EcoSask News, April 20, 2021

This Week’s Highlights 

EcoFriendly Sask has partnered with Wildernook Fresh Air Learning on Rubbish Roundup 2021, Apr. 24-27. For every person in Saskatoon who spends an hour picking up rubbish, EcoFriendly Sask will donate $10 to the Saskatchewan Environmental Society. For more information, contact Wildernook. Don't live in Saskatoon? Apply for one of our Natural Areas Clean-Up Grants. 

The City of Regina is using Rozol in its parks to kill gophers. Rozol is an anticoagulant which causes hemorrhaging; however, it can take the animal a couple of days to die. In the meantime, these gophers can be eaten by their natural predators such as owls, hawks, foxes, and coyotes, causing secondary poisoning, which will be fatal. Once a gopher dies, it may be eaten by scavengers such as crows, or your dog may come into contact with it. If you see wildlife in the parks with symptoms, please call Salthaven West immediately at 639-999-4957 or the WRSOS hotline at 306-242-7177.

Upcoming Events 

For Peat’s Sake – Protecting Northern Saskatchewan Muskegs is hosting an online presentation on peat-free gardening at 7 pm, Apr. 20. 

As part of Canadian National Film Day, the Saskatchewan Science Centre is streaming Wonders of the Arctic throughout the day on Apr. 21 with a live Q & A with the film’s director at 6 pm, Apr. 21. Sign up for the Science Centre’s Kaleidoscope newsletter to receive the links. 

The University of Regina’s Centre for Continuing Education is offering a 2-week sampler for beginners or people interested in learning the basics of astronomy online from 7-9 pm, Apr. 21 & 28. 

Let’s Talk About Water is hosting an online Earth Day forum on the cost of climate-induced migration at 11 am, Apr. 22. 

CPAWS-SK is hosting an Earth Day Clean Up along the riverbank in Saskatoon at 1 pm, Apr. 22. 

Regina’s EnviroCollective is hosting a virtual meeting at 7 pm, Apr. 22, with speakers on energy, carbon pricing, and peat. 

Wascana & Upper Qu’Appelle Watersheds Association will hold a virtual annual general meeting at 2 pm, Apr. 23. 

City of Regina residents can dispose of household hazardous waste from 4-7 pm on Friday, 9 am-4 pm, Saturday, and 9 am-4 pm, Sunday, April 23-25. 

Nature Regina, along with other groups, is hosting online presentations and neighbourhood activities to celebrate Earth Day on Apr. 24. Sign up to receive a digital activity package. 

Regina Public Library is hosting an online talk on the future of EVs in Canada at 7 pm, Apr. 27. 

David Sobel will share insights from his book, Sky Above and Mud Below, at a SaskOutdoors online presentation at 5 pm, Apr. 27. 

The City of Regina is hosting an online session explaining what does and doesn’t go into your blue cart from 6:30-7:30 pm, Apr. 28.

 

Resources  

“Despite long-held promises to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, Ottawa increased assistance to the industry in 2020 with public funding for pipelines, inactive well clean-up and policing of Indigenous opponents.” 

“Between 2014 and 2018, spending on lithium mining in Quebec increased by 789 percent. . . . Lithium is a non-renewable resource, a metal that needs to be extracted from salt flats or igneous rocks called pegmatites. That process requires a lot of energy and irreversibly damages landscapes and habitats while often depleting or contaminating local water sources. There’s also a serious waste problem.” 

New research from the University of Saskatchewan shows that the continents are drying out, putting water and food security at risk. 

From Information to Action 

“Homeowners who want to minimize attraction of disease-causing insects and maximize insect survival should install amber-colored bulbs in outdoor lights” as amber-coloured filters substantially reduce the amount and variety of insects drawn to the glow.” 

New Zealand has introduced a new law that will require all financial institutions to report the impacts of climate change on their businesses: “We simply cannot get to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 unless the financial sector knows what impact their investments are having on the climate.” 

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 by email (top right corner). 

Check out EcoFriendly Sask’s Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces

EcoSask News, March 30, 2021

This Week’s Highlights 

“The key to bringing the environmental impact of architecture in line with planetary limits is to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings while radically reducing new construction. In other words: less demolition, more refurbishment.” 

Jeff Olson will discuss the effects of farmland drainage on our environment in a 1:30 pm, Mar. 30, webinar hosted by the School of the Environment and Sustainability Students’ Association. 

Upcoming Events 

Learn about research directions and a grassroots movement that led to a reduction in the amount of lead exposure in wildlife during the WildEcol Seminar at 3:30 pm, Apr. 2. 

Saskatoon Nature Society is planning a bluebird trip on April 3 and a crocus trip on Apr. 14. Field trips are currently for members only, so sign up now. Advance registration is required. 

Learn how to use a compass for orienteering in a free online webinar from 7-8 pm, Apr. 6. 

There will be an online discussion on plastic pollution and the efforts globally, nationally, and locally to identify solutions at 7 pm, Apr. 6, as part of the Sustainability Speaker Series. 

There will be a discussion on the Saturn power story and its Highfield solar project at the virtual breakfast meeting of the Energy Management Task Force on Apr. 7. 

Global Water Futures is offering an online lecture series on women and water with a presentation at 12:30 pm, Apr. 8, on women in the field. 

Saskatoon Nature Society’s Golden Eagles are planning a bluebird trip on Apr. 8 and a crocus trip on Apr. 15. Retirees and partners who are interested in birds and the natural world are invited to participate. 

Local News 

SOS Trees Coalition Saskatoon (trees@sostrees.ca) is looking for interesting true tree stories that will be shared in the organization’s newsletter right before Arbor Day. 

Join Stan Shadick, Saskatoon, for a socially distanced private birding tour or online/outdoor workshops (Signs of Spring, Sounds of the Night, Dancing Grouse). Proceeds will support Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation. 

A petition calls for an environmental assessment for agricultural drainage networks in Saskatchewan.

 

Neighbours 

“Nature, declares Richard Mabey, makes us ill. . . . ‘Bacteria and viruses and man-eating tigers and predatory Asian hornets are also all part of nature.’ . . . The most respectful terms of engagement, he argues, are not ‘anthropomorphism or manufactured empathy’ but ‘a sense of neighbourliness’. This is not friendship but ‘based on sharing a place, on the common experience of home and habitat and season’. ‘It might provide a bridge across the great conceptual divide between us and other species.’” 

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” 

From Information to Action 

Irrigation canals covered with solar panels are a powerful combination. 

“The quest for net zero health-care emissions involves re-imagining a society where health and wellbeing are prioritised, and incentives are aligned to promote fiscal and environmental stewardship. . . . Mitigating the health-care footprint requires interventions both to the health-care system and to the factors driving demand.” 

“In the last five years, while acceptance of climate change has gone more mainstream, the 60 largest commercial and private investment banks in the world financed the fossil fuel industry to a tune of nearly $4 trillion.” 

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 by email (top right corner). 

Did you know? Each adult female Richardson’s Ground Squirrel has her own tunnel where she raises her litter without help from the male.