Edmonton Journal

Opinion: Edmonton finally undertaking ecological thinking

Raquel Feroe , Kristine Kowalchuk , Rod Olstad , Mary Lou McDonald - 

Edmonton just got a whole lot healthier. On Monday, city council approved two policies that were long overdue: ending the aerial spraying of wetlands around the city (which we’d been spending over half a million dollars a year on, during a global biodiversity crisis) and committing to a 2023 cosmetic pesticide ban (preventing the non-essential use of pesticides).


A Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeds on some flower nectar in Edmonton on the first day of summer in 2021.

The former means protecting the birds, dragonflies, and other species that naturally control mosquito populations. Edmonton has apparently had an aerial mosquito spraying program since 1974. Well, Canada and the U.S. have lost nearly one third of birds since 1970, and scientific research points to the collapse in insect numbers as a main cause. The greatest decline has been in “aerial insectivores.” Bank swallows, for example, were once common in Edmonton’s river valley; after a 98-per-cent decline in the last 40 years, however, they are now a threatened species. As every elementary school child knows, we can’t simply remove the base of the food chain.

Most Edmontonians get this. In a 2019 survey , citizens’ top priorities in city “pest” and “weed” management were:

Health of wildlife, including pollinators that might be exposed to pesticides: 93 per cent;

Health of the public that might be exposed to pesticides: 85 per cent;

Health of aquatic ecosystems that might be exposed to pesticides: 85 per cent.

Thankfully, a majority of council listened to citizens and voted for ecological (and economical) thinking. An even greater majority — 12 to one — voted in favour of a cosmetic pesticide ban beginning next year. This will ensure that the landscape alternatives the city is undertaking — including permaculture, naturalization, and urban gardening — will not be undermined by pesticide use. Currently, pesticides sprayed on lawns, golf courses, and university grounds drift in the air, enter the waterways, and accumulate in the soil. What would be the point of planting wildflowers or vegetables if we continued poisoning the birds, bees, and butterflies they are meant to support, and need support from, to be healthy?

Over 180 cities across Canada already have cosmetic pesticide bans — some for over 20 years. They’ve done so to protect human and environmental health. Health Canada registers pesticides based not on “safety” but rather on “acceptable risk,” and is in court now for re-registering glyphosate, deemed a “probable carcinogen” by the World Health Organization. The provinces, meanwhile, only enforce Health Canada’s regulations (and a scathing recent audit showed Alberta’s deficiency in even doing this). So cities have acted.

Edmonton, however, continued to allow pesticides linked to cancer and other diseases, especially in children. A 2017 city audit found that between 2010 and 2016, city pesticide use more than doubled. Despite promises since then, increases have continued — sometimes by outrageous amounts. For example, use of acephate (linked to lower IQ in children) increased 7,016 per cent from 2019 to 2020. The city injects this product into boulevard trees even though the chemical is 10 times more toxic to birds than DDT. What happens if a woodpecker eats an insect from a treated tree?

Pesticide use occurs even in the river valley, despite the fact it is a high-use, ecologically sensitive area, and despite the fact pesticides should not be used next to rivers. Kudos to city council for saying “no more.”

The health emergency we face today is not a need to control inconvenient “pests” or “weeds” but harm from pesticide exposure, disease caused by destruction of nature, and antimicrobial resistance (superbugs). The World Health Organization has now adopted a “One Health” approach to acknowledge that human and environmental health are inseparable — that the best way to protect ourselves is through supporting healthy ecosystems. Going to war against nature leads to far greater problems (including for us) that we urgently need to recognize.

The pathway is clear. Stop spraying, and start protecting nature. Restore wetlands for dragonflies. Allow the bank swallows to rebound. Plant resilient turf on golf courses. Celebrate organic food growing. Such a shift in turn enables new possibilities. In Montreal, citizens are reclaiming back alleys for planting gardens, supporting pollinators and birds, and creating safe places for kids to play.

These are possibilities our city can now embrace. It was a major win that Edmonton is finally joining other cities in undertaking ecological thinking.

Dr. Raquel Feroe and Kristine Kowalchuk are with Pesticide Free Edmonton; Rod Olstad is with the Edmonton Chapter, Council of Canadians; Mary Lou McDonald is with Safe Food Matters.