Disturbing the Peace: Environmental Change and the Scales of a
Northern River By Loo, Tina ABSTRACT This article examines the
environmental and social impacts of damming the Peace River in
northern British Columbia as a way of exploring the challenges
associated with doing environmental justice. It argues that
environmental justice is not simply a matter of rectifying the
distribution of environmental harms and benefits. Instead, doing
environmental justice requires coming to terms with the
different scales at which environmental change is apprehended
and comprehended; scales that have sensual, spatial, and
temporal dimensions. IN LAW, "disturbing the peace" is an
offense against the public order provided by the state. But the
phrase evokes much more than its black letter definition. It
resonates with the raucous sounds of urban revelry: shouting,
pounding feet, sirens, and slamming doors. Although the Peace of
this essay is a river in northern British Columbia, disturbing
it also disrupted an established ord