PLANET IN PERIL

Manitoba Co-Operator PinP photo. CNS Canada – – Statistics Canada will release its first survey-based Canadian crop production estimates for 2015-16 on Friday, and figures for most major crops are expected to be down compared to last year. Story here.

Photo credit - APTN. (A version of this letter was published yesterday in the Neepawa Press.) Dear Editor,  I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding. My recent letter in the Neepawa Press, "It's time to wake up and smell the smoke,"  has brought quite a negative response from friends and others. The misunderstanding is over the "link" that I drew between wildfires and manmade climate change. My critics apparently think such a link was my own creation!  Nothing could be further from the truth!  I was merely the messenger!

Common Dreams PinP photo. 'Neonics' have been linked to decline in bee populations. Story here. RELATED:  New Studies Show Farm Chemicals Are Affecting More Than Bees. Bird Populations are Declining, Too. Is modern agriculture’s toxic hold on nature becoming a death grip? Bees on sunflower.  PinP photo.

Manitoba Co-Operator Reuters — U.S. regulators have relied on flawed and outdated research to allow expanded use of an herbicide linked to cancer, according to a column published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. Story here.

USA TODAY While most attention has focused on the lingering drought in California, a "flash" drought has spun up in the past few weeks across much of the South, from Texas to the Carolinas. STORY HERE.

Common Dreams Millions of people and billions of dollars depend on healthy oceans, but human actions create complex interactions that endanger oceans. Story here.