Welcome to EcoWest News, a weekly round-up of news and resources that you can put to use in addressing environmental issues and protecting the wild in your community.
Across the West
The Society for Organic Urban Land Care is hosting a virtual year-long series with ecological gardening experts. Join them for garden tours, pollinators, native seeds, and barriers to ecological urban gardening. Enjoy a virtual tour of Nature Regina’s Native Plant Garden or the Edgewood Park Pollinator Meadow in Surrey. There are also 5 webinars on trees in urban settings. [Society for Organic Urban Land Care]
Thousands of Alberta cottagers and homeowners are waiting anxiously to see if a provincial regulator will allow a large cattle feedlot to be developed near a popular and environmentally fragile recreational lake. [CBC]
The federal government is developing new regulations controlling the oil and gas sectors’ methane emissions. A coalition of North American climate and energy organizations are strongly recommending “that the government implement new rules fast (starting in 2025) and that it commit to the near-elimination of methane emissions by 2030.” [Pembina Institute]
Environmental activists are targeting SUVs, the second largest cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade, as frustration mounts over the lack of climate action. [The Guardian] This includes activists in Victoria, BC. [Capital Daily]
Manitoba’s Arctic
CPAWS Manitoba will be participating in the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) from Feb. 3-9, 2023, in Vancouver, in support of efforts to establish a National Marine Protected Area in western Hudson Bay.
“Western Hudson Bay is losing ice faster than most parts of the Arctic. Creating an NMCA could help ensure the survival of polar bears and belugas while bringing jobs and infrastructure investments that would enhance the region’s tourism industry.” [CPAWS MB]
Additional information is available on the CPAWS MB website or by reading a report prepared by Oceans North – Western Hudson Bay and its Beluga Estuaries: Protecting Abundance for a Sustainable Future.
Bonus! CPAWS MB has posted their 7-part webinar series on Arctic research on their Vimeo page – everything from using snot to measure the stress levels of beluga whales to how climate change is affecting polar bears in Churchill. [Vimeo]
Transportation
The average car tire loses 4 kg of toxic microplastic particles over its lifetime posing a huge threat to ocean life and urban air quality. [The Guardian]
While still in the early stages, work is underway to ensure that EV batteries are reused, repurposed, and recycled. [The Equation]
Shifting to electric vehicles isn’t enough: “The deeper problem is how many Canadians are dependent on their cars with no reliable alternatives. Governments serious about climate action need to change that.” [CBC]
Nature’s Wonders
Weird but true. Scientists studying soft robotics are using dead wolf spider legs to pick up objects. [Futurity]
From washing potatoes to opening milk bottles, socially learned behaviour allows creatures to adapt more rapidly to changing environments than conventional evolution would allow. [Knowable]
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/52252101848/
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