MOBILTEX sensors and software monitor utilities' mission-critical assets, to prevent pipeline failures that result in methane and water leaks.

I believe seaweed will play a critical role in moving the global population to a more sustainable food source while helping fight climate change. Seaweed is incredible - it can grow up to 2 feet per day and doesn’t require fertilizers, pesticides, or precious fresh water. It is an almost unlimited source of protein, nutrients, and complex compounds for human food, agricultural feed and fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and bioplastics. As an agriculture feed, it reduces livestock methane emissions, improves animal health, and reduces pressures on precious arable land for other feed. Used as a natural fertilizer, it regenerates soils and is a biostimulant, increasing plant health and crop yield.Founded in 2019, Cascadia is already the largest kelp cultivator in Canada, with 7 ocean farms totaling 26 hectares and producing 250 wet tonnes of seaweed and restoring marine ecosystems. By partnering with coastal First Nations, Cascadia is scaling quickly to 700 hectares producing 37,000 wet tonnes of kelp. Cascadia is also developing food products (Kove Seafoods), agricultural feed and biostimulants. Its 2030 goals are to 1) reduce carbon emissions by 480,000 tonnes annually with feed additives for 450,000 US and Canadian dairy cows and cattle, and 2) reduce synthetic chemicals added to farmland by 50% and fertilizers by 20% through use of its plant biostimulants.

As a parent of young children and as an environmentalist, I worry about pesticides. As a water professional, I have monitored the impacts of excessive fertilization, irrigation, and use of synthetic chemicals in farming. I also see a global transition away from meat to healthy and sustainable plant-based proteins. This is why I joined the Board of SemiosBio Technologies, a disruptive, high-growth, Precisions Agriculture company. Semios got its start by providing a safe and sustainable alternative to harmful pesticides, by using technology (cameras installed on farms plus machine learning in the cloud), to automatically detect pests and release insect sex pheromones, naturally disrupting mating and stopping infestation. The Semios platform now monitors all the key elements that factor into producing a good crop - water, weather, pests, and plant stress - providing growers with key insights and enabling them to respond in real-time. Safer food, cleaner environment, higher yields - letting nature do its job.

Indiana-based 120Water is protecting US public health by preventing exposure to lead and copper in drinking water. Children are most vulnerable to high lead and copper levels as they can cause birth defects, brain and kidney damage, and learning impairment. Lead pipes were banned in the 1980s yet there are more than nine million lead service lines still in use delivering water to families and schools around the U.S. The US EPA Lead and Copper Rule (LCRR) aims to prevent exposure by requiring water systems to inventory their lead pipes by October 16, 2024 and to replace all of those pipes within 10 years. 120Water plays a critical role by providing water testing kits, data management, state reporting, and transparency dashboards for the public.

1 in 10 people has chronic kidney disease and there is no cure. The leading causes of kidney failure are diabetes and vascular disease, including high blood pressure. I have a personal connection to kidney disease. The Kidney Foundation of Canada is the national volunteer organization committed to eliminating the burden of kidney disease through funding innovative research for better treatments and a cure; providing education and support to prevent kidney disease; advocating for improved access to high quality healthcare; and increasing public awareness and commitment to advancing kidney health and organ donation.

I started Aquatic Informatics (AI) in 2003 after working for more than a decade as a river ecologist, tracking the harmful impacts of urban, industrial, and agricultural activities on our water. I had traveled the world and wanted to make a bigger difference and on a global scale. My mission was to protect life with open and timely water information. AI is now the world's largest water data management and analytics company, with nearly 2000 customers in 60 countries. Our growing platform of software brands provides critical information for safely managing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. We are having fun and we are making a difference.

This was a small company that I started so we could have a laser focus on an emerging and exciting field - automated real-lime monitoring of water quality in remote locations. Our focus was largely rivers and streams in the Pacific Northwest of Canada, detecting impacts of forestry, agriculture, and urban development. We spent the majority of our time in remote locations, installing and maintaining sensors and communications, ground truth sampling, and on data engineering and data science.

This was my training ground. I worked with highly dedicated (and fun!) teams under the Environmental Protection Branch conducting freshwater and marine monitoring programs, environmental impact assessments, pollution investigations, and environmental permit inspections.