Upcoming Events
Genereux Park/Baker Area Eco-Quest (ongoing)
Join a virtual eco-quest of the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and/or the George Genereux Urban Park.
Gardening @ USask, May 19 & 26 (online)
The University of Saskatchewan is offering a variety of online gardening workshops: Compost 101: Scraps to Soil – May 19, 7 pm; The Growing Buzz (bees) – May 26, 7 pm.
Rubbish Roundup, May 20-24 (Saskatoon)
Join Saskatoon's Rubbish Roundup, May 20-24, organized by Wildernook Fresh Air Learning. For each bag of garbage collected and reported, EcoFriendly Sask will donate $10 to the charity of your choice (Saskatoon Search and Rescue, Saskatoon Crisis Nursery, or One School One Farm.
TimberNook Family Sessions, May 20-June 27 (Saskatoon)
TimberNook Saskatoon is hosting self-guided outdoor family experiences in May/June. Week-day, evening, and Saturday time slots are available.
Covid-19 & Energy Transition, May 20 (online)
Martin Boucher will focus on the recent COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on climate change and the energy transition from 12-1 pm, May 20.
First Aid for Day Trips, May 21 (webinar)
SaskOutdoors and Back40 Wilderness First Aid Training are offering a mini first aid webinar on how to prepare for day trips from 7:30-8:30 pm, May 21.
Candace Savage’s Prairie Live, May 27 (online)
Join Candace Savage online at Cranberry Flats from 12-1 pm, May 27, for the launch of the revised edition of Prairie: A Natural History of the Heart of North America.
Forum for Educators, May 29 (online)
SaskOutdoors is hosting an online forum from 10-11 am, May 29, to discuss how to bring outdoor and environmental education into remote teaching.
May Day Bird Count, May 30 (Saskatoon)
The Saskatoon Nature Society is inviting experienced birds who are healthy and not in quarantine to participate in the May Bird Count. Different sectors (or sub-sectors) will be assigned to each individual or family to follow Covid-safe self-isolation steps. Email your name, phone number, and email address to trips@saskatoonnature.org if you wish to participate. If you have questions, call Stan Shadick at 306.652.5975.
A full list of upcoming events (online and in person) can be found on the EcoFriendly Sask Calendar
Local News
EnviroCollective (Regina) has teamed up with Climate Reality Canada to form a climate hub. They’re looking for supporters and Climate Hub Captains.
From Information to Action
Cobalt is critical to the renewable energy transition. How can we minimize its social and environmental cost?
“We should be aiming to identify diseases in other animals as early as possible, when there’s still a chance of preventing them from spreading to humans.”
To ensure healthy bird populations, cities need to increase their insect populations by planting trees and incorporating good management practices in their green spaces.
Tips for helping trees and beavers to coexist side by side.
Energy
White River First Nation plans to construct the largest solar farm in the Yukon as well as a biomass plant and district heating system.
How can we promote a green recovery with renewables emerging stronger than ever?
Books
The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think by Jennifer Ackerman reveals that birds are “capable of nuanced, highly intelligent behavior that we once believed to be uniquely human.”
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds and Shape our Futures by Martin Sheldrake opens up “a vast unseen world that surrounds each one of us.”
Tearfund’s The World Rebooted – how can you, your church, and your network play a part in reshaping society?
Read an extract from Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty, a 16-year-old nature writer, who describes bats as origami taking flight.
Even successful scientists struggle – 14 books to motivate teens to study science.
Natural Wonders
“Ants use their numbers to overcome navigational challenges that are too large and disorienting to be tackled by any single individual.”
“Older barn owl chicks will share food with younger ones.”
The tenacity of trees: surviving – and thriving – in difficult circumstances.
EcoSask News is a weekly round-up of local news and events. Email us if you have items you would like us to include.
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