E-mail A Friend Tell a friend about the information found on this page by sending them an e-mail.   Your Name: Your E-mail:   Type an e-mail address, then click add: Add a Personal Message: (Optional)

January/February 2012 issue	Table of Contents War of 1812 Buried treasure Predicting the storm Diminishing coasts Water rising Nature vs. Disaster Whirlwind wedding Mosaic À la carte The Inside Story Editor’s Notebook Book Reviews Reverberations ----------------------------------------------- Past issues archive Subject index Contributors index

Michel Séguin stands in front of a line of products displaying the Go Eco sticker, reminding customers the packaging is recyclable. Photo courtesy Michel Séguin

ENVIRONMENT
Reduce, recycle, retail?

Retail savvy runs through Michel Séguin’s blood. He is an independent Canadian Tire dealer in Laval, Que., whose father Gilles once owned a Canadian Tire store. Both father and son also share a deep conviction about what retail can do to preserve the environment. Gilles founded the Environment Committee for the Association des marchands Canadian Tire du Québec in 1982; under his leadership, Canadian Tire stores started taking back used automotive oil for proper disposal in 1992. Now his son, who has chaired the same committee for the past 11 years, has spearheaded an ambitious environmental program that has been adopted by all 98 Canadian Tire stores in Quebec.

Launched last May, the Go Eco program aims to increase customer awareness of the importance of recycling and properly disposing of automotive products, such as used oil, fiters and batteries, anti-freeze and plastic containers, so that they don’t end up in landfills and waterways. It builds on existing recycling initiatives in the chain’s automotive centres, says Séguin, by engaging consumers and do-it-yourself mechanics.

For example, Go Eco labels prominently displayed on all oil and antifreeze containers, oil-filter packaging and aerosol cans remind customers to return used oil or empty containers to their nearest store. Sounds simple, but the stickers are effective: after a three-month test run in 10 stores in 2010, the number of plastic oil containers returned for recycling rose by 19 percent and the number of returned aerosol cans jumped by 35 percent.

“We’re pleased that our promotional materials and in-store signage are encouraging customers to contribute to the take-back program,” says Séguin, whose initiative has earned him the 2011 Canadian Award for Environmental Innovation, presented by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and 3M Canada.

Go Eco also strives for 100 percent recycling and responsible disposal of products used in Canadian Tire automotive centres. Packaging and waste have been reduced through bulk purchases of oil, antifreeze and windshield-washer fluid. The list of recyclables is growing, including all scrap metal, air filters and even windshield wiper blades. The program promotes regular maintenance of vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

The success of the Go Eco formula in Quebec has caught the attention of Canadian Tire owners accross the country. Séguin has recently been invited to speak to Ottawaarea retailers and to sit on a national environmental committee of Canadian Tire dealers. “If Go Eco snowballs into the other provinces, we will be doubly proud of this program that got its start in Quebec,” says Séguin. “It would be the jewel in our crown.”

— Monique Roy-Sole

top

AWARDS
World view

Anyway, that’s the hope that keeps us going, keeps us striving to do our best.” During 132 weightless days, the Michigan native and former naval flight surgeon executed 120 experiments for the U.S. science program, took more than 10,000 photos of Earth and, with his cosmonaut crewmates, saved the space station (and their lives) from a perilous on-board fire.

For his contribution to furthering geographic education around the world, Linenger was awarded The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Gold Medal at the Fellows Dinner held in Ottawa in November.

With what still sounds like fresh wonder, Linenger describes the “privilege” of space flight, of viewing the Earth in its entirety, the sun illuminating the edge of Japan and the northern lights dancing as the space station passed over the southern tip of Hudson Bay. It’s a vision that contributed to his powerful sense of world community. “I was honoured,” says Linenger, “when the world-renowned Royal Canadian Geographical Society validated that I had, indeed, been successful in advancing mankind’s knowledge of geography on a truly global level.”

— Nick Walker

AWARDS
Presidential sweep

From left to right: John Geiger, Gisèle Jacob and Arthur E. Collin (Photo: Remi Thériault)

Two former presidents of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Gisèle Jacob and Arthur E. Collin (ABOVE, with current president John Geiger at left), were presented in November with the 2011 Camsell Medal for outstanding service. Jacob was the first female president of the Society, a position she held from 2004 to 2010. A number of notable developments occurred under her leadership, including the launch of The Canadian Atlas Online and the publication of Canadian Geographic Travel. The native Montrealer is a former chair of the Geographical Names Board of Canada.

Also honoured is Jacob’s predecessor, Collin, a marine scientist who studied the Arctic Archipelago and whose involvement with the Society dates back to the late 1980s. Collin was president from 1998 to 2004, the year of the Society’s 75th anniversary and several special initiatives, including the joint publication of The Canadian Atlas with Reader’s Digest Canada.

— Carolina Novotny

AWARDS
Explorer and patron of geography receives Gold Medal

Sir Christopher Ondaatje (left) is awarded the 2011 Gold Medal by RCGS President John Geiger (right). (Photo: David Trattles)

During the 1970s and 1980s, Sir Christopher Ondaatje led something of a double life. At work, he was well known as a crack investment analyst whose boutique firm, Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon, earned millions for its clients. Away from the canyons of Bay Street, however, Ondaatje — who in November received The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Gold Medal, its most prestigious award — yearned for something more. He began reading voraciously about the exploits of the legendary British explorer Sir Richard Burton. By 1988, Ondaatje had decided to extract himself from the rat race, and in his words, he “chucked” his career.

“If you study their writings, their claims are different,” Ondaatje says. “If you do what I have done, which is follow the Burton-Speke journey, the significance is that what you read and what they have written and what they claim aren’t necessarily the whole truth.”

In 1996, accompanied by four Tanzanian guides, Ondaatje embarked on a roughly 100-day, 10,000-kilometre voyage by Land Rover, following Burton and Speke’s route up the Nile to their ultimate discovery of a vast body of fresh water that would be dubbed Lake Victoria. Burton, Ondaatje explains, stopped there, declaring it the source of the Nile. But the lake is not spring-fed, and Ondaatje, like Speke, pressed on, passing Murchison Falls (also known as Kabalega Falls) and making his way toward Lake Albert, the smaller of the two “reservoirs” feeding the Nile and first identified, as Ondaatje points out, by Herodotus more than 2,000 years earlier. “The Nile,” he says, “flows out of Albert, through the desert and on to the Mediterranean. Herodotus, in my opinion, was closer to the truth.”

The aim of that expedition, described in Ondaatje’s 1998 book Journey to the Source of the Nile, was to test the claims of the Victorian explorers against his own experiences in the same challenging terrain. “What Sir Christopher has done is revisit important exploration sites and expose them to a very bright light,” observes Society president John Geiger. He points out that Ondaatje has received the Gold Medal for both his own work and his patronage of the discipline of geography. “He’s an immensely important figure globally.”

Ondaatje’s latest book, The Last Colonial: Curious Adventures & Stories from a Vanishing World, is a collection of intriguing and offbeat outtakes from his journeys and other experiences, as well as short essays on figures like Ernest Hemingway and Burton himself. Published in 2011, the volume also revisits one of Ondaatje’s favourite literary motifs: the leopard.

At 78, Ondaatje not only continues to write but also remains peripatetic and intensely inquisitive. He explains that he still relishes an opportunity to explore the most ancient regions of the Middle East, many of which are inaccessible due to civil unrest. But Ondaatje is determined because, in his view, seeing is believing. “You can’t change history. Do the journey, open your eyes. The more you know, the more you will discover.”

— John Lorinc

WEB
The war at your fingertips

The late historian Pierre Berton once wrote that the War of 1812 “gave Canadians their first sense of community.” The bicentennial of this war has given rise to a new examination of the conflict that pitted American soldiers against British armed forces and ultimately laid a foundation for Canada’s nationhood. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, in partnership with the Historica-Dominion Institute and Parks Canada, is contributing to the dialogue with a comprehensive website featuring an interactive map and a timeline of the war.

The website provides detailed information on the battles, campaigns and profiles of prominent figures in a series of authoritative entries written by James Marsh, editor-in-chief of The Canadian Encyclopedia. The critical part played by First Nations in the conflict is well documented and Parks Canada’s relevant national historic sights are featured.

The Canadian Atlas Online also offers a thematic section on the War of 1812, including educator resources for teachers.

The www.eighteentwelve.ca website details each battle and provides an interactive map and timeline of the war. It also includes a series of learning resources for teachers covering lesser-known facets and stories of the battles.

Fellows
Out of this world

With vintage aircraft, propellers and engines as his backdrop, NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger transported more than 330 guests on a journey to the Russian space station Mir at the annual Fellows Dinner in November, held at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, in Ottawa. After receiving a Gold Medal, the keynote speaker shared stories of battling fires, fatigue and a language barrier while on board Mir. He also spoke of the 80.5 million kilometres he has travelled in space. “I love geography,” says Linenger. “I get to go up there and look at the whole world.” Also presented with Gold Medals were the Dehcho First Nations, Parks Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for the expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve.

Visit the website of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society for photos from the dinner.

— Jessica Harding

top