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Standing the Precautionary Principle on its Head

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  by Larry Powell      It was a fateful decision.      One year ago tomorrow, Stan Struthers, who was then Manitoba's Minister of Conservation, said "yes" to a request from Louisiana Pacific Canada Ltd (LP).      As a cost-cutting measure, the corporation wanted to permanently do away with devices called regenerative thermal oxidizers, or RTOs, which have helped control toxic emissions from its plant at Minitonas since it opened in the mid '90s.      The plant makes "oriented strand board," a type of sheeting used in house construction. It is made from hardwood trees the corporation harvests over a wide area of western Manitoba, including the Duck Mountains.      That permission from the government, first said to be temporary, set in motion a series of events which has now dragged on for a full year. Yet the central question, should the equipment be shut-down permanently or put back online, has yet to be answered. "Evening in Duck Mountains."

Farmer Suicides and Bt Cotton Nightmare Unfolding in India

Institute of Science In Society Report 06/01/10 ############################################## The largest wave of farmer suicides and ecological nightmare unfolding around Bt cotton Dr. Mae-Wan Ho exposes the “fudged” data and false claims of ‘successes’ that have perpetrated the humanitarian disaster The Bt cotton killing fields As the cotton growing season drew to a close in the state of Andhra Pradesh, farmer suicides once again became almost daily occurrences. Officially, the total number of suicides within a six-week period between July and August 2009 stood at 15, but opposition parties and farmers’ groups said the true total was more than 150 [1]. Opposition leader N. Chandrababu claimed in a speech that he had the names and addresses of 165 farmers who ended their lives because of the distress caused by the drought. By November, similar reports were coming from another cotton growing state Maharashtra. Farmers of Katpur village in Amravati district sowed Bt cotton four years

Make it Your New Year's Resolution to Offer More Support for Organic and Sustainable Food and Farming in Manitoba!!

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Greetings and Happy New Year from all of us at the Organic Food Council of Manitoba! garden photo by l.p. 2009 was an extremely busy and exciting year for the Organic Food Council of MB (OFCM-COG), as well as for the organic sector in Manitoba and across Canada. THANK YOU! for your ongoing support and interest in OFCM-COG and our programs: Growing Up Organic (GUO) and Manitoba Farm Mentorship (MFM) . Here's a sampling of what's new at OFCM-COG: Access GUO resources for child care facilities or join us at our Food For Their Thought info session on February 9. Find a farm mentor through MFM or attend one of our upcoming farmer workshops being held January through March. Check our our freshly updated calendar of events . We simply cannot do what we do without the support of our members, program participants, and sponsors, and all of the champions of Manitoba's sustainable food and farming movement - YOU! Please continue to off

Triffids return to British TV

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MB Co-Operator - John Morriss - 12/30/2009 As Canadian government and industry officials try to geet the GM flax variety.... Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Consumers Choose Locally Grown and Environmentally Friendly Apples

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ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2009) When asked to compare... l.p.photo

Green Conservatism

Shared by: F. Los (the Green Pages) on Dec. 30 '09 I always read Lorne Gunter's column, although I almost never....