Research Guides: ENSC 310: Environmental Policy: Finding Reports, Documents, and Policy

Research & Instruction Librarian

Maggie Gordon

she/her

Email Me

Contact:

Douglas Library
Room 520

Subjects: Biology, Environmental Studies, Geological Sciences

Government Information

Most Government of Canada documents are available freely on the web and are searchable via the Government of Canada Publications website. For Government of Canada documents published prior to 1991, check out Library and Archives Canada online search.

Many Government of Ontario documents, including those from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks, are available in Ontario Government Documents (Our Digital World). Ontario Ministry of the Environment Reports, 1970-2007 are available on the Internet Archive.

Check out Tribunals Ontario - Environment and Land Division for Assessment Review Board, Board of Negotiation, Conservation Review Board, Environmental Review Tribunal, Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, and Mining and Lands Tribunal decisions.

For Kingston and Region municipal documents, try:

International Organizations

UN Environment Programme (UNEP) - Publications and data repository

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - Reports, technical papers, and supporting material repository

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)

Database Searching

PAIS
Covers publications on global public policy and social issues.
Includes international company information and scholarly literature on the public and social policy of business, economics, finance, law, international relations, public administration, government, and contemporary public issues.

Indexes journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed.

Date Coverage: 1915 - present
GreenFILE
GreenFILE covers the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. It offers indexing and abstracts for more than 850,000 records and open access full text for nearly 13,000 records.
GreenFILE offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done at each level to minimize these effects.

Date Coverage: Varies by publication.
Canadian Public Documents Collection
This collection focuses on Canadian public policy and contains publications from government and non-government organizations. The library's subscription includes materials through 2019 and is available via the Scholars Portal Books platform. It is also discoverable through Omni.
Environment Complete
Deep coverage of environmental aspects of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.
Environment Complete contains more than 1,957,000 records, some with images, from more than 1,700 domestic and international titles going back to the 1940s (including 1,125 active core titles) as well as more than 120 monographs. The database also contains full text for more than 680 journals, including many of the most used journals in the discipline, such as Environment (back to 1975), Ecologist, and Conservation Biology. Additionally, Environment Complete provides full text for 120 monographs, such as Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (3 volumes), and Advances in Water Treatment & Environmental Management.

Date Coverage: Varies by title. 1940s to present.