PLANET IN PERIL

NATIONAL OBSERVER An investigation by Joel Ballard indicates there is reason to believe that's exactly what Canada has done. More here. The Deepwater Horizon.  Photo by the US Coast Guard.

TheConversation The plan to build a massive hydropower dam in Sumatra as part of China’s immense  Belt and Road Initiative  threatens the habitat of the rarest ape in the world, which has only 800 remaining members. More here. Photo by   Tim Laman

ScienceNews Two "big rigs" ready to begin work in western Manitoba. PinP photo. Agroecology is a better alternative than large-scale agriculture, both for the climate and for small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to researcher. This agricultural model preserves biodiversity and safeguards food supply while avoiding soil depletion. More here.

EcoWatch

WinnipegFreePress                                             A Pineland Forest Nursery photo. The provincial government is selling a massive tree-growing operation near Hadashville that produces and stores seeds for every type of tree grown in Manitoba. More here.

Letter to the Editor Virden Empire-Advance May 3, 2018 01:57 PM Rural people could wake up one morning to find a factory hog barn next door, and there will be nothing they can say or do about it if the hog industry gets its way and the Pallister government passes Bill 19,  The Planning Amendment Act . Bill 19 gives local councils and planning districts the “choice” to get rid of the mandatory conditional use approval process for large livestock operations, along with all the legal protections the public currently has. In so choosing, municipalities give away the ability to set conditions such as requiring manure storage covers and shelterbelts to attempt to control odour and require development agreements to make the hog factory pay for road building and maintenance, instead of taxpayers. All municipalities will have to review their zoning by-laws and decide within one year if they want to control large factory hog and poultry operations, cattle and sheep feedlots on be