Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

water storage

Action needed as Canada loses nearly 300 football fields of grasslands daily

Action needed as Canada loses nearly 300 football fields of grasslands daily

Canada’s iconic Prairie grasslands are in peril, but the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has sprung into action to try to save the vital ecosystems. Its Prairie Grasslands Action Plan proposes to conserve more than 500,000 hectares (more than 5,000 square kilometres) by 2030 —- six times the size of Calgary. In a recent interview with The Weather Network, Jeremy Hogan, NCC's director of prairie grassland conservation, said only 18 per cent of Canada's original grasslands remain. "We have taken the grasslands for granted a little bit. They're one of our most productive ecosystems in terms of food production, but also services like water storage, filtration [and] preventing droughts and floods," said Hogan.

As California faces droughts and floods together, farmers look to new water technologies

As California faces droughts and floods together, farmers look to new water technologies

The earth under Dennis Lebow's gumboots is saturated. He's in the Salinas Valley in California, about an hour south of San Jose. The valley is often referred to as the "salad bowl of the world" as it's one of the most productive agricultural areas in the U.S. Most of Canada's lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes are grown in its fertile soil, according to California's Department of Food and Agriculture. 

U.S. warns California cities to prepare for fourth year of drought

U.S. warns California cities to prepare for fourth year of drought

Federal water managers on Monday urged numerous California cities and industrial users to prepare for a fourth dry year, warning of possible "conservation actions" as drought conditions continue despite early rains. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said water storage is near historic lows in the reservoirs it operates in the state, which serve the Central Valley breadbasket as well as the cities of Sacramento and San Francisco.

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