Blog

  • Quest/Destination Conservation Program

    Since 2007, ConocoPhillips Canada School Environmental Quest has partnered with the Elements Society to fund the Destination Conservation Program, assisting schools in fostering an eco-friendly culture by reducing their global footprint and establishing student-led environmental projects and programs. Supporting 145 schools annually in Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, the program grants schools…


  • Verge Permaculture

    Rob and Michelle Avis envisioned Verge Permaculture as a way to provide real-world solutions to create more sustainable homes, resilient communities and a healthy eco-system; however, what they have accomplished goes far beyond teaching and gardening.  Through their accredited Permaculture Design Courses, Verge Permaculture has produced a generation of graduates who apply this new integrated…


  • Sandhill Fen Technical Advisory Committee

    Reclamation research is integral to Syncrude fulfilling its commitment to return land disturbed by mining to a productive, biologically self-sustaining ecosystem. In 2008, Syncrude launched the Sandhill Fen Watershed Research Project to learn how to design and incorporate peat-forming wetlands into operational scale reclamation. The Sandhill Fen is the largest reclaimed wetland in the oil sands and…


  • Montane Elk Project

    The Montane Elk Program is committed to research ensuring the environmentally sound development of Alberta’s energy resources. With a particular focus on mitigating the effects of energy development on elk in southwest Alberta, the project has become the world’s largest radiotelemetry study on elk. Mitigating the ecological effects of energy development is achieved by sharing…


  • Mycoremediation of the Oil Sands

    Since the age of 15, Kelcie has been pursuing her own research in an effort to create a method of remediation to combat the tailing ponds created by one of Alberta’s leading industries – the Alberta Oil Sands. Developing a novel method of remediation that utilizes oyster mushrooms, her research showed a substantial reduction of…


  • Dory’s Enviro Work

    For more than 20 years, Dory has created and organized events and campaigns to help bring awareness and positive change to many environmental issues. In response to manufacturers using excessive amounts of packaging when marketing products, she organized a national letter-writing campaign generating more than 145,000 letters. She wanted to clean up areas that were…


  • University of Calgary, Biogeoscience Institute Experiential Education Programs

    Since 1988, Mike has worked at the University of Calgary’s Kananaskis Field Station (now called Biogeoscience Institute BGS) where he has pioneered the development, implementation and evaluation of field-based education programs to enhance ecological understanding for students, teachers and educators, policy makers and the general public. Mike has worked tirelessly to create programs for students…


  • Alberta’s Wet Areas Mapping Initiative

    Alberta’s Department of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development actively pursues innovative solutions that balance economic, environmental and social concerns. Stewardship requires particular emphasis be placed on conservation of aquatic habitats and sensitive lands. The problem is traditional mapping of water in Alberta relies upon photo interpretation. But unseen, wet areas, soils that are sensitive to…


  • Oldman Watershed Council

    Shirley Pickering’s leadership on progressive water management and stewardship has no peers in the private, volunteer, or public sectors. She has built community and agency capacity and then crafted strategies that address intractable watershed issues with solutions that last because they meet provincial needs and are based on community consensus and technical competency. Shirley’s accomplishments…


  • Teacher Professional Development Programs

    Inside Education’s Teacher Professional Development Programs provide career-changing experiential learning opportunities for school teachers, community educators and career counselors. Since the first program in 1991, nearly 3,000 Alberta teachers have been immersed in the science, technology, issues and futures surrounding Alberta’s precious water, forest and energy resources. Visiting places like Fort McKay in the north…