Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
New research being spearheaded out of P.E.I. is helping Island farmers make better decisions around when to irrigate their crops — and some say it could not come at a better time. Researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have been working on a formula to calculate when to irrigate and how much water to use. The result is a new, online irrigation calculator that's accessible to farmers.
Swirling blooms of turquoise phytoplankton along coasts may be happening more often and getting bigger, according to new research published in Nature, raising concerns about the impacts of climate change on the world's oceans. Using data captured by NASA's Aqua satellite, scientists have tracked coastal phytoplankton blooms over 17 years, between 2003 and 2020.
First Nations across the widely-differing regions of Ontario are finding something ominous in common—unpredictable and unexpected changes to food supply tracing back to climate change. A pattern is emerging through research and interviews conducted on food security with members of the Anishinabek Nation, a representative body for 39 First Nations across the province.
Groundwater under the sea floor off the coast of Prince Edward Island could solve a host of problems for the Island, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered first. The research vessel Maria S. Merian is currently off the North Shore of P.E.I., using various techniques to search for groundwater below the bottom of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. "P.E.I. is 100 per cent reliant on groundwater and it's a finite resource, and we are very cautious with how we use it, as we should be," said Josh MacFadyen, the Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities at the University of Prince Edward Island.
Some residents in Colchester County, N.S., are worried about the effects of the herbicide glyphosate being sprayed on land near waterways, and new research out of McGill University suggests there is cause for concern. Glyphosate is used in the forestry industry to kill deciduous trees, allowing the softwoods sought by harvesters to grow unhampered. Every year, Nova Scotia's Environment Department issues permits to companies to spray the herbicide in forests around the province.
