EcoWest News, February 24, 2026

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.

Biodiversity

Dan Fagin, who is researching a book about monarch butterflies, explains how much we can learn from tiny trackers about the migratory paths of the butterflies and the many hazards they face along the way. [Inside Climate News]

Whales

Beluga whales are highly social and maintain multi-level societies involving migratory traditions and local dialects, male friendships, and female bonds with relatives and non-kin. [Raincoast Conservation Foundation]

New Zealand legislators have introduced a bill affirming whales’ rights to migrate, maintain natural behaviours and culture, and live in a healthy environment with damaged habitats restored. The legislation would require the government to consider whales’ rights when regulating activities that affect them and their habitats, including shipping, fishing, deep-sea mining, and coastal development. [Inside Climate News]

Data Centres

Olds, AB, population 9,679, is the proposed site of a $10 billion data centre that will produce and consume as much electricity as the city of Edmonton. “Power demand for proposed data centres currently listed by the Alberta Electric System Operator sits at 21.2 gigawatts per day – more than double the average electricity use for the entire province”. [The Narwhal]

Here are the questions to ask if there are plans to build a data centre in your community: Will my power bill go up? How much water will it consume? How noisy will it be? How will it dispose of electronic waste? Will it create jobs? Will it provide tax revenue? What regulations do we need? [Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives]

Energy

Community Energy Cooperative Canada has developed a network to support community-owned renewable energy across the country. They hope to engage local and Indigenous communities and support them with capacity-building, job training, and energy resilience. [The Energy Mix, Community Energy Cooperative Canada]

Local doctors shared with Dawson Creek city council their concerns about the potential harms and health outcomes of oil and gas activity in northeast BC. 52 studies over 20 years document cancer and other illnesses linked to fracking activity. [CBC]

Technology

China is attempting to increase rainfall through cloudseeding, but there isn’t enough research to determine if it’s truly effective or whether it will impact neighbouring countries. We do know that it only works under specific conditions. [BBC]

Financial Choices

Clean Energy Canada has identified 4 projects that deserve to receive ‘project of national interest’ status. They can all be realized today and would help build competitive, clean industries. They involve clean electricity transmission, critical minerals refining, electric vehicle charging, and sustainable modular homebuilding. [Clean Energy Canada]

Niki Khorasani’s research explores ways of redefining growth and looks for ways organizations can adopt a degrowth mindset; to care less about the quarterly report and more about community, individual well-being, and fairness. [UM Today]

Making a Difference

About 672,000 tonnes of furniture are thrown out in Canada per year. Recertified Furniture’s goal is to rehome high-end furniture requiring repairs that donation centres or other businesses can’t address. [The Tyee]

DIY

By choosing dark chocolate, you reduce your climate impact as milk and palm oil contribute most of chocolate’s environmental burden. [Anthropocene]

One in five fish products are tied to fraud – fish thawed and then sold as fresh, colouring tuna to appear fresher, farmed Atlantic salmon sold as wild-caught Pacific salmon, or fake shrimp made from moulded starch-based compounds. Consumer pressure could make a difference. Ask restaurants where their fish is from, how it was caught, and when it was caught. [Inside Climate News]

An online guide on Climate Anxiety: How to Remain Hopeful & Resilient in Difficult Times contains tips on how to transform despair into action. [Plastic Pollution Coalition]

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/9368776395

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 BlueSky, X, and Mastodon, or subscribe by email.