Daniel Macfarlane
I look at the history and politics of water, energy, and climate change from transborder Canadian and American environmental, STS, political ecology, and transnational/diplomatic perspectives, usually focusing on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin. I am a Full Professor in the School of Environment, Geography and Sustainability at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI). I received my PhD in History in 2011 from the University of Ottawa. Past positions include Fulbright Visiting Research Chair, SSRHC Postdoctoral Fellow, and Banting Postdoctoral Fellow.
I've written or co-edited six books. My 2020 book "Fixing Niagara Falls: Environment, Energy, and Engineers at the World's Most Famous Waterfall" looks at the modern transnational history of remedial works and state hydroelectric engineering at Niagara Falls. I also co-edited a book titled "The First Century of the International Joint Commission" which examines this US-Canada border waters commission; it was published in February 2020 and is available as an open access download..
My first book "Negotiating a River: Canada, the US, and the Creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway" is an environmental history of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project and combines environmental, diplomatic, political, technological, state building, and transborder history. It was published in March 2014 with UBC Press. I co-edited "Border Flows: A Century of the Canadian-American Water Relationship" which was published in November 2016 in the NiCHE-UCP environmental history series and is available for download as an Open Access publication: http://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781552388952
My two most recent books are "Natural Allies: Environment, Energy, and the History of US-Canada Relations" (2023) and "The Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History" (2024).
I'm currently working on a book about the environmental history and environmental politics of Lake Michigan. I'm also co-editing and contributing to a book about the St. Clair River/Delta/Lake. Eventually I plan to write a book on the environmental history of the Great Lakes.
I'm the co-editor of a new book series on Great Lakes environmental studies with Michigan State University Press, and we're always looking for submissions.
I've also been involved in digital and public history. In addition to creating GIS maps for my own work, I was a co-author and co-editor of "The Geospatial Historian" which is an e-textbook that teaches how beginners can profitably use GIS mapping and techniques to enhance their work. I've published public-facing work in Slate, Washington Post, Toronto Star, National Post, Maclean's, The Conversation, etc.
I've written or co-edited six books. My 2020 book "Fixing Niagara Falls: Environment, Energy, and Engineers at the World's Most Famous Waterfall" looks at the modern transnational history of remedial works and state hydroelectric engineering at Niagara Falls. I also co-edited a book titled "The First Century of the International Joint Commission" which examines this US-Canada border waters commission; it was published in February 2020 and is available as an open access download..
My first book "Negotiating a River: Canada, the US, and the Creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway" is an environmental history of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project and combines environmental, diplomatic, political, technological, state building, and transborder history. It was published in March 2014 with UBC Press. I co-edited "Border Flows: A Century of the Canadian-American Water Relationship" which was published in November 2016 in the NiCHE-UCP environmental history series and is available for download as an Open Access publication: http://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781552388952
My two most recent books are "Natural Allies: Environment, Energy, and the History of US-Canada Relations" (2023) and "The Lives of Lake Ontario: An Environmental History" (2024).
I'm currently working on a book about the environmental history and environmental politics of Lake Michigan. I'm also co-editing and contributing to a book about the St. Clair River/Delta/Lake. Eventually I plan to write a book on the environmental history of the Great Lakes.
I'm the co-editor of a new book series on Great Lakes environmental studies with Michigan State University Press, and we're always looking for submissions.
I've also been involved in digital and public history. In addition to creating GIS maps for my own work, I was a co-author and co-editor of "The Geospatial Historian" which is an e-textbook that teaches how beginners can profitably use GIS mapping and techniques to enhance their work. I've published public-facing work in Slate, Washington Post, Toronto Star, National Post, Maclean's, The Conversation, etc.
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Books by Daniel Macfarlane
We have changed Lake Ontario - and it has changed us. The Lives of Lake Ontario details the lake’s relationship with the Indigenous nations, settler cultures, and modern countries that have occupied its shores. Lake Ontario has so profoundly influenced the historical evolution of North America that it is arguably the most important, yet most unappreciated, of the Great Lakes.
For centuries Lake Ontario has enabled and enriched the societies that crowded its edges, from fertile agricultural landscapes to energy production systems to sprawling cities. Daniel Macfarlane examines the myriad ways Canada and the United States have used and abused this resource: through dams and canals, drinking water and sewage, trash and pollution, fish and foreign species, industry and manufacturing, urbanization and infrastructure, population growth and biodiversity loss. Serving as both bridge and buffer between the two countries, Lake Ontario came to host Canada’s largest megalopolis. Yet its transborder exploitation exacted a tremendous ecological cost, leading people to turn their backs on the lake. In the later twentieth century, innovative regulations such as the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements partially improved Lake Ontario’s health.
Despite signs that communities are re-engaging with Lake Ontario, it remains the most degraded of the Great Lakes, with new and old problems alike exacerbated by climate change. The Lives of Lake Ontario demonstrates that this lake is both remarkably resilient and uniquely vulnerable.
Fixing Niagara Falls reveals the technological feats and cross-border politics that facilitated the transformation of one of the most important natural sites in North America. Daniel Macfarlane details how engineers, bureaucrats, and politicians conspired to manipulate the world’s most famous waterfall. During the first half of the twentieth century, the United States and Canada explored various ways to maximize hydropower from the Niagara River while “preserving” the falls. Decades of environmental diplomacy and transborder studies led to a 1950 treaty that allowed new hydro-electric stations to funnel most of the river’s water to generate power. To facilitate these diversions and lessen the visual impact of redirecting so much water, the two nations cooperated to install a range of control works while reshaping and shrinking the Horseshoe Falls.
This book offers a unique perspective on how the Niagara landscape embodies both the power of technology and the power of nature.
Scholars of environmental history, Canada-US history, and technology history will find this book invaluable, as will those responsible for water policy on both sides of the border. Visitors to the Niagara landscape will also be fascinated by this engaging story of the world’s most famous waterfall.