue of American Review of Canadian Studies @acsus.bsky.social on US–Canada Energy and Environmental Relations, edited by @danielmacfarlane.bsky.social

niche-canada.org/2026/04/29/s...

#envhist #cdnhist #uscanada #borderstudies
Special Issue - US–Canada Energy and Environmental Relations
Canada–US relations revolve around a core paradox: economic prosperity through resource exports versus maintaining national autonomy.
niche-canada.org
April 29, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
1) "Ontario’s Conservation Authorities: Past, Present and Future" by @maryeb.bsky.social - niche-canada.org/2026/02/14/o...

#envhist #cdnhist #ontario #conservation
Ontario's Conservation Authorities: Past, Present and Future
Ontario’s conservation authorities evolved from watershed-based environmental management but now face restructuring, funding pressures, politicization, and criticism over balancing development and eco...
niche-canada.org
April 29, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
ICYMI: "When you first come to the Rockies, it doesn’t take long before you hear about Mary Schäffer Warren. She was a standout woman trailblazer whose enticing story is one that the tourism industry loves to introduce to visitors." - Meghan J. Ward

niche-canada.org/2026/04/14/r...

#envhist
Retracing the Steps of Mary Schäffer Warren
American explorer Mary Schäffer Warren studied Rockies wildflowers, explored Maligne Lake, later inspiring filmmakers to recreate and reinterpret her legacy.
niche-canada.org
April 23, 2026 at 6:59 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
This interview with the makers of Wildflowers for @nichecanada.bsky.social was fun! The film is about Mary Schäffer Warren, who surveyed Maligne Lake in Jasper Nat'l Park in the early 1900s for the Geological Survey of Can. (an extraordinary feat for a woman then!) niche-canada.org/2026/04/14/r...
Retracing the Steps of Mary Schäffer Warren
American explorer Mary Schäffer Warren studied Rockies wildflowers, explored Maligne Lake, later inspiring filmmakers to recreate and reinterpret her legacy.
niche-canada.org
April 15, 2026 at 8:31 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
A powerful piece here that describes reconciliation in action and how this valuable process is now under threat from funding reductions and the growth of denialism. An essential read.
April 3, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
We will have @maryeb.bsky.social 's interview with the directors of Wildflowers on the site in April!
knowledge.ca Knowledge Network @knowledge.ca · Mar 25
Writer and historian Meghan J. Ward and a team of creative women revisit Mary Schäffer Warren’s 1908 expedition to Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. Retracing Mary's steps, they discover that sometimes we must look back to blaze a better trail forward.

Wildflowers

Watch free on knowledge.ca
March 26, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
mhayday.bsky.social
There's something so repugnant and insulting when such a generic letter, filled with bland platitudes, is sent to an association of historians who know full well who is to blame for these cutbacks. Many of us specialize in the histories of government, politics, and the state, for goodness sakes!
March 18, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Mary Baxter
nichecanada.bsky.social
Our editor, @maryeb.bsky.social, takes a deep dive into "Ontario’s Conservation Authorities: Past, Present and Future."

"The Ontario Conservative government became a willing partner in the early 1940s..."

niche-canada.org/2026/02/14/o...

#envhist #cdnhist #ontario #onpoli
Ontario's Conservation Authorities: Past, Present and Future
Ontario’s conservation authorities evolved from watershed-based environmental management but now face restructuring, funding pressures, politicization, and criticism over balancing development and eco...
niche-canada.org
February 18, 2026 at 8:34 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
Oh my goodness! Really excited to share what I've learned and hope that others will share their insights.
westernuhistory.bsky.social Department of History - Western University @westernuhistory.bsky.social · Feb 18
We look forward to welcoming guests on zoom from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Oil Museum of Canada, the Petroleum History Institute, Lambton County Archives, Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Library, Billman Geologic Consultants, Inc., Double B Well Services, & more! @maryeb.bsky.social
westernuhistory.bsky.social Department of History - Western University @westernuhistory.bsky.social · Feb 2
Join us on Thursday, February 26, 2026 to hear Mary Elizabeth Baxter, PhD candidate speak on, "Divided Waters: The Early Years of Oil and Gas Extraction in the Great Lakes." RSVP to [email protected]. All are welcome!
February 18, 2026 at 2:33 PM
maryeb.bsky.social
Change is coming to the Ontario conservation authority system, but is it the change we need? In this @nichecanada.bsky.social post, I look at the history of the agencies that have been the "primary care providers" of our relationship with our watersheds. Thoughts? niche-canada.org/2026/02/14/o...
Ontario's Conservation Authorities: Past, Present and Future
Ontario’s conservation authorities evolved from watershed-based environmental management but now face restructuring, funding pressures, politicization, and criticism over balancing development and eco...
niche-canada.org
February 17, 2026 at 12:53 PM