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Showing posts from 2009

Niger Delta Farmers Welcome Shell Court Ruling

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Published on : 31 December 2009 - By Sophie van Leeuwen A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday it had the...

Four Anti-Mountaintop Removal Activists Arrested at Home

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Published by Sparki, Dec. 30th'09 Iran is not the only place where government agencies are... Mountaintop removal coal mine in southern WV encroaching on a small community. Photo by Vivian Stockman Ohio Valley Coalition

Anti-Mining Activist Assassinated in El Salvador

Mon. 21 Dec '09 - CISPA - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador Demand an investigation and... ========== Editor's Note: The atrocious record of Canadian mining companies abroad just keeps getting worse. Led by our Prime Minister, that killer of justice and democracy, Canada just keeps racing to the bottom. Just how far will we sink? l.p.

Arctic Melt Top Weather Story of Decade, if Not Century: Enviro Cda's Phillips

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Wed Dec 30'09 - By Pat Hewitt, The Canadian Press TORONTO - The big Arctic melt of...

Good News for Bees (At Least American Ones): Judge Bans Chemical

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Contact: Josh Mogerman Bee-toxic Movento pulled from market for proper evaluation. Honey bee hive. l.p. photo NEW YORK (December 29, 2009) – A pesticide that could be dangerously toxic to America’s honey bees must be pulled from store shelves as a result of a suit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Xerces Society. In an order issued last week, a federal court in New York invalidated EPA’s approval of the pesticide spirotetramat (manufactured by Bayer CropScience under the trade names Movento and Ultor) and ordered the agency to reevaluate the chemical in compliance with the law. The court’s order goes into effect on January 15, 2010, and makes future sales of Movento illegal in the United States . “This sends EPA and Bayer back to the drawing board to reconsider the potential harm to bees caused by this new pesticide,” said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. “EPA admitted to approving the pesticide illegally, but argu

Science left behind in Copenhagen Coverage

Dec. 30 '09 Comment: By thegreenpages contributing editor Fraser Los After all the late-night hand-wringing by bleary-eyed world leaders, the Copenhagen climate conference...

Canada Successfully Destroys Parody Websites

Published on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by CommonDreams.org Climate Policy Remains Deplorable - by The Yes Men The government of Canada has used...

Despite Disappointment, Climate Summit Marks High Point for Activist Movement

Worldwatch Institute - by Ben Block on December 28, 2009 Media audiences across the world took notice as...

Greenpeace Will Keep up Pressure on Global Warming

Dec 24 - By DONNA BRYSON 
Associated Press Writer JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Greenpeace will keep up...

Maple Syrup Output at Record High: StatsCan

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MB Co-Operator - 12/24/2009 Canada’s production of maple syrup... (Above) A sugar bush in Manitoba. These Manitoba maples are the workhorse of producers here. But the "industry" on the Prairies is so small in does not even warrant a mention in Stats Can figures. However, as a Manitoba producer myself for many years, I can attest that the product itself is just fine! l.p.

Escape from Copenhagen

Worldwatch Institute - by Christopher Flavin on Dec. 23, '09 President Obama's speech in Copenhagen last Friday included a ...

Copenhagen Outcome: a Real Climate Catastrophe

by David Roberts - the Daily Beast De.18th-'09 The deal Obama brought home from Copenhagen wasn't just...

A Poem For Stephen

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– by Larry Powell ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land global warming was here. \ It was grand! It was grand! Cars would start! Ice would melt! Folks wore their light clothes , while up through their chimneys mere wisps of smoke rose! On the air one could hear mindless broadcasters say "It's eleven degrees. Hope this thaw lasts 'til May!” But up at the pole it was not Santa's day. Two of his reindeer had just passed away. Dasher and Dancer had sadly drowned while playing with mates confined to the ground. There was a river they could normally cross. But its ice had grown thin in the tenuous frost. The two were not helped by the fact they could fly. And the cold, clear water is where they did die. The great bears of the north had met similar ends. Just as learn-ed scholars did indeed portend. Christmas day dawned, but alas, 'twas not white! Lawns were brown, fields were black. It just didn't seem right! The s

Tarsands Pollution Exceeds Official Estimates: Study

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The Canadian Press - Bob Weber Dec. 7'09  EDMONTON – An independent study suggests pollution from...  Canada geese fly over an open pit of the tar sands Courtesy of BeautifulDesruction 

Seed Behemoth Monsanto Stumbles Into Antitrust Trouble

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16 Dec 2009 - by Tom Philpott - Grist Crop sprayer - l.p. photo Even as it bombards the airwaves and magazine ad pages to tout its commitment to “sustainable agriculture,” GMO seed giant Monsanto...

BC Wilderness Committee Calls for Climate Action

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Ken Wu Speaks out for Old Growth at Copenhagen Climate Talks Wilderness Committee campaigner Ken Wu is in Copenhagen, drawing attention to the value of our remaining ancient forests on Vancouver Island for storing carbon. This past week he joined hundreds of thousands of protesters calling for Canada’s government to take real action on climate change. Ken spoke at the conference on climate change in Copenhagen on Monday, December 14, about Vancouver's forests and their effect on the environment. He based his most recent information on a report issued by the Sierra Club, ‘State of British Columbia’ Coastal Rainforest: Mapping the Gaps for Ecological Health and Climate Protection’ released Sunday, which noted that industrial logging over the decades has decimated old-growth tracts to below the level needed to preserve species. Decades of "industrial logging" have reduced vast tracts of old-growth coverage to below the 30 per cent per ecosystem mark -- the a

Success?

by CHARLES CAMPBELL - Dogwood Initiative Enbridge can't hide the fact that their Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project has been delayed yet again. Could Dogwood supporters have anything to do with it? Read More . . .

A Billion People's Water at Risk From Melting Ice - Al Gore

AFP. Posted December 14, 2009. At UN climate talks Monday, Gore warned that record melting...

Youth and Indigenous People Escalate Protests Inside the UN

BY JOSHUA KAHN RUSSELL | Rabble.CA - DECEMBER 10, 2009 Echoing the words of Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed (We will not...

Climate Justice - Take Action for People & the Planet

Council of Canadians reporting from Copenhagen...

MANITOBA HAS PLAN TO REDUCE PLASTIC BAG USE: BLAIKIE

Manitoba News Release ............................................................ December 8, 2009 - - - Manitobans Asked For Input To Guide Action to Protect Environment Manitobans are being asked for their views on the best way to reduce the impact of plastic bags on the environment, Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie announced today. "We want to hear what Manitobans think and we want to work with shoppers, vendors and bag manufacturers," said Blaikie. Manitoba was the first province in Canada to ban plastic bags in liquor stores and the second to set targets for packaging. Plastic bags are regulated as service packaging under the Packaging and Printed Paper Stewardship Regulation, passed in December 2008. The Guideline for Plastic Bags under the regulation establishes a target to reduce the use of plastic bags by 50 per cent within five years. Next spring, Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM) will launch a new industry program to manage packaging and printed pap

Global Protests Demand Action on Climate Change

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of activists across...

Can Wind Power the World?

Thu May. 19, 2005 - Mother Jones Two Stanford researchers have put out a new scientific study suggesting that the potential for wind-driven energy is actually many times....

Canada's Trade Trumps Environment

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Winnipeg Free Press - By: Frances Russell - 9/12/2009 AB tarpond, courtesy beautifuldestruction.ca Canada should be setting climate change policy...

Activist Naomi Klein Calls for Disobedience at Copenhagen

Dec.9-'09 Guardian.Co.UK Klein labels the climate summit as the worst case of disaster capitalism, ever...

Greenhouse Gases Imperil Health, E.P.A. Announces

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NY Times - John Broder - Dec. 7-'09 l.p.photo WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has paved the way for regulation of carbon.....

EPA to Strengthen Oversight of Pesticide’s Impact on Children and Farmworkers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 8, 2009 EPA WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to strengthen… (Editor's note: Perhaps our Canadian regulators could listen and learn....l.p.)

Tarsands Adding Carcinogens to Athabasca River: Study

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CBC - De 7'09 A study of water quality at 60 sites along the Athabasca River and its tributaries makes it clear... Climate demo - Regina SK Summer - '09 (l.p. photo)

Hog Industry on the Ropes

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by Elecia Chrunik - THE SASQUATCH - Dec/Jan '09 The Canadian hog industry is in trouble. Supply is...

Canada Must do More to Confront Climate Crisis - Science Matters

R. Turgano on December 4, 2009 By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola. People who deny the reality of human-caused global warming are wetting their...

Larry's Letter to the Free Press Re;"ClimateGate"

Dear Editor - I must say I wasn't surprised when I read "The View from the West" recently, called "Climate Skeptics Turn up the Heat; " especially considering where it came from. It came from Ken Green, a "scholar" from that oh-so-scientific body, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In it, he predictably jumped on the "ClimateGate" bandwagon, harrumphing about how the science supporting human-caused global warming has now been tainted by the leaking of those memos from the climate centre in East Anglia, UK. Apparently we are now all supposed to turn our backs on the massive body of knowledge amassed by the world-renowned climatologists, meteorologists and glaciologists of the International Panel on Climate Change, and embrace the message of the AEI instead! Considering the Institute was founded on a partnership of top executives of leading business and financial firms, just what do you suppose that message might be; That we should turn

Warm Weather Puts Winter 'Lifeline' for Northern Manitoba Communities at Risk

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Chinta Puxley, CP - 6/12/2009 WINNIPEG - The cost of everything from milk to gas in northern.. (Ed's. note: This wouldn't be climate change would it? Naaah! That's just bunk!) (Ice Road photo courtesy of Google Images.)

UN Hits Back at Climate Skeptics

BBC News 5 - Dec 2009 The UN's official panel on climate change has hit back...

Popular Herbicide Affects Sexual Development in Frogs, Research Finds

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2009) — The controversy surrounding the unintended effects of...

The Tar Sands Blow - Please Watch This Video

Copenhagen Climate Change Talks Must Fail says Top Scientist

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Guardian - UK De 5'09 World's leading climate change expert says summit talks so flawed... Courtesy Climate Change Connection

Canada's Image Lies in Tatters

George Monbiot - Guardian UK No. 30-'09 It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling... (Editor's note: One right-wing blogger has called this story "a flatulent sermon." Really? I think it's bang on! l.p.)

Will China Turn Its Back on International Standards in the Ilisu Dam?

Wed, 12/02/2009 - 1:24pm - International Rivers The Ilisu Dam on the Tigris is a primary example of a dam that violates...

This Could be the Car of the Future! But Whose Future?

Courtesy of Eco-Driver Manitoba

US gives Shell Green Light for Offshore Oil Drilling in the Arctic

Conservationists say the decision by the Obama administration to allow drilling in the Beaufort Sea repeats Bush era mistakes... Ed Pilkington in Anchorage, Alaska - guardian.co.uk , Tuesday 20 October 2009

Federal Funding for Farmers' Markets

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Winnipeg Free Press - By: Staff Writer - 28/11/2009 The federal government will spend... (l.p. photo)

Going Green Means Having Fewer Kids

By Emily Badger , Miller-McCune.com . Posted Oc. 19'09 - Alternet There are already just too many people on the planet. What are we supposed to do about it?....

Climate Rage

By Naomi Klein - November 11th, 2009 - Published in Rolling Stone One last chance to save the world—for months, that's how the United Nations summit on climate change....

The Story of Stuff (Video)

Watch this amazing video, "The Story of Stuff - How the World Works." It pretty much tells it all. l.p.

Genetically Engineered Crops = Increased Pesticide Use

November 2009 - Charles Benbrook, Ph.D. 
Chief Scientist - 
The Organic Center Genetically-engineered corn, soybeans, and cotton now account for...

Millions of indigenous people continue to farm and raise animals the ancient way, the organic way.

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Nov. 26 -'09 - Organic Consumers' Asn. 4,200 Years of Farming on the Colorado Plateau On the Colorado Plateau farming has been an unbroken cultural tradition for at least 4200 years. The Navajo, Zuni, Apache, Hopi, Paiute and Tewa have cultivated the most diverse annual crop assemblage in the New World north of the Tropic of Cancer. The Wayana's Cultivated Eden The farming system of the Wayana society of French Guyana is based on diverse and flexible cultivation, with characteristically high biodiversity. Organic agriculture and permaculture form a rich, biologically complex system of food production, complimented by wildcrafting, fishing, and hunting. In Wayana, there is no artificial separation between cultivated and wil

Activists Target "World of Coca-Cola"

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Nov.25-'09 - By Matthew Cardinale - IPS ATLANTA, Georgia, Nov 24 (IPS) - Activists from the U.S. and Colombia are targeting the World of Coca-Cola museum, located... www.killercoke.org

Climate Destroyer Shut Down by Activists in Indonesian Rainforest

Nov.25 - '09 - Greenpeace With just 12 days before the critical UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, our activists are taking...

Mankind Using Earth's Resources at Alarming Rate

Nov. 24, 2009 - Agence France Presse WASHINGTON - Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans...

Antarctic Ice Loss Vaster, Faster Than Thought: Study

Monday, 23 November 2009 - the Independent - UK The East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has...

Manitoba Extends Stubble-Burning Permit Requirement

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Staff - MB Co-Operator - 11/19/2009 "Unusually late" autumn weather has led Manitoba's agriculture department to extend the requirement... Photo courtesy of ChrisD.ca

The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare

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By Tara Lohan, AlterNet. Posted No. 21, 2009. Vegetarians aren't the only ones who should be concerned; there's soy in just about... Soy fields encroachinig on the Amazon jungle. Courtesy of Mongabay

The Tragedy of Drive-'Thrus'

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A favourite spot for millions of North Americans - the "Drive-thru." Often with their motors running, occupants eat/drink in their vehicles, even tho they could just as quickly (esp. when it's busy) park, actually turn off their motors & be waited on in the comfort of the restaurant. Estimates on the number of tonnes of greenhouse gasses needlessly produced in this way, are not available. l.p.

New Trends Report: Fuel Economy Increases as CO2 Decreases

November 20, 2009 - EPA Report tracks a five-year upswing in fuel efficiency WASHINGTON - For the fifth consecutive year, EPA is reporting an increase in fuel efficiency with a corresponding decrease in average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for new cars and light duty trucks. This marks the first time that data for CO2 emissions are included in the annual report, “Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 through 2009”. “American drivers are increasingly looking for cars that burn cleaner, burn less gas and won’t burn a hole in their wallets,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We’re working to help accelerate this trend with strong investments in clean energy technology – particularly for the cars and trucks that account for almost 60 percent of greenhouse gases from transportation sources. Cleaner, more efficient vehicles can help reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, cut harmful pollution, and save people mon

Statisticians Reject Global Cooling

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By SETH BORENSTEIN - The Associated Press - Oc 26-'09 WASHINGTON — Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of.. .

Biotech Crops Cause Big Jump in Pesticide Use-Report

Tue Nov 17, 2009 - By Carey Gillam KANSAS CITY, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton has promoted...

Rising CO2 Could Cause Catastrophic Sea Level Rise Finds Antarctic Study

Telegraph.co.uk - By Louise Gray - 18 Nov. '09 Sea levels could rise by up to six metres if...

Why Bees Vanish

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ISIS Press Release 16/11/09 *************** A film that tries to get to the bottom of the mystery of the disappearing bees with some success Sam Burcher l.p. PinP photo The Vanishing of the Bees [1] is the cinematic equivalent of “Watch with Mother” about the importance to the planet of the honeybee. It patiently unravels the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) implicated in the mass disappearance of honeybees from their hives across the world. Bees have one of the most important jobs in nature. Without their busy pollination of plants and flowers we would lose one in every three bites of the food that we eat (see Box 1). ----------------------------------------------------- Box 1 What you need to know about bees ******************************** The UK bee economy is worth £165 million annually [3]. The British Beekeeping Association (BBKA) estimates that it would require 30 million humans to take over the job of pollinating British crops. DEFRA (The Depart

Transnationals Contribute To HUNGER

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Farmers provide SOLUTIONS Press release - La Via Campesina (Rome, 15 th of No.'09) Nursing a baby in a wellness clinic . (The Nestle corporation has a long and dubious history of discouraging women to breast-feed, so they can peddle their own baby formula and pad their bottom line.) La Via Campesina is appalled by the arrogance of the private sector and especially NestlƩ in pretending to...

APEC Leaders Douse Hopes on Climate Pact

Module body Sun Nov 15 SINGAPORE (AFP) - Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday buried hopes a key UN meeting next month would forge...

Monsanto Wins Legal Battle, May Lose War

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION - By: Laura Rance - 14/11/2009 A few farmers in Ontario are learning the hard way after being found guilty of infringing on Monsanto's...

Manitoba's Green-Energy Projects are Sucking Wind

Winnipeg Free Press - By: Mary Agnes Welch - 14/11/2009 High hopes for wind die down... .

Links Between Oil Activity, Alberta Quakes Studied

Module body CALGARY (CBC) - Fri Nov 13 - A Calgary scientist is looking for links between oil and gas activity and...

Did Big Oil Win the War in Iraq?

By Antonia Juhasz , AlterNet . Posted November 14, 2009. As U.S. and British oil companies sign contracts with the Iraqi government, is it time to declare Big Oil...

Burying Carbon Dioxide in Underground Saline Aquifers: Political Folly or Climate Change Solution?

TORONTO , Sept. 23 /CNW/ - Multi-billion dollar programs backed by the Alberta and Canadian governments to bury....

Important Forum on GMOs

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009, Ottawa 7-9 PM The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network Expert Lecture Series presents: Unsafe Genetically Modified Corn? Canada's lack of assessment for Monsanto's "SmartStax" GM corn Come and hear what the experts have to say about the problems with Canada's regulation of GM foods. Featuring preeminent scientists: Dr. Michael Hansen , Consumers Union, US Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher , Federation of German Scientists with Dr. Peter Andree , Carleton University, on Canadian regulation Moderator: Lucy Sharratt , Coordinator, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network Tuesday, December 1st 7:00 – 9:00 PM Saint Paul University Amphitheatre, Ottawa 223 Main Street (side door off parking lot) Suggested Donation $10. Everyone Welcome. Wheelchair Accessible. This event will be web broadcast at www.cban.ca/corn T

Feds' Biofuel Fund Backs Sask. Ethanol Maker

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MB Co-Operator - N0.11'09 A federal biofuels incentive fund has followed through on... (This will be the largest "wheat-ethanol" plant in North America.) Please also read "Bursting the Ethanol Bubble." Wheatfield photo by l.p.