Episode Details

In this episode of The Gravity Well, Alex, guest host Bruce Smedley, and I discuss environmental history and water management with Shannon Stunden Bower, an associate professor at the University of Alberta. Shannon highlights the historical context of agricultural practices in the Prairie West, the impact of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA), and the unintended consequences of initiatives like strip farming and irrigation projects. The conversation also touches on the importance of indigenous knowledge, the need for sustainable farming practices, and the role of public interest in environmental management. The episode underscores the significance of learning from history to inform present and future environmental policies.

Welcome and Introduction to Shannon Stunden Bower, NiCHE, and J. Bruce Smedley

Alex:

Welcome to The Gravity Well, where we break down heavy ideas into small buckets anyone can handle. Our mission is simple, to work through our differences and collaborate with others through a conversation and process. Together we can face our dilemmas and make our world a better place for everyone.

Jenny:

I normally do my half, which is a statement around truth and reconciliation, but I want to do a reflection this week. I had an amazing conversation with a man by the name of Harley Bastien last week, of Piikani Reserve. One of the questions I had asked him, which is in the flow of these conversations we’re trying to have, is around “What am I missing in my thinking?” I presented to him what we’re trying to do in the real world. We’re having this conversation, trying to bring people into understanding, make sure that we’re bringing in expertise, people that are passionate about positive change in this province, but in the lens of trying to restore our environment and try to restore some social stability in the real world. We’re looking to restore the Eastern Slopes. In particular, we’re in Southern Alberta, and we have this water crisis. I’ll let Alex say more about what we experienced today in the city, but it’s a real-life issue.

J. Bruce Smedley is with us today. Bruce has been a mentor to me for almost a year. We are part of a group called 4C, the Concerned Calgarians on Climate Change. We have a guest tonight, and I’ll let Alex properly introduce you, Shannon. A friend, Sherry Herschel, has been helping us connect with water experts, people who are knowledgeable to help us understand this problem better. Bruce is here to ask questions and offer some thoughts as well as takeaways. I just want to say a couple of things from Harley. I phrased this problem around the Eastern Slopes, I was saying I think of the Eastern Slopes as the taps.

Every time we log, we’re shutting off the taps. Every time we coal mine, we’re polluting the taps and taking water out of the taps. Same with oil and gas sites, roads, et cetera. All of the things that are hurting our water. I finished all that and Harley said, “It’s not ‘our’ water.” I think this is one of the things that I’m hopeful from your knowledge base, Shannon, will help us better understand how we are “human-centric” in our thinking as Westerners. Or at least I am in my thinking, in that, we forget that there is creation around our lives that is not being honoured or held sacred. That’s the knowledge I wanted to carry forward from Harley last week. There’s much more to it. I hope people take a chance to listen to his discussion with me. He was extremely honest, it was a h