Innovation Project — Experts & Research
What the experts told us
We talked to ecologists, biologists and regreening specialists to find where today’s solutions fall short.
Jenny Aker
Agricultural development & environmental research
Oct 21
Learned: heavy rain can destroy demi-lunes, sandy soil crumbles, and any fix must be affordable and practical.
Gap: flooding wipes out existing demi-lunes.
Andrew Millison
Oregon State University
Learned: how demi-lunes near the Sahara and Sahel deserts helped plant trees in the Great Green Wall of Africa.
Gjalt van der Hem
Regreening expert, Justdiggit
Oct 28
[TAKEAWAYS COMING SOON]
Prof. Marc Cadotte
Ecology, University of Toronto Scarborough
Sept 14
Learned: biodiversity keeps ecosystems healthy, and restoration can recreate damaged ones.
Gap: few affordable fixes for soil and water pollution.
Michelle Letourneau
Ecological Practices Manager, Terrapex
Sept 23 · in person
Learned: spotting problems early prevents damage, and drones, sensors and LiDAR can improve monitoring.
Gap: environmental data is scattered and not always digitized.
Roger Santiago
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Sept 28
[TAKEAWAYS COMING SOON]
[PHOTO]
Carter
Ecology student, University of New Brunswick
[TAKEAWAYS COMING SOON]
Feedback → change
What they said, and what we did about it.
Expert
What we heard
What we changed
Jenny Aker
Heavy rain and flooding can destroy demi-lunes; sandy soil crumbles inward.
We shield the fragile parts with biodegradable natural-fibre geotextiles.
Jenny Aker
Solutions must be affordable, practical and easy to use.
We chose lightweight fibres that can be found locally, like sisal, palm or water hyacinth.
Prof. Marc Cadotte
[WHAT HE SAID]
[HOW IT SHAPED THE PROJECT]
Michelle Letourneau
[WHAT SHE SAID]
[HOW IT SHAPED THE PROJECT]
Research
Where current solutions fall short.
• Demi-lunes often get destroyed during large storms.
• Stones and other protective materials are hard to find, costly or heavy to move.
• Sandy, degraded soil does not hold its structure well.
• Environmental data is scattered across databases and not always digitized.
Toronto Zoo, Oct 9. We learned how climate change and habitat loss affect biodiversity, took part in a workshop led by a zoo educator, and met Carter, an ecology student.
Next: our timeline