Doing What’s Best For Kids

Doing What’s Best For Kids
Author: John Gilpin
Publisher: Brush Education
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2012-10-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1550594389

Doing What’s Best for Kids is a centennial history of one of the most important social institutions in the history of Fort McMurray. It explores the Fort McMurray Public School Board’s relationship since 1912 to the development of oil sands, salt mining, fishing, lumbering, steamboat operations, aviation and railway development. The booms and busts of these industries at times threatened the existence of the district and at other times were the basis for growth. The people who have made this history are a feature of this book. This group includes Douglas Craig and Cassia McTavish, who ensured that the fledgling school established in 1912 would survive the economic slump of 1913. The struggles with the department of education in Edmonton over funding and school approvals are another theme. Collectively it is the story of persistence and accomplishment in a location far from Edmonton, but rich in human and natural resources.

The Patch

The Patch
Author: Chris Turner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2017-09-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1501115111

Bestselling author Chris Turner brings readers onto the streets of Fort McMurray, showing the many ways the oilsands impact our lives and demanding that we ask the question: In order to both fuel the world and to save it, what do we do about the Patch? In its heyday, the oilsands represented an industrial triumph and the culmination of a century of innovation, experiment, engineering, policy, and finance. Fort McMurray was a boomtown, the centre of a new gold rush, and the oilsands were reshaping the global energy, political, and financial landscapes. The future seemed limitless for the city and those who drew their wealth from the bitumen-rich wilderness. But in 2008, a new narrative for the oilsands emerged. As financial markets collapsed and the scientific reality of the Patch’s effect on the environment became clear, the region turned into a boogeyman and a lightning rod for the global movement combatting climate change. Suddenly, the streets of Fort McMurray were the front line of a high-stakes collision between two conflicting worldviews—one of industrial triumph and another of environmental stewardship—each backed by major players on the world stage. The Patch is the seminal account of this ongoing conflict, showing just how far the oilsands reaches into all of our lives. From Fort Mac to the Bakken shale country of North Dakota, from Houston to London, from Saudi Arabia to the shores of Brazil, the whole world is connected in this enterprise. And it requires us to ask the question: In order to both fuel the world and to save it, what do we do about the Patch?

Inside the Inferno

Inside the Inferno
Author: Damian Asher
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2017-05-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1501171127

"On May 1, one of the worst natural disasters in Canada's history struck Fort McMurray. What began as a small, remote forest quickly became a nightmare for the 90,000 residents of the city. A perfect combination of weather, geography, and circumstance had created a wildfire that was more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. As winds drove the flames towards Fort McMurray, the entire city population was ordered to evacuate. When the fire leapt across the river and started to devour everything in its path, the only people left to face it were the firefighters and support crew tasked with protecting the city. Born and raised in Fort McMurray, Damian Asher was a fifteen year veteran of the city's fire department. When the order went out for all firefighters to report for duty, Damian stopped work on his family's house-which he was building by hand-sent his wife and children out of town, and answered the call. For thirteen straight days, Damian and his crew were on the frontlines of the fire, battling the blaze wherever it encroached upon the city. As homes burned and embers rained down around them, Damian and the rest of the Brotherhood barely slept, rushing from hotspot to hotspot as they struggled to contain the fire. Aid poured in from around the world and the country watched in hope and fear, wondering what was happening on the streets of Fort McMurray. Finally, after weeks of fighting a wildfire that appeared insatiable, the Brotherhood managed to regain control of the city. But the fire had more than left its mark - billions of dollars of damage, exhausted emergency workers, and a scattered citizenry were left in its wake. When Damian's family returned to their home, they found that it and all of their possessions had been burned to the ground. It seemed as though things would never be the same. And yet, as the smoke dissipated and the city reunited, there was hope that life would resume in Fort McMurray."--