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Showing posts from August, 2009

Nitrous Oxide Now Top Ozone-depleting Emission

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2009) Nitrous oxide has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities... Ag. fertilizers are a huge contributor. Govt. of AB photo

Wal-Mart Faces Its Day of Reckoning

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Frank Nelson, Miller-McCune.com. Au. 24, 2009. Wal*Mart's relentless growth and Darwinian competitiveness have created a world that is increasingly inhospitable to its own success.

The Fast Food Industry's 7 Most Heinous Concoctions

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By Brad Reed, AlterNet. Posted August 27, 2009. 2 lb. McCheeseburger - courtesy of Twisted Kites. Some of America’s favorite chains have concocted some thoroughly repellent dishes that make the Double Quarter Pounder look like a celery stick.

Growth of Ocean ‘Garbage Patch’ Alarms Experts

Published on Friday, August 28, 2009 by The Associated Press Three-week Pacific voyage highlights ‘shocking’ amount of plastic debris.

Desperate Food Industry Tries to Tar Michael Pollan and Organic Produce

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By Vanessa Barrington, EcoSalon. August 24, 2009. (A busy market in Regina, SK. Photo by l.p.) With growing numbers of food-conscious consumers, big corporations are trying to sully the reputation of alternatives to their style of agriculture.

Native Americans to Join London Protest Over Tar Sands

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Terry Macalister - guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 August 2009 Canadian First Nations seek to highlight UK's 'criminal' role in CO2-heavy oil schemes . Activist protests against the Alberta tar sands at a recent rally in Regina, SK. Photo by l.p.

LP Relents on Plant Inspection by Outside Experts - But Will There be One?"

- by Larry Powell Louisiana Pacific Canada Ltd. has apparently had a change of heart. Initially, the company refused to allow an inspection of its wood products plant in the Swan Valley of western Manitoba by outside experts. But after a request from the Clean Environment Commission, (CEC) it has agreed. But only with strict conditions attached. LP must be given 5 business days advance notice. All those taking part must identify themselves with valid IDs in advance. The tour must be limited to six people. No photographs or recordings will be allowed. Participants must undergo a safety orientation. They must sign a waiver in order to get into the plant's production areas. The company will not answer any technical questions because "all pertinent technical information is already on the public record." LP agreed after the Clean Environment Commission supported the request for the outside inspection from two citizens' groups; Concerned Citizens of the Valley and the Borea

Climate Change May Cause Crops to Emit Methane

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Staff - Manitoba Co-Operator - 8/18/2009 Canola Crop by L.P. Crop stresses typically linked to climate change, such as increased temperatures, drought and UV-B radiation, might actually hasten climate change by causing crops to emit more methane into the atmosphere.

U.S. State Department OKs Pipeline From Canada's Oil Sands

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WASHINGTON, DC, August 21, 2009 (Environment News Service) The U.S. State Department has issued a permit for a multibillion-dollar pipeline to carry crude oil from Canadian oil sands to refineries south of the border, triggering a court challenge... ===== (AFP/Getty image) Editor's note...Surely this can only underline the urgency with which the U.S. should implement Barak Obama's commitment to CLEAN energy! l.p.

Manitoba Logging Road May Spark Court Battle

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Winnipeg Free Press - By: Bruce Owen - 20/08/2009 Environmentalists oppose park route. (Click headline.) Also read "Environmentalists pan new road...." and how James Beddome, leader of the Green Party of Manitoba feels about the decision. Ghost Pines 11 by Mary Jane Eichler

U.S.-Based Logging Corporation Refuses an Outside Inspection of its Manitoba Wood Plant

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Environmentalists Cry Foul - by Larry Powell Louisiana Pacific Canada Limited operates an "Oriented Strand Board" plant in the Swan Valley of western Manitoba. It's been at odds with critics ever since the provincial government allowed it to shut down its pollution control equipment last January. Following an uproar from community members and environmentalists, the government instructed an advisory committee, the Clean Environment Commission (CEC), to review that decision. It conducted public meetings earlier this summer in Swan River. Participants argued for and against LP's application to make the shutdown permanent. Then, two groups critical of LP's proposal, joined forces. "Concerned Citizens of the Valley" and "The Boreal Forest Network" tried to arrange for scientific experts to tour the plant. They argued this was the only way for them to fully take part in the process, since the format of the public meetings did not

O2 Dropping Faster than CO2 Rising

ISIS Report 19/08/09 ========= Implications for Climate Change Policies New research shows oxygen depletion in the atmosphere accelerating since 2003, coinciding with the biofuels boom; climate policies that focus exclusively on carbon sequestration could be disastrous for all oxygen-breathing organisms including humans Dr. Mae-Wan Ho Threat of oxygen depletion Mention climate change and everyone thinks of CO2 increasing in the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect heating the earth, glaciers melting, rising sea levels, floods, hurricanes, droughts, and a host of other environmental catastrophes. Climate mitigating policies are almost all aimed at reducing CO2, by whatever means. Within the past several years, however, scientists have found that oxygen (O2) in the atmosphere has been dropping, and at higher rates than just the amount that goes into the increase of CO2 from burning fossil fuels, some 2

Scientists Uncover New Ocean Threat From Plastics

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By Steve Connor, Science Editor - the Independent - Thursday, 20 August 2009 . Plastic pollution is not just unsightly but it could be to toxic to humans and animals. The North Pacific Gyre, which traps untold amounts of plastic particles in its eddies. (Credit: Algalita Marine Research Foundation)

A Cleanup Begins - but Concerns Remain Over the Massive Straw-Bale Piles at Elie, Manitoba

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by Larry Powell - (Please also note comments at bottom.) A resident of Elie, Manitoba, Linda Aquin, says she worries that the massive backlog of straw-bales stored near the town will catch fire, resulting in the release of toxic chemicals. Aquin and her husband operate a bed-&-breakfast in the small town on the Trans Canada Highway, west of Winnipeg. She says Dow Bio Products which owns the now defunct s t rawboard plant, has hired exterminators to control the rodents living in the straw. She believes they used a poison possibly containing arsenic for this purpose. If a fire breaks out, she adds, she doesn't know what could happen. But, it could be like a chemical fire and if the wind is in the wrong direction, results could be serious. She says a fire at the Elie school some time ago produced toxic smoke when some plastic chairs burned. "We couldn't breath and had to get out of there," she remarked. She fears a similar incident, only on a larger scale, c

Methane Seeps From Arctic Sea-Bed

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By Judith Burns - Science reporter, BBC News. Photo by Peter Hollinger Scientists say they have evidence that the powerful greenhouse gas methane is escaping from the Arctic sea-bed.

Alberta RCMP Use Re-Enactment to Help Find Wild Horse Killers

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Wed Aug 19 - By The Canadian Press SUNDRE, Alta. - Mounties hope a Crime Stoppers re-enactment will help them find who is killing wild horses in the Alberta foothills. Photo courtesy Canadian Geographic Editor's note: Once again, our inhumanity to our fellow creatures shows no bounds. l.p.

Is Our Last Chance to Preserve Life On Earth Slipping Away?

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By Larry Schweiger , Fulcrum Publishing . August 17, 2009. Shallow news coverage causes most Americans to underestimate the urgency of the threat of global warming.

Soaring Population May Swamp Anti-Poverty Goals

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Published on Monday, August 17, 2009 by Inter Press Service by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS - The U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, already undermined by the global financial crisis, are expected to take another hit - this time from rising population growth. courtesy of The Boston Globe

Phosphorus, Nitrogen Levels Spike in Lake Winnipeg After Massive Spring Flood

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By: Chinta Puxley, THE CANADIAN PRESS - 16/08/2009 WINNIPEG - The massive spring flood in Manitoba that transformed the Red River into a lake and caused at least $40 million in property damage has also taken a toll ..... Satellite image courtesy of Greg McCullough

Canada Loses out as U.S. Ups "Green" Ante

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By Nicole Mordant - VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) The Obama administration's titanic $60 billion spending plan for the U.S. clean energy sector is luring investors away from "green" businesses in Canada... Courtesy of photosearch.com

The CAFO Syndrome

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An interview with Mia MacDonald on China’s growing appetite for Western-style meat Posted on 17 Feb 2009 - by Anna Lappe - Grist ==== Across the planet, old ways of farming are giving way to the environmentally devastating factory farms we’ve pioneered in the West... Photo by Kichiro Sato

Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

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By JOHN M. BRODER - The New York Times - August 8, 2009 WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention...

Attack Against Offices of Vía Campesina

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Editor's note - It's worth noting that Canada has actually been making excuses for this stinking coup! Please express your solidarity with "Via Camp!" l.p. ====== Action Alert from the Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa, Honduras - August 12th 2009 Last night at 11:23 pm, during curfew which began at 10pm, unknown individuals driving a cream colour Toyota , fired bullets at the office of Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa, Honduras which is coordinated by Rafael Alegría. Above, the kind of people ViaCamp represents - women working in the field with a child! Obviously a subversive organization deserving of being shot at! The act was a clear attack against our social organizations and leaders who are part of the National Front Against the coup. In addition to the recent attack on Vía Campesina, a bomb capable of killing 15 people went off in the building of the Beverage Workers Union (STIBYS, by its Spanish initials) on Ju

The Meat of the Problem

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By Ezra Klein - Washington Post - Wednesday, July 29, 2009 Photo by l.p. It's not simply that meat is a contributor to global warming; it's that it is a huge contributor. Larger, by a significant margin, than the global transportation sector.

Why Corporations, Emerging Powers and Petro-States Are Snapping Up Huge Chunks of Farmland in the Developing World

By Scott Thill, AlterNet. Posted August 11, 2009. In the past six months, big players in the global economy have grabbed 50 million acres of arable land, from Africa to Southeast Asia. Click headline for more.

Northern Saskachewan Lakes at High Risk From Alberta Acid Rain Emissions

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Saskatchewan Environmental Society August 10, 2009 Photo courtesy of Saskatchewan Tourism New monitoring data on rainfall in northern Saskatchewan and recently published research on the acid sensitivity of northern Saskatchewan soils show the urgent need for federal and provincial action to control Alberta oil sands pollution, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society said today. “If regulations to control acid pollution from Alberta’s oil sands are not put in place soon, many of Saskatchewan’s northern lakes will be seriously damaged in the decades to come” said Peter Prebble, Director of Energy and Water Policy with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society. “There are two important new pieces of evidence pointing to this conclusion” said Prebble. First, precipitation so acidic that it is classified by Environment Canada as “acid rain” is now falling on the La Loche region in northwest Saskatchewan. Second, recent work by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environm

Winnipeg Spraying for Dutch Elm Disease

Last Updated: Friday, August 7, 2009 - CBC The City of Winnipeg has begun treating American Elm trees on private and public property with the chemical Dursban to control elm bark beetles, the carriers of Dutch Elm Disease. Click headline for more. Eds. Note - Nine years ago, (2000), after the most extensive assessment of any chemical in its history, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that Dursban may be more dangerous to people than once believed. It removed use of the pesticide, also known as chlorpyrifos, from products sold over-the-counter there. A "sister" pesticide, Lorsban, containing the same active ingredient and with similar chemical properties, became a nightmare for a Manitoba family when it was sprayed on a nearby crop. l.p.

Warming Oceans Starved of Oxygen

ISIS Press Release 10/08/09 Global warming is depleting oxygen from the ocean waters and threatening the survival of fisheries and the entire marine ecosystem. Click headline for more.

Severe Global Warming Will Render Half of World's Inhabited Areas Unliveable, Expert Warns

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David Adam in Copenhagen - guardian.co.uk Parts of China, India and the eastern US could all become too warm in summer for people to lose heat by sweating, expert warns. Click headline for more.

Baby Emissions Fuel Global Warming

The Guardian - Estimates of the carbon legacy of bringing a child into the world suggest that the green choice may be to stop at two kids. Click headline for more.

Organic Consumers Association Responds to Faulty and Misleading FSA Food Study

* Press Release Organic Consumers Association, July 30, 2009 Straight to the Source CONTACT: Ronnie Cummins/Alexis Baden-Mayer Click headline for more.

Wind Turbines Cause Health Risks

Manitoba Wildlands newsletter - 07 August 09 New research exposes the health risks of wind energy turbines including heart disease, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines, increased heart rate and sleep deprivation. ======== COMMENT: Hi Larry While browsing your page and links I noticed an article about Wind Turbine Syndrome, and Dr. Nina Pierpont. There seems to be many doctors who disagree with Pierpont, and the basis for her arguments. Anyhow, I live in Prince Edward County, Ontario, which seems to be the Ontaro hub of NIMBYism with regard to wind energy development, here. Many in our local group helped groom the final version of our position on this issue. http://www.countysustainability.ca/WindTruth.htm ) Thought you might be interested. That is quite an extensive web page you run! Well done. Don Chisholm

The Climate Battles Present -

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NEW ENERGY VS. TARSANDS SHOWDOWN IN REGINA Regina SK. Aug. 6 '09 - by Larry Powell Protesters from far and wide converged on Regina this week, demanding climate justice on the occasion of the Premiers' ("Council of the Federation") meeting here. Targets at the rally, in front of the Saskatchewan legislature, were this province's headlong rush to promote nuclear energy; and the Alberta tar sands, the dirtiest energy project on earth! Organizers of this and various other protests and rallies around the city during the week, included Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and Council of Canadians . "Premiers Stelmach" (above l),and "Wall," (above r) and "Prime Minister Harper," wage shameless war against Mother Earth by denying climate change and refusing to do anything about it. A First Nations activist (r) urges the crowd to demand climate justice, support indigenous rights and the closure of the tarsands! A young member of the "Pedal for t

Is Organic Food Healthier? A Food Expert Responds

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By Marion Nestle, Huffington Post. Posted August 4, 2009. When it comes to nutritional value the study says no -- but the research fails to look at pesticides, the environment and animal welfare. Click headline for more. Photo by L.P.