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Showing posts from October, 2009

Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity: Suzuki

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October 30, 2009 - the Green Pages Wind turbines, southwest SK. l.p. photo Ottawa - Canada can succeed economically while meeting targets to reduce global...

Canada Sets Aside its Boreal Forest as Giant Carbon Vault

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Suzanne Goldenberg , guardian.co.uk , 29 Oc'09 By banning logging, mining and oil drilling in an area twice the size of California, Canada is ensuring its boreal forests continue to soak up carbon... Artist: Mary Jane Eichler

Organic Farming Yields Tougher Crops

by Max Ajl - Solve Climate - Sep 22nd, 2009 The future is now. What used to be scientific predictions of climate change are now upon us. This makes a major switch to organics even more urgent...

Who’s Investigating the CAFO-Swine Flu Link?

Oc 29'09 - by Tom Philpott - Grist 6 months after the outbreak, is anyone?

Who Contaminated Canada's crops?

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Martin Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail- Wed. Oct. 28, 2009 Prairie whodunit has flax farmers baffled . A prairie flax crop, itself contaminated with GM canola "weeds!" What a tangled web have GMOs woven! l.p. photo

Climate Change Could Push up Insurance Premiums: Exec

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Winnipeg Free Press - By: Andy Blatchford - 27/10/2009 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Harsh weather whipped up by climate change has caused insurance claims to...

Palestinians Denied Water - Amnesty Int'l.

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Tu. Oc, 27, '09 by BBC News - Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of... (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Protesters Disrupt Question Period

October 26, 2009 - CBC News A loud protest in the visitors gallery of the House of.... ===== "Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." JFK

Can Your Diet Make You Happy?

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Eco Salon - Oct. 26th - '09 Farmers' Market - Regina SK. l.p. photo Wanna be happy and kick Prozac to the curb? Start eating your...

Manitoba Pork Producers To Benefit From $70 Million More...

Editor's note: If this is "sustainable agriculture," what, pray tell, is not? l.p. ======= Manitoba News Release ............................................................ October 26, 2009 In response to increased challenges facing Manitoba's pork industry, pork producers will now be able to access 75 per cent of their estimated 2009 AgriStability payment. This increase to the targeted advance payment will make an additional $70 million available in cash flow assistance to the industry. "This Government is always willing to adjust programs to make sure they hit the farmgate and that's why we're announcing targeted advances to Manitoba pork producers," said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. "We're working side-by-side with the Government of Manitoba to help pork producers weather the current storm and get back to profitability." "The challenges facing our pork producers have neither decreased nor stabilized since June when

Forests Count in Our Fight Against Climate Change

Science Matters - October 23'09 By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola. In 1992, I attended an event that filled me with hope. Canada and the rest of the world had just signed a climate change treaty...

Biofuel Displacing Food Crops May Have Bigger Carbon Impact Than Thought

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ScienceDaily (Oc 25'09) A report has found that carbon loss stemming from the displacement of food crops and pastures for biofuels crops may be twice as much as.. . Canola field. l.p. photo

Poisoning Nature's Pollinators

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Please visit the Sasquatch, Saskatchewan's newest alternative magazine, for my latest update on declining world populations of honeybees and the shadowy role which giant makers of agri-chemicals are playing in this tragedy. As usual, your comments are welcomed! - the saskquatch news with a bite - Honeybee hive - (Note queen in upper left) l.p. PinP photo Author Larry Powell has been researching and writing about these important and endangered pollinators for some time. Check the Sasquatch link, not just for this but other stories critical to the future of our Prairie region. ======= Author's note: Few things smack of collusion between government "regulators," politicians and the agrochemical industry more than the honeybee debacle. While we know what these poison products are doing to the bees, they continue to be used. The message seems to be, we must solve every last facet of the CCD mystery before anything can be done. It's a bit like saying, &

Toxic Waters: Regulatory Absence Allows Chemical, Coal and Farm Industries to Pollute US Water Supplies

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By Amy Goodman , Democracy Now! . Posted October 23, 2009. No federal regulations specifically govern the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills... USDA photo

Winnipeg Forest Activist Wins North America's Top Environmental Prize for Youth

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Posted: 23 Oct 2009 - the Green Pages Student Earns Award For Effort to Protect Nearly One Million Acres of Boreal Forest From Industrial Logging Berkeley, CA- Robin Bryan, a 21-year-old student at the University of Winnipeg, will be among the six recipients of the 2009 Brower Youth Award. Hosted by Earth Island Institute, the Brower Youth Awards are North America's most prestigious prize for young environmental leaders. Bryan fought for years as a campaigner with the Wilderness Committee to put an end to industrial logging activity within the boundaries of provincial parks in Manitoba. Originally from Prawda, Manitoba, Bryan is now completing his degree at the University of Winnipeg. MB Wildlands While attending school full-time, Bryan organized rallies, spoke with elected officials, delivered classroom presentations about the issue, fundraised tirelessly, and organized volunteers to write and collect 20,000 letters to the government. Bryan lives in close proximity to the w

Manitoba Rules Out Proposed Development At Meditation Lake

Manitoba News Release ............................................................ October 22, 2009 PROVINCE RULES OUT PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AT MEDITATION LAKE - - - Government Renews Commitment to Work with Tim Horton Children's Foundation To Build Camp for Underprivileged Youth: Struthers Based on water testing results at Meditation Lake and feedback from public consultations, the province and Tim Horton Children's Foundation will now seek another location in Whiteshell Provincial Park for a youth leadership camp. The decision was announced today by Conservation Minister Stan Struthers and Tim Horton Children's Foundation vice-president Dave Newnham. "We will look at an alternate location in the Whiteshell to meet the program and wilderness experience needs required by the youth leadership camp proposal while keeping in mind the needs of current and future park visitors," said Struthers. "The public review held in the spring on the Meditation Lake propos

Livestock's Contribution to Climate Change Hugely Underestimated - Worldwatch

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by Robert Goodland & Jeff Anhang - WWI Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change are...cows, pigs, and chickens?

Is Bucko Lake Doomed? Let's Make Sure it Doesn't Happen!

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Call for Position Statements - Bucko Lake and Metal Mining Effluent Regulations
 Local and national consultations sessions are being planned for amendments to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) in the near future. These would require alterations of our Fisheries Act, too, allowing for harmful substances (toxic mining waste) to be dumped into dammed freshwater lakes, thus turning them into Tailings Impoundment Areas - a euphemism for ruined, former life bearing lakes. Here in Manitoba, Crowflight Minerals Inc. (see photo, below) has applied for a permit to dump their nickel mine waste into Bucko Lake, close to Wabowden, south of Thompson, a portion of the headwaters for the Grass River system, and in woodland caribou territory. Yikes. The application is in the Public Registry and Conservation is accepting comments even though the time period has passed. We asked for that. The faces of the people who would turn Bucko Lake into a toxic dump. It is a subsidy for the mining

Turkeys on an Unidentified Ontario Farm Have Tested Positive for the Swine Flu

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS - 20/10/2009 Minister says food safe.....

MANITOBA RATED SECOND IN CANADA FOR COMPETITIVENESS IN MINING TAXES

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Oc 16, 2009 - Manitoba's Mining Tax Regime Excels In Report: Rondeau. Ruttan Lk. Mine. MB Gov't. photo Manitoba has been rated among the most competitive provinces for mining activity in Canada, ranking number two in the country for the competitiveness of its mining tax regime, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) 2009 Canadian mining tax report, Science, Technology Energy and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau said today. "The ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers is welcome news as it confirms our commitment to support and strengthen the minerals industry in Manitoba," said Rondeau. "The incentives government provides, combined with our rich resources, continue to be a solid economic driver for the province's mining industry." Rondeau noted the province is committed to investing in mineral exploration and mining, and working with industry to boost the economic opportunities the sector offers. He said companies are attrac

Sask. Student's Vaccine Tightens Net Against E. Coli

Anne-Marie Hickey, University of Saskatchewan - 10/16/2009 Food and water around the world could soon become safer for human...

Canada's Rivers at Risk

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Oc 14-'09 - World Wildlife Fund - Environmental Flows and Canada's Freshwater Future Canada ranks among the world's top nations in terms of renewable water supply but... The Waterhen, rated by Environment CA in '07 as Manitoba's only "pristine" river! l.p. photo

Carbon Emissions Must Peak by 2015: UN Climate Scientist

PARIS (AFP) - – The UN's top climate scientist on Thursday urged a key conference on global warming to set tough mid-term goal...

Hunting: An Extinction Threat To Middle East's Most Threatened Bird

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2009) Conservationists trying to prevent the extinction of Northern Bald Ibis are distraught that one of the last remaining wild bird...

Canada Quietly Asks EPA to Weaken Anti-Pollution Measures

Canadian embassy in Washington asks agency to alter plan that would force lake freighters to stop burning dirty bunker fuel... Martin Mittelstaedt - Globe and Mail - Oct. 17, 2009

Politicians Have Failed in Efforts to Stave Off Climate Change, Now It's Up to Us

By Bill McKibben , Mother Jones . Posted October 17, 2009. The political method has not worked so well...

Dickstone South Road License Upheld: Struthers

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Manitoba News Release .......................... October 16, 2009 Artist: Mary Jane Eichler An Environment Act licence to construct and operate a temporary road to allow Tolko Industries to access potential timber harvesting areas north of Grass River Provincial Park will be upheld, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers announced today. In August, the Dickstone Road was granted a licence under the Environment Act but the decision was appealed on the grounds it threatened woodland caribou habitat. The licence was issued following an extensive technical and public review of potential environmental impacts including impacts to woodland caribou herds. Several licence terms and conditions were included to ensure environmental protection including requirements to monitor and protect against impacts to caribou, said Struthers. "We take protection of caribou habitat very seriously," said the minister. "That's why we have placed strict environmental conditions on the licens

Manitoba Brings in New Rules Governing Livestock Waste

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Winnipeg Free Press - By: Staff Writer - 16/10/2009 l.p. Photo WINNIPEG - The province announced today that it is implementing new rules for livestock waste, in the wake of heated...

BC Funds Reduced-Pesticide Use Research Facilities

MB Co-Operator - Oc.15-'09 State-of-the-art labs for research into ways to reduce pesticide use will open Fri....

BIODIVERSITY: Earth's Life Support Systems Failing

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Stephen Leahy - Inter Press Service UXBRIDGE, Canada, 13 Oct (IPS) - The world has failed to slow the accelerating extinction...

West Side Power Line Could Cut Through Forest Reserves

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Winnipeg Free Press - By: Staff Writer - 14/10/2009 Artist: Mary Jane Eichler WINNIPEG — The west side power line will skirt provincial parks but it could cut through several forest reserves, according to...

Larry Writes to the Prime Minister

Please note the response from the PMs office (I'm taking his answer as a "no.") & Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May at the end. ========= Dear Honourable Prime Minister, Is it true that you won't be attending the key climate change summit in Copenhagen in December? Here is what the Environment Canada website says about this. "Canada will be represented at COP 15 by the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment, and by Michael Martin, Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Climate Change." Surely your absence will only deepen the already deep cynicism that surrounds your commitment to fighting climate change and global warming . British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already promised he will attend the Copenhagen conference, and urges other world leaders to do the same. He says such attendance is essential " to avert the grave danger that nations will face if they fail to agree on

Victim of Drought

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A baby elephant receives a bottle of milk Wednesday at the David Sheldrick Wildlife trust which cares for orphaned elephants on the outskirts of the Nairobi national park in Kenya. Some of the baby elephants have been orphaned by one of the worst droughts in recent years affecting millions of people across East Africa. (KAREL PRINSLOO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

What’s the Big Clucking Deal?

by Nikko Snyder - THE SASQUATCH - 
Sept/Oct 2009 (Vol I No. 4) When citizens contacted the City of Regina to inquire about raising chickens on urban properties, the municipal fist came down hard...

Beef-Eaters be Careful! It's a "Buyer-Beware" World our There

NY Times - Michael Moss - Oc 3-'09 E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection...

UK'S Lackluster Low Carbon Transition Plan

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The Institute of Science in Society Science Society Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk l.p. photo This article can be found on the I-SIS website at http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php ======================================================== ISIS Report 12/10/09 UK’S Lackluster Low Carbon Transition Plan ################################## Belated, good in parts, but not green and definitely lacking in vision. Prof. Peter Saunders and Brett Cherry The belated The world is shifting to renewable energies in the wake of peak oil and accelerating global warming. Contrary to exhausting supplies of fossil and nuclear fuels, renewable energy is inexhaustible energy. In 2008, more capacity in renewable energies has been added than conventional, and the trend is continuing, with many politicians and experts considering 100 percent renewable by 2050 a distinct possibility [1] (see Green Energies - 100% Renewable by 2050, ISIS publication). The German government, for

Farmers Calling for Cull of Manitoba's Wild Elk

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By: Chinta Puxley, THE CANADIAN PRESS - 12/10/2009 WINNIPEG - Bovine tuberculosis carried by wild elk is increasingly threatening some Manitoba cattle herds...

Wild Birds Blamed for Avian 'Flu in the Fraser Valley

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MB Co-Operator - Oc 9'09 Wild geese. l.p. photo Wild birds are seen as the carriers of a "low-path" H5N2 avian flu virus that hit a turkey farm....

Millions Will Starve as Rich Nations Cut Food Aid Funding, Warns UN

The Guardian - UK - Oct.10-'09 Aid agencies fear global disaster as support for World Food Programme hits 20-year low... ===== EDITOR'S NOTE: At the same time the US was pledging billions to bail out rich banks & financiers on Wall Street, it was cutting back on its pledge to the World Food Program by almost $1B! Ironic, isn't it? Especially considering one of the counties to be hardest hit by such stinginess will be President Obama's ancentral home, Kenya! l.p.

Climate Change Will Hit Tropical Fisheries the Hardest

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ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2009) © QT Luong/terragalleria.com Major shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect...

Eat This Recession!

7 October, 2009 Sneak preview of Wayne Roberts' controversial article from Alternatives' new issue... The terms “shovel-ready” and “kick start” tell us that politicians turned to pre-ecological...

What If Being Fat Is Not Your Fault?

North America's Obesity Epidemic May Be Fueled by Chemicals in Everyday Products By Tara Lohan , AlterNet . Posted October 3, 2009. Chemicals called 'obesogens' are in our food, cars and...

Taxpayers "Shell" Out $865,000,000 for Carbon Capture Project

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Pembina Institute - Posted: 09 Oct 2009 Amy Taylor, Director of Alberta Energy Solutions with the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the announcement that the governments of Alberta and Canada will provide..... ====== Editor's note: Whatever became of the "polluter pay" principle? Oh, I forgot, Stephen has none! (Principles, that is.)

Wait, We Just Bombed the Moon?

Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet October 9, 2009. Doesn't anyone else in the universe get a say in this?

Era of Cheap, Easy Oil is Over, Warns Study

By Louise Gray , Environment Correspondent - the Telegraph - UK Published:08 Oct 2009 The world could start to run out of oil in the next ten years, sparking soaring ...

Grassy Narrows’ Legal Challenge to Clearcut Logging Begins

Monday October 5, 2009 - For Immediate Release: Toronto, ON –The Ontario Superior Court began hearing evidence this week in Grassy Narrows’ case against logging on its traditional lands. Grassy Narrows is challenging Ontario’s right to approve industrial logging that interferes with its constitutionally guaranteed treaty rights. The Grassy Narrows trappers have been in the courts for close to a decade fighting to protect Treaty 3, which was signed by the Government of Canada in 1873. The trial is expected to last approximately 75 days. “We have never given our consent to clearcut logging, and we have never given up our right to live off this land, but the government and the corporations choose to ignore this,” said Grassy Narrows representative Joseph Fobister. “The logging is destroying a way of life for our people, and we cannot allow that.” In her decision to award costs in advance of trial, Madam Justice Spies wrote “I have no difficulty in concluding that the treaty int