In Defence of Home Places

As environmental deterioration became a major political issue near the end of the twentieth century, activists in Nova Scotia stood together to defend the places they called home. Though they worked in concert to protect their unique environments and local economies, they disagreed about the causes of environmental problems, the role of humanity in nature, and the place of environmentalists in the political process. In Defence of Home Places examines the diversity of environmental activism in Nova Scotia, illustrating how radicals and conservatives combined efforts to achieve early legislative and social success. It also chronicles the debates and disagreements over fundamental principles that then weakened and divided the powerful environmental movement. Placing the evolution of Nova Scotian environmental activism within a broader theoretical framework, Mark R. Leeming considers its development in national and international contexts. Beyond a simple progress narrative, this volume examines the environmental movement itself as well as the choices and tactics that brought about its greatest successes and failures.