#37 From the prairies to the nation: Canadian conservation politics with Andrea Olive

In this episode, we are speaking with Andrea Olive, a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her primary research and teaching interest is in environmental policy and politics, primarily with respect to wildlife conservation in the prairie regions of Canada and the US. She is the author of multiple books - and, in this episode, we chat with her about her two most recent books that both came out in 2023: the first is entitled, Protecting the prairies: Lorne Scott and the politics of conservation and the second is a collection that she co-edited entitled, Transformative politics of nature: overcoming barriers to conservation in Canada We had a wide ranging conversation with Andrea. We first covered the life of Lorne Scott, and how his early fascination with nature set the stage for life long journey into environmental politics. And by reflecting on Lorne’s life, we were able to explore the unique socio-ecological context of the Canadian prairies. It was fascinating to learn that the impetus for a lot of our current federal environmental policy can actually be traced back to the assessment of major resource development projects in Saskatchewan. So there’s some important history there that gives some perspective on the trajectory of environmental management in Canada. Andrea also reflected back on her time putting together her other recent book, transformative politics of nature, noting the importance of the social connections that were made among authors and also how the book was likely influenced by the variable experiences that authors had through the Covid-19 pandemic. The diversity of authorship and topics covered in the book really set it apart from traditional conservation textbooks, and despite acknowledging some of the hard truths about where we are now for biodiversity and how we got to this point, there’s a thread of hope throughout the book that will likely catch the eye of the next generation of conservation scientists.