EcoWest News, January 13, 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.

Living with Wildlife

Fireguards, cleared areas to protect communities from wildfire, can also provide wildlife with fresh food sources and safe spaces to move around rather than through communities. [CBC]

Wildfire kills a lot of animals, but it’s sometimes beneficial. Endangered western rattlesnakes reap moderate benefits from a moderate wildfire. Although the fire disrupts their scent trails, it also opens up land where they can bask in the sun without travelling so far from their den. [The Tyee]

City Life

The City of Toronto has partnered with Forests Canada on a Tree Seed Diversity program. The goal is to collect seeds from species that have grown in the local environment and are used to the local insect and disease threats. [CBC]

Microbes living in tree bark eat atmospheric gases such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide, cleaning the air and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Removing carbon monoxide could be particularly helpful in cities. [The Conversation]

Problem-Solving

Cremation is a common burial choice, but it’s energy-intensive and people are looking for more environmentally friendly options, such as water cremation and body composting. But those options aren’t readily available. [Inside Climate News]

Car headlights produce sudden bursts of bright light directed horizontally and reaching directly into areas that would otherwise remain dark. They’re one of the most widespread and least understood sources of artificial light at night. [Dark Sky]

Can-Peat Network participants shared stories of peatland conservation and restoration work: edge conditions before and after a wildfire, biodiversity monitoring using game cameras, orchid restoration, and technical restoration challenges (sourcing materials, mechanical hurdles). [Water Institute, UWaterloo]

Making a Difference

Green Circle Salons helps salons and spas to be green by recovering up to 95% of their beauty waste (hair clippings, foils, excess hair colour, aerosol cans, colour tubes). They got off the ground in Toronto in 2009 before heading across Canada. Their initiatives include hair-based plastics and pet beds stuffed with recovered hair. [Green Circle Salons]

A television series filming in a remote desert location swapped diesel generators for a network of trailers topped with solar panels. [Amazon]

DIY

Land Lovers Network is hosting a series of community watershed assemblies across Alberta’s Eastern Slopes to share perspectives and shape a collective vision for the protection of the area’s headwaters. [Land Lovers Network, Eventbrite]

10 ways to celebrate International Dark Sky Week, April 13-20: host a dark sky trivia night, collaborate with a library or bookstore on a dark sky-themed display, partner with a brewery or coffee shop on a “dark brew”, plan a neighbourhood nighttime walk, and improve your home’s outdoor lighting. [Dark Sky]

In the face of despair, here’s how we keep going: 1) Focus on small, local projects: 2) Build community; 3) Be awestruck by nature; 4) Act – it makes despair bearable; 5) Rest and recharge. [The Revelator]

Nature’s Wonders

Killer whales have very active skin and need to exfoliate regularly to get rid of the dead skin. One group of northern resident killer whales may be doing just that when they approach the Sunshine Coast shoreline to rub their bellies against the smooth rocks. [CBC]

A Manitoba photojournalist spent his summer photographing bees. The project “was about looking closely, and enjoying the moments with a tiny insect many of us never turn our full attention to. It was a case study in zooming in and slowing down.” The result is some wonderful photographs. [The Narwhal]

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/55037650887/

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.