PLANET IN PERIL

New York Times HARTFORD CITY, Ind. — Across a wide stretch of the Midwest, sweltering temperatures and a lack of rain are threatening what had been expected to be the nation’s largest corn crop in generations. Details here.

By Andrew Freedman - Climate Central The Greenland ice sheet is poised for another record melt this year, and is approaching a "tipping point" into a new and more dangerous melt regime in which the summer melt area covers the entire land mass, according to new findings from polar researchers. Full story here.

June 29, 2012 by Common Dreams   Western US fires are being driven by extreme temperatures, which are consistent with IPCC projections. Details here.   Devoured: A firefighter works the scene of a home being consumed by flames in Colorado, captured by Darrell Spangler  

George Monbiot - the Guardian It is, perhaps, the greatest failure of collective leadership since the first world war. Full story here. PLT photo  Please also read: "Governments and the Climate Challenge. Leadership Failure on a Psychotic Scale"

By: Jessica Gresko, The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Millions across the mid-Atlantic region sweltered Saturday in the aftermath of violent storms that pummeled the eastern U.S. with high winds and downed trees, killing at least 13 people and leaving 3 million without power during a triple-digit heat wave. Full story here. Residents of the eastern Canadian prairies were no strangers to violent weather, either. See photos, below. Winds of over 100K per hour struck the area around the west-central Manitoba town of Roblin this week.It was just part of a much larger system that created havoc from Saskatchewan into a wide area of Manitoba. Below , some of the damage in our own yard, northwest of Roblin.   (PLT photos)  

Montreal Gazette Doctors condemn move, but miners and residents applaud it. Full story here.