Thursday 3 February 2022

An End and a New Beginning

White pelican

EcoFriendly Sask celebrated its 10th anniversary in July 2021. Ten years sounds like a long time, but it went by in a flash. 

How It Began 
Andrew McKinlay is a runner, nature photographer, and co-owner of a software company. He’d lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, all his life and had a deep and abiding love for the Prairies – the grasses and birds, the lakes and rivers, and wildlife. He wanted to help protect the land and its wild inhabitants and believed one way he could make a contribution would be by sharing information through an online publication. The goal was to break down silos and make connections so that people who cared about solar energy or wind power were also familiar with issues affecting wetlands and birds. He invited his sister, Penny McKinlay, to join him in this adventure as she was a reader, writer, and fellow nature-lover. 

What We Did 
We started out by covering Saskatoon events and news stories but quickly realized that we needed to expand our reach to the province as a whole. In addition to a weekly news and events update, we published profiles of individuals, organizations, and activities. The EcoFriendly Sask Calendar shared events from across the province – from outdoor education programs to birding trips to speakers on energy management. We published lists of organizations and volunteer opportunities, Saskatchewan nature books, and seasonal outdoor adventures. 

In 2012, we began offering small grants to support local environmental projects. There was such a wide range of projects – from a teacher who wanted to offer her students a wide array of environmental books, to signage for nature trails, an online talk on peat-free gardening, children’s events on butterflies and bug hotels, and research into aspen bluffs and aquatic insects. 

In 2020, we launched Nature Companion, a free website/app with information about over 300 birds, animals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, trees, and plants that make their home in Canada’s 4 western provinces. 


Thank You 
Publishing EcoFriendly Sask has been deeply rewarding for both Andrew and Penny. We have met so many amazing people who are doing so much to protect the environment and share their love of nature. You’re planting pollinator gardens and testing water quality, advocating for wetland management policies and bird-friendly building guidelines, establishing community nature festivals, and encouraging kids (and adults) to spend more time outdoors. The list goes on and on! To each and every one of you who took the time to share your knowledge and passion with us – thank you! You have enriched our lives and we can only hope that we have been able to assist you in your work. 

Change 
In 2021, Andrew and his wife Shelley moved to Victoria, British Columbia, and they encouraged Penny to move as well. Our sister, Clare, has lived in Victoria for many years so we’re now reunited. Our mother, who dearly loved the ocean and her children, would be pleased. 

We’ve expanded our horizons. It seemed only appropriate to expand the scope of EcoFriendly Sask as well and it will be replaced by EcoFriendly West. Our goal is to inform and encourage initiatives that support Western Canada’s natural environment by sharing ideas and information across Canada’s four western provinces. 

EcoFriendly West will offer a weekly news update as well as profiles of people and organizations. There will be lists of organizations as well as parks and books. We’ll be dropping the Calendar as we couldn’t possibly keep track of everything that is going on in such a large territory, but we’re excited about sharing stories of people and activities from across the west. We hope to continue offering grants to support environmental projects, but they are on hold for the moment as we consider the best way to do so on a wider scale. 

Through EcoFriendly West, Penny and Andrew are looking forward to connecting with people and activities that span a wide and diverse geography – from the Canadian Shield and the shores of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, to the lakes and plains of Saskatchewan, Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, and British Columbia’s rain forests and marine flora and fauna. We hope you’ll join us on this journey to celebrate the wild world we are fortunate enough to live in and that so desperately needs our help if it is to survive and be enjoyed by future generations. 

Our first stories are already lined up and ready to go. We’re eager to tell you about a children’s environmental theatre company in Manitoba, wildlife conservation and translocation projects at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, the benefits and risks of agriculture drainage projects on the Prairies, bat research in Alberta, and common Pacific coast seaweeds. 


Do stay in touch. We’d love to receive your ideas, suggestions, questions, and updates on your activities. You can reach Andrew and Penny at ecofriendlywest@gmail.com 

You can follow EcoFriendly West by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, or subscribing by email. Current email subscribers will be transferred over automatically to the new publication but can unsubscribe at any time.

Tuesday 1 February 2022

EcoSask News, February 1, 2022

ice, snow, & water

“It is good to have dreams to work towards. To desire a world that is once again full of life is to conjure a singing, bright planet of wonder, awe and fear. It is to yearn to be taken to where the heart leaps for joy or trembles in trepidation. To be awe-full. That has to be a goal worth striving for.” [Nearby Wild
Upcoming Events 
The WildEcol Seminar Series is hosting an online presentation on using movement data from brown pelicans to answer ecological questions at 3:30 pm, Feb. 4. 

SaskOutdoors is hosting an online Adventure Smart presentation by Saskatoon Search and Rescue at 7 pm, Feb. 8. 

Join Wild About Saskatoon and expert guests for a NatureCity Conversation about starting native plants from seed from 7:30-8:30 pm, Feb. 10. 

Looking Ahead 
Wetland Knowledge Exchange is hosting a presentation on the Canadian model for peatlands: a national scale peatland carbon accounting model from 1-2 pm, Feb. 16. 

As part of a webinar series on law’s relationship with the North Saskatchewan River, Cameron Jefferies will present ecological sustainability and intergenerational stewardship as preferable alternatives to sustainable development at 1 pm, Feb. 16. 

The Saskatoon Nature Society is hosting an online presentation on wetland drainage and its impacts on biodiversity in the prairie and parkland region at 7:30 pm, Feb. 17. 

Nature Regina is hosting an online presentation with updates on the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas at 7 pm, Feb. 21. 

Carole Tink and Greg Kuntz will discuss Regina’s energy and sustainability framework in an SES/SPL online presentation from 7-8:30 pm, Feb. 22. 

Full details about all upcoming events are listed on the EcoFriendly Sask Calendar
 
ice, snow, & water

Energy 
In-depth reporting provides a valuable explanation of the options and the issues involved in undertaking and financing carbon capture and storage on the Prairies. [The Narwhal

“A tax on emissions forces firms to internalize at least some of the costs of dirty production, which incentivizes them to find cleaner ways of producing in the most cost-effective way possible.” [Futurity

Natural gas cookers expose households to formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide. They also leak a lot of methane (comparable to the carbon dioxide emissions of 500,000 gas-powered cars) even when they’re off. [Futurity

Youth 
An activist youth group is calling on the Oregon government “to end freeway widening projects that contribute to increased congestion and carbon emissions.” They may be having an impact. [Planetizen

“If we are serious about tapping into education’s potential to help us achieve a more sustainable future, we need to recognize activists as educators and help build bridges between them and schools.” [Yes Magazine

Nature’s Wonders 
Joe Gray says he experiences pleasure when in the presence of insects and a sense of reverence. He reports on a two-part seminar in which he participated that discussed invertebrate animal sentience. [Ecological Citizen]

EcoFriendly Sask supports Saskatchewan environmental initiatives through an online publication, an events calendar, small grants, and the Nature Companion website/app. You can follow EcoFriendly Sask by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, or subscribing by email (top right corner). 


Sweat bees are extremely hard working and pollinate a wide variety of plants. [Nature Companion]