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Did you know that a plastic bag was recently found in one of the world’s most remote locations, at the bottom of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean in Mariana’s Trench? If that doesn’t sound the alarm about the threat of plastic pollution, what will?
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As we gear up to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, let’s take this opportunity to celebrate this big, beautiful, green and blue orb we call home. Let us also take some time to remember that everything we have comes from our planet and everything we do has a direct impact on it. We’d all like to think our world can support us forever but the reality is that if we don’t treat her right, Mother Earth will not be able to do so. Earth Day 2018 is about changing human attitudes and behaviors around plastic waste.

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World Water Day 2018 arrives in the middle of droughts and floods around the world. There’s no better time to think about our collective water solutions and how we intend to meet the new and increasing water challenges of the 21^st century. 

Nature for water is the theme of this year’s World Water Day. With so many of the world’s current water problems rooted in a misuse or destruction of natural systems through climate change, a restoration and replication of ecosystem functions is key to bringing resiliency back to the world’s water supplies.

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This year has seen numerous unprecedented weather events, many of which scientists say are driven or exacerbated by climate change¹. The vast majority of the scientific community are well aware that climate change is occurring due to excess greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in increased carbon in the atmosphere. However, did you know that soils actually contain more than 2 times the amount of carbon than is in the atmosphere?

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At the recent Summit on Canadian Soil Health in Guelph, Ontario, Don Lobb, a farmer and conservation leader in Canada emphasized the importance of proper management of soils:

“No civilization has ever survived the consequences of exploitative agriculture. As soil was degraded, the survivors moved on to new frontiers. Today, there are no new frontiers. We must take advantage of the one opportunity left- intensive, scientifically sound, responsible soil management that accommodates a healthy soil biota community”.

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When you are done eating an apple, you have a few different choices in terms of how to dispose of the core. If you simply throw it in the trash, it will end up in the local landfill and become just one more addition to the problem of global waste. However, if you compost that apple core, or place it into a green bin or equivalent organic “waste” collection unit,  the inherent nutrients can be returned to the soil as part of a more natural and sustainable, life cycle. Many of us have come to understand that this approach is far more sensible – and preferable, to landfilling. Moreover, new technologies and management methods are further expanding our field of options. Included in this are approaches like co-digestion of organics and biosolids at wastewater…

When seasick on the ocean, water will seem entirely overabundant. But not all water is equal and while seawater is great for fish, without expensive desalination, it doesn’t provide any of the drinking, cleaning or irrigation uses for which people need fresh water. That type of water – the kind that can be easily and safely consumed – is in relatively short supply.

Only a small fraction of the earth’s water resources is potable and the twin pressures of climate change and global population growth are squeezing our clean water supplies tighter than ever before. The developing world has been hardest hit, but North America is increasingly facing the same problem of maintaining both the quantity and quality of our precious clean water supplies. (more…)

In celebration of Earth Day 2017, let us reflect on the vital importance of wastewater as a widely available and valuable resource. Recently made available, the 2017 United Nation’s World Water Development Report recognizes wastewater as an untapped resource and an important contributor to the health of the planet.

The UN Water report is justifiably optimistic about the advancement of new technologies for recovering wastewater energy. (more…)