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 to a Sustainable Canmore program. Youth have benefitted from the Biosphere EduKit …
Many schools have outdoor courses or one-time camp experiences, but Calgary’s Arbour Lake School goes further with its Environmental Wilderness and Outdoor Club (EWOC). Operating as an option class with lunchtime meetups, EWOC’s grade 6-9 members take part in outdoor adventures, action projects and regular environmental learning opportunities.
After attending the 2017 CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology) Youth Wavemakers Summit, EWOC members were inspired …
For 10 years, Working Well has been educating some of the estimated 100,000 Alberta households that rely on water wells for drinking water about well design and construction, operation, protection and maintenance. From farmers and ranchers to acreage and recreational property owners, Working Well’s efforts insure that rural Albertans who rely on groundwater have a safe and secure supply.
Through a series of hands-on workshops, technical experts …
We all know about the savings that come from switching out home light bulbs in hanging fixtures and lamps to LED, so imagine what can be saved when an entire city retrofits street lights with LED luminaires? That’s just what Calgary has done with a four-year, $32 million project, laying claim to the largest LED retrofit in Canadian municipal history (and even finishing the project 1.5 years …
Recycling programs abound, but how many offer homes, businesses, schools and community facilities free collection containers and bags, free pick-up service and a tax receipt for donation of empties? The Winnifred Stewart Association (WSA) Empties to Winn (ETW) program does just that, diverting over 46 million containers from landfills in its 12-year history—that’s a half-million containers collected and recycled each month. ETW operates in over 300 Edmonton neighbourhoods and …
At facilities near Edmonton, Nutrien (formerly Agrium) is taking an innovative approach to reclamation and the beneficial use of phosphogypsum (PG), a gypsum by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry. What may be the first-ever forest planted on a PG stack, the project is inspiring other industrial landowners to consider different approaches to reclamation.
By establishing woody crops—primarily willow, hybrid poplar and white spruce–on 325 hectares of PG …
The Regional Industry Caribou Collaboration (RICC) was born of necessity. Because boreal woodland caribou are a threatened species, and because their large ranges overlap with oil, gas and timber resources in Alberta, a group of energy and forestry companies in the Cold Lake and East Side Athabasca River (ESAR) caribou ranges of northeast Alberta chose to go beyond individual efforts.
Formed in 2012 when Devon Canada Corp. …
Lonny Balbi offers the secret of success for Calgary’s Bike to Work Day, a one-day event now in its 12th year with over 5,000 participants peddling into the city core – keep it simple.
Long advised to have registration fees and sponsors, Balbi has instead kept the event bare-bones, determined that anyone can hop on a bike that day and ride for the fun of it. Hosting …
When a large corporation in Alberta’s oil sands teams with a neighbouring First Nations community to repurpose reclaimed land, it’s a good thing. But when a threatened species of wood buffalo flourish, creating a genetically pure line of animal that is culturally significant to this and future generations of the First Nations people of Ft. McKay, it’s a great thing.
In 1993, 30 wood bison from Elk …
If there’s an example of taking the classroom out into the real world, Innovate has to be it. In fact, there’s no classroom at all with this unique program. Instead, Edmonton high school students host and attend career fairs on urban agriculture, create gym-sized maps to understand the migration routes of bears, and install solar panels on school rooftops.
Teacher Aaron Dublenko works with students and teachers …