Posts

Showing posts from February, 2010

Coral Reefs in Danger of Being Destroyed

Image
The Independent 24 February 2010 Rising acidity of the oceans is threat to... Courtesy of Solcomhouse

FCC Rolls Out Loans for On-Farm Renewable Energy

Image
Manitoba Co-Operator - Staff - 2/23/2010 Farmers and agribusinesses eyeing ways to use renewable ... the Overgaard farm

Democratic Sell-out Dianne Feinstein Attempts End-Run to Hand California Water to Billionaire Farmers

AlterNet/By Yasha Levine - Feb 13 -2010 Feinstein is trying to ram through a massive transfer of public water into the private...

Warming Climate May Devastate Major U.S. Crops

Study Suggests Tipping Points for Corn, Soybeans, Cotton posted: 2009-09-11 Earth Institute - Columbia University

Sierra Club Files Complaint Over Unlabelled Canwest Oilsands Ad Features

Image
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION - By: Bob Weber - 11/02/2010 An environmental group has filed an official…. Courtesy of BeautifulDestruction

Covering Climate Change

by Ben Block - This article appears in the March/April 2010 issue of World Watch magazine . News coverage of global climate change is on the rise worldwide, but more in-depth international reporting is needed...

Yemen's Water Crisis Eclipses al Qaeda Threat

Image
Feb 17-2-10 - by Ulf Laessing SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni water trader… (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)

Endangered Species on the Grill: The Black Market in Illegal Meat Flourishes in the US

AlterNet / By Anneli Rufus Millions of fork-twirling gourmands -- many of them in the U.S. -- are eating...

A Quarter of U.S. Nuclear Plants Are Leaking a Radioactive Material Linked to Cancer

Image
Alternet - Harvey Wasserman feb 12 -2010 At least 27 of America's 104 aging atomic reactors are known to be leaking….

Oil Groups Mount Legal Challenge to Schwarzenegger's Tar Sands Ban

guardian.co Feb 16-2010 • Californian legislation branded 'unconstitutional'...

U.S. Press Digs Into IPCC Story

Image
The Observatory — February 15, 2010 - By Curtis Brainard Articles still fall short of ambitious work in the U.K.

The Day After Tomorrow Might Have Been Yesterday

Matthew Berger - Inter Press Service - Feb. 14 - 2010 WASHINGTON, 12 Feb (IPS) - When the 2004 film "The Day After...

Unravelling the “Miracle” of Malawi’s Green Revolution

Image
GRAIN - Feb 12 - 2010 Malawi farmers - courtesy of BBC News Malawi’s green revolution success story has been...

38% of World's Land in Danger of Turning into Desert

Image
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 02.10.10 - treehugger If you're not familiar with desertification, it might be time...

Cattle Pastures in Deforested Amazon Now the Size of Iceland

by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 01.31.09 - Treehugger The largest rainforest in the world is being chopped down almost entirely for...

Amazon Will Be Drier Because of Global Warming, But Won’t Turn to Savannah

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 02.11.09 TreeHugger Under some global warming scenarios….

The Right's Inability to Grasp Climate Change May Be Funny, But It's Also Very Dangerous

AlterNet / By Daniela Perdomo The so-called Snowpocalypse has brought out the...

More Evidence of Link Between Parkinson's and Pesticides

OnEarth - Feb 4 - 2010 The evidence that environmental factors....

Walmart to Gauge "Sustainability" in Canada

Staff- Manitoba Co-Operator 2/11/2010 Canada's Walmart stores are going to be the chain's first outside the U.S. to adopt the company's "sustainable...

Global Warming an Olympic Worry, says Rogge

AFP | February 8, 2010 VANCOUVER – Global warming is starting to worry the International Olympic Committee, with concern mounting over how it might affect future Games. IOC president Jacques Rogge said it was an issue discussed in meetings on Monday ahead of the Winter Olympics here, with the issue of Cypress Mountain , just outside of Vancouver , highlighting the problem. The mountain is the site for the freestyle and snowboard events but has been plagued by a drastic lack of snow caused by the warm temperatures which have seen Vancouver enjoying unseasonal highs of around 10C (50F). Lorry loads of snow have been carted in to the venue and media banned from visiting in an effort to g

Have Farm Chemicals Ruined Another Life?

Image
                                          by Larry Powell Oh look! What the world needs now! Yet another "crop protection" product! A PinP photo. I met him recently at a family event.   Since he prefers not to be identified, I'll call him "James," which is not his real name. James moved slowly with the use of a cane; a distinguished looking senior with graying hair. At dinner, he shared bits and pieces of his personal story with me.  It was both amazing and tragic. He had worked for a number of years in the farm chemical industry in western Canada. Industry "experts" convinced him at the time that the chemicals he was working with were so safe, "I would have drunk them if they had asked me to!"  Turns out, he didn't have to.  James is convinced that, merely inhaling their fumes over the years was enough to change his life forever. And not for the better.   Later, at my request, James sends me a

Commercial Fishing Endangers Dolphin Populations, New Study Finds

Image
ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2010) — Extensive commercial fishing…. Captive dolphins in a "swim with dolphins" fun park in Mexico. l.p. photo

Tritium Hot Zone Expands

By SUSAN SMALLHEER - Rutland Herald - Vermont VERNON — The Department of Health said late Monday there appears to be "a very large...

A Green Budget for Canada?

Image
thegreenpages - Canada Posted: 07 Feb 2010 07:01 AM PST Ottawa - In light of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's invitation for input on the upcoming federal budget, the Green Budget Coalition (GBC) is today highlighting its three priority budget recommendations, whose adoption could stimulate over 8,000 new jobs in renewable energy, ensure clean sources of drinking water for millions of Canadians, and help Canada meet its commitment under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to establish national and regional systems of protected areas. "These are prime opportunities for Canada to shine on the world stage during the International Year of Biodiversity and in the lead-up to the G8 and G20 Summits," said Barry Turner, Chair of the Green Budget Coalition and Director of Government Relations, Ducks Unlimited Canada . The Green Budget Coalition comprises 21 of Canada's leading environmental and conservation organizations

Stress, Depression Take Toll on Farmers

Image
Winnipeg Free Press - By: Laura Rance - Manitoba Co-Operator 6/02/2010 Workshops to focus on growing problem... Canola swaths in October . l.p. photo

Los Angeles May Get Mandatory Rainwater Harvesting Law

Does this mean LA is becoming water wise? feb 5 2010 - treehugger

Coca-Cola Puts on Green Guise for the Winter Olympics

February 5, 2010 by Stephanie Rogers - ecosalon The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are going...

Ottawa Squanders Energy Economy

Image
Winnipeg Free Press - By: Frances Russell - 3/02/2010 Courtesy of Beautiful Destruction. More and better carbon capture...

Manitoba's Conservation Minister Responds to my Story on Swan Valley Air Emissions

Image
While composing my story, "Standing the Precautionary Principle on its Head; the Manitoba Government celebrated '09 by allowing industrial pollutants to be released in the Swan Valley," Gov't. of MB photo I invited three Manitoba cabinet ministers to give their input. Just over a month later, I got a response from one of them, Bill Blaikie. Please read my email and his, below. Larry ========== From: Larry Powell [mailto:earthkeeperfarm@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 12:22 PM
To: Conservation, Minister; Agriculture, Minister; Finance, Minister
 Subject: News Story On LP's Pollution Controls Dear Honourable Ministers,

 I'd like to congratulate you all on your recent appointments to new portfolios!

I am a journalist based near Roblin who writes regularly on issues touching on your areas of ministerial responsibility. (I write for my blog - see link below - occasionally for weekly newspapers in my region and magazines such as Briarpatch and Sasquatc

Biotech Wheat Could Slam U.S. Wheat Prices -Report

Wed Jan 27, 2010 - By Carey Gillam CHICAGO, Jan 27 (Reuters) U.S. wheat prices could fall by 40 percent...

With Climate Change, Some Birds Are Taking Off for Migration Sooner; Not Reaching Destinations Earlier

Image
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2010) Migrating birds can and do keep... (R.) Cape May Warbler Three American goldfiches (l.) migrated north to Manitoba, as they usually do in mid-spring of 2009. They were caught by a highly unusual major snowstorm in May! Photos by l.p.

Pro-Canadian Wheat Board Farmers Consider Appeal Over Voters' List

Image
Staff - MB CoOperator - 2/1/2010 l.p. photo The Prairie farmers' group that….

Tell Chevron to Clean up its Toxic Legacy

Image
Care2 subscriber since Jan 1, 2010 Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Take Action Hi Larry, Chevron is responsible for one of the largest environmental disasters on the planet. For 26 years, the U.S. oil giant has deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. Tell Chevron to clean up its mess! » As a result of all the toxic dumping, local people suffer from cancers, miscarriages and birth defects. And still Chevron refuses to clean up the catastrophe! Chevron even stated that if it is found guilty in court the company simply won't pay to clean up the site or provide health care, potable water and compensation to affected communities. Chevron needs to take responsibility. But the company won't unless it feels pressure from its American customers and the general public. Send a letter to CEO John Watson and tell him he needs to clean up Chevron's toxic legacy in

GM Crops Facing Meltdown in the USA

Image
ISIS Press Release 01/02/10 Major crops genetically modified for just two traits - herbicide tolerance and insect resistance – are ravaged by super weeds and secondary pests in the heartland of GMOs as farmers fight a losing battle with more of the same; a fundamental shift to organic farming practices may be the only salvation Dr. Mae-Wan Ho Please circulate widely, keeping all links unchanged, and submit to your government representatives demanding an end to GM crops and support for non-GM organic agriculture Artist Paul Hoppe Two traits account for practically all the genetically-modified (GM) crops grown in the world today: herbicide-tolerance (HT) due to glyphosate-insensitive form of the gene coding for the enzyme targeted by the herbicide, 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), derived from soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and insect-resistance due to one or more toxin genes derived from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacil

Biotech Crops Cause Big Jump in Pesticide Use: Report

Carey Gillam - Reuters - KANSAS CITY - Tue Nov 17, 2009 KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - The rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of...

Boreal Forests Store More Carbon than Tropical Forests

Image
Posted: 15 Nov 2009 09:58 PM PST Report Calls for Global Climate Talks to Consider Boreal’s Impact OTTAWA, Ontario—When the world thinks of forests and their value to offset global warming, tropical forests come to mind. A report released today shows that the global impact of Canada’s boreal forest, which stores nearly twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests, has been vastly underestimated. “The Carbon the World Forgot” identifies the boreal forests of North America as not only the cornerstone habitat for key mammal species, but one of the most significant carbon stores in the world, the equivalent of 26 years of global emissions from burning fossil fuels, based on 2006 emissions levels. Globally, these forests store 22 percent of all carbon on the earth’s land surface. “Past accounting greatly underestimated the amount and depth of carbon stored in and under the boreal forest,” said Jeff Wells, an author of the report. In addition to carbon storage i