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  • Learning From the Land: Building Environmental Stewardship in Canadian Rockies Schools

    Many young people are spending less time outdoors, leading to a growing disconnect from the natural world. While educators recognize the value of outdoor learning, barriers like limited time, resources, and confidence can make it difficult to bring students outside in meaningful ways. The Canadian Rockies Outdoor Learning Centre is addressing this through a curriculum-linked…

  • Wood Fibre Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofits: Addressing Operational and Embodied Carbon Emissions in the Built Environment

    Most of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built, and many are energy inefficient. Improving their performance is essential, but rebuilding them entirely can create new emissions through construction. HSS Design Build is addressing this through a prefabricated retrofit system that improves building performance from the outside. Using detailed scans, the…

  • Home Upgrades Program

    For many lower-income households in Alberta, high energy bills are driven by older, inefficient homes that are expensive to heat and maintain. These households face a disproportionate energy burden, often spending a higher share of their income on utilities while lacking access to the capital required for upgrades. Without the means to make upgrades, energy…

  • The Volunteer Wildlife Ambassador Program: Keeping people and wildlife safe since 2007

    For nearly two decades, the Volunteer Wildlife Ambassador Program, led by the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, has played a crucial role in promoting human-wildlife coexistence in one of Alberta’s busiest outdoor recreation regions. With over 5 million visitors annually to the Bow Valley and Kananaskis Country, the need for on-the-ground education and outreach…

  • Bow Valley Green Energy Cooperative, empowering community to transform Alberta’s energy

    Bow Valley Green Energy Coop (BVGEC) is a grassroots, volunteer-run organization that is facilitating the creation of community-owned renewable energy generation projects in the Bow Valley and beyond. Their mission is to empower their community to reduce its environmental impact by pooling human and financial resources to foster the development of renewable energy projects, and…

  • Bike All Winter Program

    The goal of the Bike All Winter program is to increase the number of people using bikes for transportation during the winter months by targeting residents of Canmore and Banff that are currently not using bikes for transportation during the winter months but would like to start. The program is run entirely by volunteers and…

  • The Resilience Institute

    Wicked challenges, like climate change, require multi-pronged and transdisciplinary approaches for successful adaptation and mitigation. The Resilience Institute’s work focuses on co-developing initiatives that weave local and cultural knowledge with scientific and technical expertise and foster multi-generational engagement. The Resilience Institute partners with local and Indigenous communities, academia, governments, and other charities on initiatives that…

  • Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley

    For 20 years, the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley has promoted sustainable communities and environmental stewardship; engaging youth, residents, area visitors and businesses with educational programs, research and outreach workshops. Past achievements include an Aquatic Restoration program (over 8 tonnes of invasive weeds and garbage removed from the region), and the innovative Natural Steps…

  • Advancing Environmental and Energy Education in Alberta

      The Alberta Council for Environmental Education (ACEE), a non-profit with charitable status, just celebrated the end of its first decade. Their mission is to work in collaboration with others to advance environmental education in Alberta. In 2005, they engaged the community across Alberta who created the “Framework to Advance Environmental Education in Alberta,” which…