Alberta’s Population Growth and the Effects on Natural Resources

With population growth and expansion of cities in Alberta, the over consumption of natural resources has led to damaging effects on forests and wildlife.

The destruction of wildlife habitats continues to be a major threat to ecosystems. With increasing residents in Alberta, new communities are being built to help the influx of population that’s estimated to grow over the years.

Population impacts on the ecosystem mainly through natural resource use and waste production, and is correlated with environmental pressures such as biodiversity loss, air and water contamination, and increased pressure on wildlife habitats and natural resources, which decreases their long-term viability.

Judy Stewart, a practicing lawyer in Alberta, and a teacher at SAIT on water governance and law, as well as, a research fellow at the Canadian Student Resources law at the University of Calgary.

Stewart talks about the effects that over population and expansion have on the local flora and fauna.

“Growth has a lot of impacts, depending on the size of the community and how fast and how rapidly the expansion occurs. Sometimes it's well planned out, and for many years, port or corridors are set aside for particular species that have been identified, especially species at risk or migratory birds,” said Stewart.

“In cases of rapid growth and where the planning hasn't taken place properly. The rapid expansion just destroys everything destroys the natural infrastructure, all the riparian lines and wetlands that are necessary for water and habitat.”

Stewart also talks about the actions that the government is and can take to help in protecting these habitats. As well as the laws that are in place already for wildlife reserves.

“I think local governments, especially small urban centers, need to think about the impacts on habitat through growth, well in advance of writing up their municipal development plans in their area structure plans, and set land aside that they know is critical habitat,” said Stewart.

“Our laws are reflection of the status quo and society's values; they're always going to function. The laws that we have in place right now, showcase a human desire to prosper, to be wealthy to all of those things that we've been taught since we were in grade school,” said Stewart.

Stewart believes that the biggest destruction for habitats and harvesting natural resource is the gravel industry and urban development.

Reshaping the land making the area hard for the previous plants and wildlife to come back.

Grace Wark is a conservation specialist at the Alberta wilderness Association. Which is dedicated to the conservation of wilderness and the completion of a protected areas network.

Wark talks about how the Association has inspired communities to care for wild areas in Alberta through recognition and practise.

“A big part of what we do is outreach in order to ensure that people Across Alberta actually know about what the types of ecosystems we have here, and essentially how they can engage different conservation processes, whether with industry or with their own government,” said Wark.

“What we do as well is get into those spaces, we have a Nose Hill hike every year where we bring a botanist with us, he teaches people about native species that live within areas, and talk about the large plants, different mammals, how we can do our best not to disturb them, and even promote native plants in our own backyards,” said Wark.

Wark also talks about the new communities in Calgary that are taking over different parts of habitats and resources that wildlife call home.

“It’s just a big issue that our boundaries continue to expand in Calgary. We approved in 2018, 14 new communities around the city's fringe. This is not necessarily an issue, but what it means is we're continuing to encroach on the surrounding habitat that's around Calgary,” said Wark.

“As we continue to expand our boundaries as a city, we're not necessarily thinking about the habitat that those new communities are infringing on, as well as, just making sure that we have parks in those new communities. Large scale areas to help protect habitat and also provide healthy happy community benefits.”

The Indigenous community possess a wide knowledge of the land and its ecology. Larry Gauthier, Manager of the Chinook Lodge at SAIT, talks about the lands and ecosystems that have been kept protected and treasured by the communities for generations.

“In our belief system, human beings were given the gift of reason, and if you look at all the plants and animals and our belief system is that the universe gave our Earth our Mother, life,” said Gauthier.

“Western views of resources are them controlling the land; controlling the water, and we don't view the environment in that way. In fact, the environment controls us as human beings,” said Gauthier.

National parks in Canada provide a habitat for many plants and animals, from wildflowers and magnificent trees, to insects and grizzly bears.

 Environmentalists and some organizations goal is to learn what plants and animals exist in a specific area, what habitats they use, and how these organisms and environments change over time.

Conservation measures can retain or repair important ecological cycles illustrating their natural condition because environments are constantly changing through development and industry.

Calgary’s Indigenous Film Festival

Parts of the Indigenous culture and ceremonies have been lost too time and assimilation; a resent film festival showed the different struggles of Indigenous Nations.

Indigenous ceremonies in Alberta have been forgotten due to assimilation through residential schools and criminalizing their culture.

One way the Indigenous Nations are reviving their culture are through art and film festivals. One was recently held on Nov. 23, 2019, featuring many different films showing and describing Indigenous culture in many different forms.

Doreen Spence, a Canadian Indigenous rights activist born in the Cree Nation of Northern Alberta, spent over two decades with the United Nations for human rights.

“I've always been an activist, right from when I was little,” said Spence. “The fight for your own culture, for your own identity for just being you. We were not allowed to get an education beyond grade three when I was coming through.”

Spence was part of one of the films called Kohkum & the Quest that was played during the film festival. Where she led her daughter through a Vison Quest.

“In your days when we were reaching womanhood, there was a ceremony when they put you out into a lodge or put you out for sacred purposes to be able to connect to the land,” said Spence.

“With the young boys, they put them out for vision quests and have them there for four days, and four nights with no food or water. You get clarity, you get focused, you get spiritually fed. You get care visions in terms of your own sacred path.”

Berkley Brady is the films director of Kohkum & the Quest. She talks about the importance of listening and seeing Indigenous ceremonies and cultures, to further understand what has been lost and taken from them.

“I really wanted to just hear more about what Doreen had to say and spend more time with her. I think, especially in the documentary, it's a way you can just learn and be part of something you enjoy,” said Brady.

Larry Gauthier talks about why some want parts of their heritage be kept a secret and hidden to others, and the history behind why some of their ceremonies have been lost.

“Their goal was to Christianize Indians, so they use the churches to Christianize because there were three goals. Christianize, civilized and assimilate,” said Gauthier.

“The churches did a good job of converting Indians and so we lost that spiritual belief system. It had to go underground, and so those traditionalists that went underground maintain those values and belief systems and that culture.”

Other Indigenous Nations have different words for ceremonies and ways of preforming them. Depending on the Chiefs of that Nation some are able to view the ceremonies, while others wish for them to be kept private within that Nation.

Through art shows and film festivals like We Don't Have Time to Feel These Feelings: An Indigenous Film Screening to help others further understand Indigenous culture and the fight they have had to overcome for their own identities.

Bullying in the Age of Technology

Cyberbullying is a common form of harassment that young adults face, with limited resources offered to help them, which can have an adverse effect on their mental health.

The longer a student is abused, the greater the probability that they will develop significant wounds that can last a lifetime.

Bullying can be devastating to young adults. Students often experience stomach aches, headaches, panic attacks, and nightmares as a result.

Young adults often find their school performance negatively impacted due to loss of focus and even erratic attendance. Bullying at its most extreme can lead children to take their own lives.

SAIT student Kelsie Sprague was bullied throughout High school, both online and in person.

“It didn't really affect me academically. It just made me scared,” said Sprague.

“I told my parents, they just told me to stand my ground.”

Sprague talks about how it helped shape her response to others being bullied and what she hopes to teach her future children.

“Going through that definitely made me more empathetic towards other people who go through bullying,” said Sprague.

“In the future when I have kids, I would make sure I've raised them to know to stand up for others when we see it happening. Don't just be a bystander.”

Bretton Evans is a SAIT student and also a survivor of bullying.

“I was cyber and social bullied, like people would post things about me and say rude things, but they would also say it to my face,” said Evans.

“I had meetings with the principal and counselors. Usually things would stop for a little while, but then it would just happen again, and the school didn't really care to be honest. I just learned how to deal with it myself.”

Currently, students experience most cyberbullying instances outside of school hours. Many victims do not notify adults about incidences, usually due to embarrassment.

Aiofe Freeman-Cruz is a counsellor at SAIT, and she talks about the ramifications of cyberbullying.

“There are long-term effects of cyberbullying, but they're very similar to other forms of bullying as well. The difference is, that with cyberbullying, it's one of those things that you can't escape from, because we're so connected to our devices,” said Freemen-Cruz

“It's a lot harder to actually take a break from the harassment, there's not as much of a safe place. So, some of the long-term effects tend to include a general sense of not feeling safe, low self-esteem, low confidence and difficulties forming relationships.”

Freeman-Cruz also talks about the support that students can get in schools, including who they can reach out to if they are being bullied.

“So, there's different ways that we do support students. What we do is we work together to try and help that person feel more empowered to face that situation,” said Freeman- Cruz.

“We also work really hard on helping a person develop coping strategies and ways to manage that doubt and that self-doubt and help them not internalize all of the things that they might be being told by the outside world.”

Studies have shown similarities between cyberbullying and social bullying; notably, a lack of friendship and a sense of isolation.

Differences in social self-efficacy and public credibility have been identified as factors. Ideal social integrity and lack of emotional self-efficacy are connected to participating in online harassment.

The Alberta bullying prevention plan aims to assess extent of the harassment before agreeing to an action plan.

The plan draws on the latest research to support people in healthy relationships and mitigate risk factors to prevent bullying and create safer environments for Canadian youth.

NASA’s TESS Mission & the Fight for Funding

In January, NASA’s TESS Mission for the first time observed a star being torn apart by black hole.

A study was published September 27th showing a simulation of the event.  

Experts at the University of Calgary say this shows the need for continued funding, which is at risk in the new Conservative budget plan.

TESS is a planet-finding satellite that observes one area for a month or longer to find stars that get dimmer as a planet passes in front of them.

The satellite happened to observe the interaction, which has excited scientists.

David Hobill, an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary, discussed black hole research and the importance of the finding.

“The technology has gotten to a point where we can actually now observe these things,” said Hobill.

“The star going around it and then being absorbed into it, that's an extremely rare event.”

Hobill talks about how the event was observed, as well as its importance.

“For this particular star that is being ripped apart, it's a star basically like our Sun, and that's why we can actually see it,” said Hobill.

“It is amazing that we actually saw this thing happening with a telescope that was not designed to see it.”

Robert Bell is a Master's student in the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Calgary. He also commented on the findings.

“TESS is a very special observational instrument,” said Bell

“TESS was able to observe the brightness of a black hole. A star got too close to its host black hole, which caused it to tear apart and heat up, which caused an incredible increase in brightness.”

Bell also says people should be more interested in the search for answers.

“The core of science is just being able to ask questions, and then do what you can to answer those questions,” said Bell.

Due to post-secondary budget cuts, science programs are having difficulty securing funding.

The effect of the cuts from the Conservative’s budget is not lost on Hobill.

“These things are very expensive. But it does shed light on some aspect about the universe that we never have seen,” said Hobill

“But then you have to convince people that this is worthwhile, right?”

Dr. Thomas Warren-Son Holoien from The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, connected to the TESS program, said the program shows funding should be more important.

“TESS has already been highly successful with its official mission to find exoplanets, but studies like this one and other recent work with supernovae that were observed by TESS show how it has many applications to other areas of astronomy as well,” said Holoien.

“So, in that sense, studies like this one are great for justifying costs and designing future space missions.”

The Conservative government proposed funding cuts for post-secondary schools to lower the provincial debt and redirect money to the energy sector.

TESS’s observations are another advancement for science. For some, this signifies the importance of continued funding. For others, it may not be convincing enough. Regardless, this is just one step towards answering some questions and creating more.

Climate Change Friday’s For Futures Protest in Calgary

After Swedish climate activist Greta Thunburg’s speech at the UN last week, climate change is on the minds of every Calgarian that went to the climate strike Friday September 20th 2019 at noon.

The City of Calgary is taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emission while also managing energy use, which is all part of the Climate Resilience Strategy, but Calgarians are not convinced that the city’s actions are enough.

Joanna Allard was at the strike talking about what Calgarians can do to help with climate change or climate action. “Climate change is a real and pressing problem. Its man made and we need to acknowledge that problem and move forward to address it right away,” said Allard.

“Calgarians are not quite understanding of the reality of climate change the way that people in British Columba are. It’s on fire all the time now, and it is a real problem. I think that awareness needs to be raised here in Calgary,” said Allard.

Others are also looking at are our current election coming up in October, as well as Alberta premier Jason Kenney, and how he and others in government could be doing more.

Activist and parent, Natasha Welsh has just those concerns and questions. “I think that in this upcoming election for Canada that we need to look at electing leaders who will act now,” said Welsh.

“Alberta just keeps electing people who just don’t care about Climate change and they’re in complete denial. I think that it is a big thing, it’s about electing leaders who will act,” said Welsh.

“Alberta is a province with so many days of sunshine, so we should be looking at solar. Yet we have a premier that has stop subsidizing solar panels,” said Welsh.

Thunburg gave a powerful speech at the UN a week before the climate strike. Thunburg’s speech gave many support and power to come to the strike.

Lexi Whyle talked about Greta Thunburg’s speech and how she has influenced her.

“I love her. I know that she is only 16 but she is my idol right now,” said Whyle.

“I also have Asperger’s syndrome and I also believe it is a gift because it’s made me incredibly passionate like her,” said Whyle.

“What we need to take from her speech is that she is not the one who is going to do the change, we as adults need to take that from her. She’s asking and pleading us to take this burden of leadership away from her. We as adults need to change and need to smarten up,” said Whyle

According to the City of Calgary’s climate resilience strategy, the city will create a plan to lessen the impacts of climate change as well as give direction on how to best manage energy resources.

The Climate Program will research and communicate with different corporations to ensure that City Council is all up to date on information that will be discussed for future plans and actions.