ScienceDaily (July 28, 2011) — Global population is expected to hit 7 billion later this year, up from 6 billion in 1999. Details here. A crowded beach in China. Courtesy of AcidCow.com

ScienceDaily (July 29, 2011)  Water isn't the only thing pouring over Niagara Falls. Pollution from fires... Details here. Courtesty of 4 Season Tours

Suzanne Goldenberg - guardian.co.uk - 28/07/11 US government conducts 'integrity inquiry' on federal biologist amid lobbying by oil firms for Arctic permits . Details here. My Grandson admires a fake bear at the zoo. One day, will that be all that's left? PLT photo .

The Common Sense Canadian - 27 July 2011 - by Rafe Mair The revelation by two Vancouver newspapers that a Department of Fisheries scientist has been muzzled simply underscores how badly they have covered environmental matters in general. Details here.

W. Gifford-Jones MD - 07/22/20 - Wpg. Free Press Consumers killing themselves with salt. Details here.

July 27'11 UN - Rome Smallholders helped back on their feet - but further support needed. Details here. UN photo

NRDC Switchboard - Susan Casey-Lefkowitz’s Blog - July 27'11 House under-estimates public concern over oil pipeline spills with bill to rush Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Details here. PLT: Mercifully, this stupid bill passed by the majority cement-heads in the House, will likely not pass the Senate. So, maybe there is still hope (maybe)!  Please watch video, "Say no to the ....pipeline...."

07/27/11 - 350 or bust The Harper Government is sending out a clear message at home and abroad that if your politics are not correct your art shouldn’t be shown, and if your findings are inconvenient your science doesn’t matter. Details here.                                                                                              Harper rendering by PLT PLT: I wrote the following after reading the "comments" section following the newspaper article.  "The Sun story is excellent. I'd suggest that those who'd like to discredit the paper and its reporters are Harperites who'd rather defend his misguided efforts to stifle science than hear the truth. The "commenter" who actually believes that the journal Science is "activist" would feel right at home with conspiracy theorists everywhere. The only thing the paper missed in this story was Harper's shameful record at muzzling the science of climate change itself, so Canada can pros

Green Economy 22 July 2011 In an effort to rid the country of Monsanto's GMO products, Hungary has stepped up the pace. Details here.

Manitoba News Release - July 26, 2011 The Manitoba government will start construction on an emergency channel out of Lake St. Martin immediately, and Lake Manitoba outflows through the Fairford River water control structure will be unrestricted throughout the winter, as recommended by independent engineering firms KGS and AECOM.   50% more snow than normal last winter was a sinister precursor of  unprecedented flooding in this  province in 2011. PLT.  If construction can be completed by this fall, levels on both lakes would be lowered before spring run-off begins, reducing the likelihood of flooding in 2012.  Several different options were examined by KGS and AECOM with technical support from Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation and Manitoba Water Stewardship.  The option to quickly build an emergency channel that will allow for ongoing maximum flows through the Fairford River water control structure was assessed as the best option to provide emergency re

Gifted Canadian artist Frankie James has become the latest target of the bullying Harper government. According to James, an award-winning author with two masters degrees, Harper's henchmen are actively working to scuttle her Europeon art show! All because she thinks we should do something about climate change - and says so in her art! Details here.    PLT: Remember how Harper promised on election night to be a Prime Minister "for all Canadians?" He lied.

  Courtesyof PlanetSave

Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk - 24 July 2011 Unknown amount of trapped persistent organic pollutants poses threat to marine life and humans as temperatures rise. Details here.

Globe & Mail Jul 23-11 Ontario’s wine makers are fighting to protect their grapes against Mother Nature’s wrath. Details here.

Below is an email I sent to "The House" this morning. It followed a very disturbing interview this CBC Radio show did with two former Ambassadors. One, Derek Burney (former Canadian ambassador to the US), dismissed opponents of the climate-killing project, the XL pipeline, as violently emotional. ========== Dear Ms. Elliott, (Host) Derek Burney's argument that opposition to the tar sands pipeline in to the US is spurred by "violent emotion" is outrageous. Sadly,  it reveals that he is nothing more than another cheerleader for dirty energy, with dollar signs where his heart should be.Where's the violence, Mr. Burney?  I haven't heard of any environmentalists blowing anything up to support their case. Has he? Is it emotion that the Alberta tar sands are huge emitters of greenhouse gases which are feeding catastrophic climate change? It seems to me there is mounting science - not emotion - behind this conclusion. Is it emotion that the tar which will tr

The US Secretary of State must decide by year's end whether to allow construction of a massive pipeline carrying dirty tar sands oil from Alberta all the way to the Texas Gulf coast. Watch the video and find out more of the disturbing facts.

Alternet - Jul 22-11 Climate change will "exponentially" increase the scale of natural disasters -- so when are we going to take this threat seriously? Details here.

CommonDreams.org - 07/21/11   High-Level Working Group Shielding Plan to Force GE Crops onto Wildlife Refuges. Details here.

Press Release     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 20, 2011 The Green Party of Saskatchewan today expressed "profound disappointment" in the outcome of Canada's annual energy and mines ministers' conference, held on Monday and Tuesday in Kananaskis, Alberta.  Party leader Larissa Shasko (r.) said, "Instead of planning for an economically and ecologically sustainable green energy future in Canada where jobs will be created and pollution reduced, the energy and mines ministers have irresponsibly chosen to go the route of increased tar sands extraction that will take Canada and the rest of the world past the tipping point of climate change. "In describing the Alberta tar sands as a 'sustainable major supplier of energy to the world', the ministers' communiqué distorts the English language to the breaking point. Non-renewable, high-carbon fossil fuels are by their very nature unsustainable," continues Shasko.  We are already seei

20 July 2011 – UN Climate change is a real threat to international peace and security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today…. Details here. UN photo

If you enjoy this blog, please consider  donating to the author to keep it going.  Just click on the link below . Thanks! - Larry                                                                                                        Dear Editor, Well, it looks as if Prime Minister Harper and his government are once again taking Canada's world reputation on a race to the bottom. Many Canadians were already shaking their heads in disbelief when Mr. Harper disgraced this country's good name by turning his back on a binding international agreement to limit greenhouse gases which cause global warming. Now, its asbestos.  A Cdn. asbestos mine. The Prime Minister's newly-minted government has brazenly refused to sign another international treaty which would simply have warned of its dangers. Asbestos causes deadly diseases including lung cancer.    (r.) This 58-year-old Canadian died in 2004 from mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure. (Courtesy Scotla

08/19/11 Manitoba CO-OPERATOR After several months of cool wet weather, Manitoba has turned hot and dry... Details here. Around Rosetown, Sask.,  farmers say they're worried  the worst drought in decades  could be underway. (CBC) Please also read: Parched Prairies: Latest Drought a Sign of Things to Come? A university of Regina professor calls it climate change!

The Canadian Press - Jul 19-11 OTTAWA - The freak windstorm that toppled the main stage at the Ottawa Bluesfest may be a sign of weather to come, warns a top climatologist. Details here. PLT: I'd like to applaud Mr. Phillips for finally using the term "climate change," publicly. More and more scientists such as himself are moving away from the old line that "you can not link climate change to any particularly freak weather event." These freak events are becoming so common and widespread, only the most hidebound of "climate-denier" can any longer argue with any credibility against the fact that climate change is real, it is happening now and is very ominous, indeed.

Jul 16 - '11 PlanetSave Lions, these wonderful big cats — I think there isn’t anybody who has ever avoided their charm — could be extinct in just 15 years. Details here.

The City of Winnipeg offers incentive to buy hybrid cars. Details here.

New York Times. Jul 15'11  As recently as a decade ago, farms in the Midwest were commonly marred — at least as a farmer would view it — by unruly patches of milkweed. Details here.

Natural Resources Defense Council - 07/15/11  The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would carry dirty tar sands oil from Canada’s Boreal forest to refineries in Texas, destroying songbird habitat, fueling global warming and threatening drinking water for millions of Americans. Take action now .

Press Release: July 13, 2011, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network  US Department of Agriculture will not regulate genetically modified bluegrass, decision could be applied to future GM crops Ottawa. Canadian environmental groups today expressed new concerns about a serious threat of contamination from genetically modified (GM) plants across the U.S. border after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided last week not to regulate a GM herbicide-tolerant grass, potentially opening the door to similar decisions on future GM crops. U.S. company Scotts Miracle Gro is now free to sell its herbicide-tolerant “Roundup Ready” Kentucky bluegrass in the U.S., without regulatory oversight. In an exchange of letters with Scotts, the USDA declared that it lacked authority over the new GM bluegrass because Scotts did not use a certain “plant pest” in the process of genetically engineering. Superweed rendering by Paul Hoppe “GM grass is a nightmare scenario for contamina

Jul 14 '11 TomDispatch.com These days, even ostriches suffer from heat waves. Details here.

On July 11th, PLT reported that regulators from more than 100 countries had agreed on guidance on the labelling of GM foods. Read: " Consumer Rights Victory as US Ends Opposition to GM Labelling Guidelines" I then asked Lucy Sharratt of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network to clarify what Canada's position is on this old and contentious issue. Here is her response.  (Emphasis mine.) ====== Dear Larry, Thank you for your question. Canada allowed the Codex agreement to be finalized, after trying to stop it and/or sabotage it in various ways over the years. So, officially Canada has agreed to the Codex labelling guidance which, according to the Codex press office: "World food standard body, the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission has stated that governments are free to decide on whether and how to label foods derived from modern biotechnology, including foods containing genetically-modified organisms. The labelling should be done in conformity

Nature Canada - The Parks Canada Agency, the World's oldest parks service, is reaching an important milestone: 100 yrs. of overseeing one of the most extensive, best-managed & highly-respected parks systems in the world. Details here. In or near Jasper National Park.  All photos by PLT.

Dear Editor, Well, it didn't take long for the new Harper government to start showing its true colours. And, if you care about the rights of ordinary workers, it doesn't look good. With the help of his new "Sarah Palin wanna-be" Labour Minister, Harper has, predictably, legislated an end to the postal lockout. In his infinite "wisdom and mercy," he has imposed a wage settlement on the workers which is even lower than Canada Post had been offering. Canada Post's decision to lock out its workers (if indeed that decision was its own) played conveniently into Harper's hands. It allowed him to impose back-to-work legislation, which fit right in, not only with his own mean-spirited, hidebound ideology, but that of Republicans and Tea-Partiers everywhere. Up until the lockout, at least the mail had been getting through. Sadly, it now seems our descent into American-style austerity, which treats working people as the enemy and the rich as our saviours,

This old world of ours is becoming a very crowded place, very quickly. (Watch video here.) Courtesy, NASA

Democracy Now - Jul 7 Oil giant ExxonMobil faces mounting criticism of its clean-up efforts after one of its oil pipelines ruptured on Friday and leaked 42,000 gallons of crude oil into Montana’s Yellowstone River. Exxon workers scan a section of the river.  Courtesy of the NY Times.   Details here. Please also read - Receding Yellowstone Waters Reveal Extent Of ExxonMobil Oil Spill

05/06/11 Consumers International   Consumers International (CI) and its member organisations celebrated victory today as regulators from more than 100 countries agreed on long overdue guidance on the labelling of genetically modified (GM) food . Details here.

This blogger is on a summer break. I'll return on or about Monday, the 11th! CU then! Larry