Blog

  • 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…


  • Arbour Lake School Environmental Wilderness and Outdoor Club (EWOC)

    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…


  • Working Well

    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…


  • E2 Street Lighting Program

    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…


  • Empties to Winn

    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…


  • Afforestation and Beneficial Use of Phosphogypsum Stacks

    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…


  • Regional Industry Caribou Collaboration

    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…


  • Bike to Work Day

    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…


  • Beaver Creek Wood Bison Project

    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….


  • Innovate

    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…