PLANET IN PERIL

The Co-Operator The government has introduced amendments to its Agricultural Growth Act to make the language around seed saving clearer. Story here.   Larry Powell P in P photo.

Council of Canadians More than 100 people from the Cross Lake First Nation (Pimicikamak Cree Nation), located north of Lake Winnipeg, occupied the grounds of the Jenpeg hydro-dam last week. Chief Catherine Merrick said the First Nation is taking control of its traditional territory and evicting Manitoba Hydro. Story here.

Union of Concerned Scientists In a troubling sign, data from the Energy Information A gency released today show that U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose 2.5% in 2013. This increase comes after two years of declining emissions. Story here. Larry Powell P in P photo.

Climate Progress One year ago, when more than 20,000 barrels (3,528,000 Litre) of crude oil spilled from a pipeline and soaked a wheat field in Tioga, North Dakota, the public almost never knew about it. After the spill was discovered by a lone farmer, it was not reported for nearly two weeks, and only after reporters from the The Associated Press asked about it specifically. Details here.

Institute of Science in Society Researchers have created conventionally bred varieties tolerant to drought and low nitrogen soils that can reduce poverty in 13 African countries by up to 9 %, far outperforming anything that genetic modification has achieved  Prof Peter Saunders Please circulate widely and repost, but you must give the URL of the original and preserve all the links back to articles on our website. If you find this report useful, please support ISIS by subscribing to our magazine  Science in Society , and encourage your friends to do so. Or have a look at the  ISIS bookstore  for other publications. A  fully referenced version  of this article is posted on ISIS members website and is otherwise available for download  here

        THE  HILL TIMESonline The latest government information about the scope of deforestation by Canada's oil and gas sector - predominantly the Boreal Plain forest destroyed by Alberta oilsands mining and production - will not be published until a year after the next federal election, according to information from the federal Natural Resources department. Story here.