EcoWest News, December 5, 2023

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

Protecting the Prairies: Lorne Scott and the Politics of Conservation by Andrea Olive provides a history of wildlife and land conservation in Saskatchewan told through the life story of environmentalist, naturalist, farmer, and former Minister of Environment and Resource Management Lorne Scott. [University of Regina Press]

Scientists are working hard to protect the whitebark pine and the web of life that it supports – from bears, squirrels, and nutcrackers to a whole variety of plants. [The Narwhal & EcoFriendly West]

Across Canada

Integrating energy-efficient and climate-resilient features into all newly constructed housing units will ensure long-term affordability through lower energy and maintenance costs and provide protection during extreme weather events. [Efficiency Canada]

Canada, in a move similar to that of the US, has committed to a 75% reduction in methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. “It’s meant to eliminate routine venting and flaring of natural gas, improve methane leak detection and repair, and address the risk of large methane releases.” [The Energy Mix]

Pembina Institute says the proposed methane emissions regulations “virtually eliminate emissions from pneumatic equipment, which drives machinery with compressed air and is a major source of methane emissions” but points to the need for comprehensive measurement data. [Pembina Institute]

Around the World

We tend to focus our attention on household waste, but statistics for the UK show that 62% of waste is from construction, demolition, and extraction while only 12% is household waste. In Canada, household waste constitutes less than 1% of the total. [Earthbound Report]

A new factory is big enough to handle all the plastic packaging waste generated by Swedish households. The waste is separated into 12 different kinds of plastic and 95% can be recycled. [EuroNews]

Developing a green plastic “will require navigating a series of trade-offs between cost, scalability, carbon emissions, toxicity, and more.” Whether or not it can be recycled is another essential question. [Undark]

Making a Difference

The Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in Minnesota is pioneering an integrated green manufacturing process that will grow hemp, turn it into insulation, and use it to build homes. [Mother Jones]

The Métis Nation of Alberta has launched a 4.86-megawatt solar farm that will power 1,200 homes and prevent 4,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. A portion of the revenue will support other green energy and sustainable development projects. [The Energy Mix]

A tapestry designed by a group of South African women portrays the hopes and fears of a small community in the face of climate change. The women want to tell the world about their community and about the challenges they face – empty fishing nets, damaging storms, and poor crops. [The Guardian]

The 5 principles of green burials are: no embalming, direct earth burial, ecological restoration & conservation, simple memorialization, and optimized land use. [Green Burial Canada]

Food for Thought

We have waged a war on weeds and invasive species, and yet they are the plants we see most frequently. This has resulted in a preference for designed landscapes rather than natural ones. “Artists and cultural creatives are showcasing a range of strategies to help shift worldviews, to embrace the traits of plants we deem invasive, and to begin a long process of healing and building empathy for the more-than-human world.” [The Nature of Cities]

Nature’s Wonders

Help choose the People’s Choice Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. Will you vote for the courting mountain hares, a lion cub and its mother, a barn swallow surrounded by flowers, or a sleepy polar bear? [Digital Photography Review]

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/9304826038

EcoFriendly West informs and encourages initiatives that support Western Canada’s natural environment through its online publication and the Nature Companion website/app. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Mastodon, or subscribe by email.