January 31, 2012 by Common Dreams   Movement is calling for protests to support 60 family farmers, small seed businesses, organizations challenging Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seed. Details here.

If you like my blog, please consider a donation. Thanks! Larry January 30, 2012 by Common Dreams Honey bee hive. PLT photo Bayer-produced imidacloprid harmful to bees even at very low levels. Details here. PLT: Here we go again. The overwhelming preponderance of scientific evidence matters not in this world. It is the economic power wielded by Multinationals such as Bayer. That's all.  Sad, isn't it? Please also read a couple of my own, earlier stories on this issue:  "Are Pesticide Regulators on the Take?"   "Lament for the Honey Bee  

Dear Editor, I see the powerful tentacles of Big Oil are tightening around us again. The "grassroots" group known as EthicalOil.org is reaching out through a compliant media, to spread its fear campaign that "foreign hordes," not Canadians, are going to decide whether the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline will be approved. Grassroots, my ass!  The talented, dedicated group of researchers who publishes * DESMOGBLOG.COM has exposed "EthicalOil.org" for what it is; "A small industry front group with secretive funding sources." As DESMOG explains, EthicalOil's message is being amplified through an "echo chamber" of powerful allies, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Sun Media ("Fox News North") to which Harper has close connections. (Not to mention Harper minions like Joe Oliver, whose earlier, infamous letter accused pipeline opponents of being a bunch of "radicals.") The EthicalOil message? Fo

Planetsave-Jan 25'12   Sunset on the Canadian Prairie - PLT photo "We conclude that extreme heat waves, such as that in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 and Moscow in 2010, were 'caused' by global warming,".... Details here.

January, 2012 by Steven Wendland - The Dominion Food consciousness coalesces at ACORN conference. Details here. PLT photo

Melissa Martin Wpg. Free Press 01/21/2012 "Occupy Winnipeg" in Oct. PLT photo   Results from a new global poll suggest if the Occupy Winnipeg camp is indeed reborn in the spring, many Manitobans might be sharing some goodwill. Details here. Please also watch my video here.  Larry.

The Canadian Press (via the Wpg. Free Press) - 01/17/2012 KINGSTON, Ont. - The federal government refused to let democracy run its course when it decided to close Canada's prison farms before a House of Commons vote, eight activists argued in court Tuesday. Read more here.

MEDIA RELEASE, January 18, 2012 "We welcome the decision by the Obama Administration to say no to the Keystone XL pipeline," said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “Obama listened to Americans and shared their concerns about the environmental and social impacts. He made the right decision.” "The Keystone XL pipeline is a bad idea based on bad economics. Today is a victory for the environment and future generations,” said Mr. Bennett. "We only wish the Canadian government would act as thoughtfully when it comes to other proposed mega-Tar Sands projects like the Northern Gateway Pipeline.” John Bennett, Executive Director Sierra Club Canada jb@sierraclub.ca 613-291-6888 Follow John Bennett on Twitter        

The Winnipeg Free Press - 01/18/2012 WINNIPEG - A United Nations organization will soon have before it a bid to designate a huge tract of boreal forest along the Manitoba-Ontario boundaries as a world heritage site. Read more here.

Common Dreams Jan 16-'12 Study: Rising CO2 affecting brains, central nervous systems of sea fish. Details here.

Grist - Jan 13-2012 Claire Robinson "We are inching our way toward a critical tipping point," said Steve Ellis, secretary of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board… Details here. Honeybees photo by PLT Please also read: "Scientists Link Mass Death of British Bees to Farm Pesticides

Dear Editor, I think the Government of Manitoba has some explaining to do.  With Lake Winnipeg's water quality getting progressively worse through the years, why has Premier Selinger done away with the Ministry of Water Stewardship? Former Premier Gary Doer created the Department almost a decade ago. Since then, the government has bragged about it being "the first in Canada," suggesting it was needed to deal with mounting problems such as floods, agricultural and industrial impacts, eutrophication, excessive algae bloom, climate change and a growing population.  Then, with the stroke of a pen last week, the Premier has reduced Water Stewardship to a branch of the Department of Conservation. Why? It seems to me that the stewardship of Manitoba waters was the beginning of a life line for the survival of Lake Winnipeg. Now it has been taken away. At no time in Manitoba's history has there been such a need for a Department of Water Stewardship as the

Jan 11, 2012 Reuters Canada WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A weed resistant to a widely used chemical to protect crops has spread for the first time to Western Canada, the country's grain and canola belt. Read more here.   Kochia, Kochia scoparia.   Photo by Jack Kelly Clark.

The Canadian Press - 01/13/2012 MONTREAL - A group led by a former Bloc Quebecois MP is taking the Canadian government to court in the hope of overturning Ottawa's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Read more.

Greenpeace - Jan 10-2012 Between 1999 and 2008 Enbridge pipelines spilled oil 610 times. Details here. A bunch of "radicals" at a Regina  demo about 2 yrs ago - PLT photo

Hi Larry, Holy smokes! Stephen Harper’s Conservatives entered 2012 with guns blazing, accusing “environmentalists and other radical groups” opposing the Northern Gateway pipeline of having a “radical ideological agenda” in an unprecedented open letter . That’s you and me they’re talking about, Larry. Since day one of the No Tankers movement, our position has been that British Columbians should have a say in how their air, land and water is managed.  We don’t call that having a radical agenda, we call it democracy. Yet Harper and the oil industry seem increasingly threatened by reasonable citizens expressing reasonable concerns about our country and its resources. That’s why they’ve launched a coordinated American-style attack on opponents of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline. What can we do about it? We’ve been striking back in the media, but we’ve got to think bigger. We’re never going to have as much money as them, but what we can do is beat them with our size

If you like my blog, I hope you'll consider a donation. Thanks! Larry by Larry Powell I don't spend a lot of my life adulating celebrities. In this case, I'm making an exception. Adam had a rough life, growing up as a native kid on a Manitoba reserve. Now, he's an established television star.  But wait, there's more.  He has a social conscience!   He's already made his mark as a cop on "Law and Order." Fame-wise, how much further can you go! Now, he's starring in a new CBC TV series called "Arctic Air." At first, I was leary. The promos hinted at a show all about exploitation of northern resources. So, I watched, with low expectations.  But Adam's character, an executive of  an aviation company, actually shows a sensitivity for the people there who are being affected by the ravages of climate change.  (I really liked it when he punched out a mouthy Calgary mining millionaire. The millionaire showed his ugly, racist

"The idea of a peat mine inside a provincial park is simply sickening,” says Beddome (January 10, 2012) WINNIPEG – Green Party Leader James Beddome, joined by Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard, Manitoba Wildlands Director Gaile Whelan Enns, and Wilderness Committee Campaign Director Eric Reder spoke out against the NDP allowance of peat mining in provincial parks today at the Manitoba Legislature.  The Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park, adjacent to Lake Winnipeg, may be home to a 531-hectare peat mine if an Environment Act license is granted.  “Regulations are urgently needed to allow continued, and environmentally sustainable, harvesting of peat for gardens and related purposes,” says Gerrard.  “While there is a place for peat harvesting in Manitoba, there is no place for mining in provincial parks.” Beddome added that a provincial compost strategy is also needed, because compost can be used as a replacement for peat in gardens. “Using compost and other alternatives, ra

Jan 10'12 CommonDreams.org Canadian Minister blames environmental, other "radical" groups for blocking Enbridge pipeline. Details here.

Dear Larry , I don't know what it is about today but I'm feeling slightly,  well … radical. How about you? When I wrote before Christmas about an impending government  attack on Canada's environment movement, I wasn't expecting  a formal Declaration of War just 9 days into the New Year. It  came in the form of an " open letter " from Natural Resources  Minister Joe Oliver that’s receiving heavy media coverage all  across the country. The open letter is in response to public hearings into the  Gateway Pipeline that got underway earlier today in BC. The  Gateway project consists of two parallel pipelines between  an inland terminal at Bruderheim, Alberta, and a marine  terminal near Kitimat, British Columbia, each a length of  1,177 kilometers. The plan to build pipelin

A waterfall along the Icefields Parkway - Jasper Nat'l. Park. PLT photo  In days, the Harper Government will privatize a section of Jasper National Park and let an American-owned company blast a 300m metal walkway into our World Heritage mountains -- but Jasper's Superintendent has the power to stop them. Jasper Park's Superintendent Greg Fenton, a local Jasperite, has the ability to stop the privatisation of the park that he grew up in and loves. Fenton is currently bending to the Harper Government's demands, but by sending a strong message of public disapproval to Fenton – he can not only save the park that he loves from corporate ownership but can also ensure that our other treasured National Parks remain publicly-owned and run. Private international companies should not be profiteering off our national treasures. Click here to ensure our parks stay in public hands -- sign the petition calling on Fenton to save Jasper National Park before it's too late! PLT:

  The Government of Manitoba is actually considering a proposal to mine peat inside Hecla/Grindstone provincial park. If you are concerned about this, the deadline for expressing that concern to the government has been extended. Read more here. Peat Mine Comments Deadline Extended

Vancouver Sun January 8, 2012 Enbridge promises tough safeguards against a spill if its Northern Gateway pipeline is approved. Details here.  A sheen on the water from the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.  Please also read: "A Quiet Shift in the Federal Criteria for Approval of the Gateway Pipeline."

San Francisco Chronicle 1/7/12 A federal judge has upheld the government's decision to let the nation's alfalfa growers plant the genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant strain manufactured by Monsanto Co., Details here. PLT. Canada hasn't proceeded with GM alfalfa - yet. But it will, whether farmers or the public want it or not.

January 6, 2012 By Zachary Shahan - Planetsave The birds were killed by the USDA! Details here. PLT: What about Canada? Are we doing it here too? Hmmm.

Counterpunch Feb 2010 - MARTHA ROSENBERG   While researchers and scientists investigate the cause of our diabetes, obesity, asthma and ADHD epidemics, they should ask why the FDA approved a livestock drug banned in 160 nations… details here. Photo courtesy of Alternet.

Winnipeg Free Press - Jan 6 '12 A top climate scientists, David Barber of the University of Manitoba warns, if the (warming) trend continues, we may see the increasing pattern of warm days as more curse than blessing. Details here.   The normally tranquil Big Boggy Crk. in western Manitoba,  swollen by the record floodwaters of 2011. PLT photo.

Manitoba Co-Operator - Jan 5'12  A court hearing in New York City at the end of this month will determine if a "pre-emptive" lawsuit by a clutch of U.S. and Canadian organic producers against seed and ag chem firm Monsanto will go ahead. Details here. An organic market in rural Manitoba.  (PLT photo)

CBC Radio is reporting that the northern Manitoba community of Berens River is out of gasoline. The reason?   Melting ice roads aren't new. This CBC photo shows a truck stuck last year. Record warm weather is making it impossible to use the winter road to bring in supplies from the south. Emergency evacuations of people who may need medical help, are apparently being considered.   PLT: This has to be the final irony. Failure of the winter ice roads, an emergency more than likely caused by global warming, in turn caused by the burning of fossil fuels by we humans, is now leaving communities like Berens River without - fossil fuels! And people are supposed to be the smartest species!

Globe & Mail Jan 4-'12 The “miracle fibre” that helped drive Quebec's economy for more than a century now represents an industry near death, despite government efforts to keep it afloat. Details here. Please also read: "Harper Disgraces Us All Once Again."

GARDINER HARRIS - New York Times - January 4'12 WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators announced on Wednesday that farmers and ranchers must restrict their use of a critical class of antibiotics in cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys because such practices may have contributed to the growing threat in people of bacterial infections that are resistant to treatment. Details here. PLT photo PLT: What about Canada?

By: Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press - 01/4/2012 OTTAWA - The Conservative government is washing its hands of a nasty labour lockout at a locomotive plant in London, Ont., that was once used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a backdrop to tout business tax breaks. Details here.

Jan 3'12 - Cdn. Centre for Policy Alternatives TORONTO—The highest paid 100 CEOs on Canada’s TSX Index had reason to cheer the New Year: By noon January 3, they had already pocketed $44,366 – what it takes the average wage earner an entire year to make. Details here. Please also read: "The People's Corporation Loses the Common Touch"    and "Of Banksters, Occupiers and Head-Knockers."

Environment Canada  1. Historic Flood Fights in the West . Details here. 2. Please also read: "Second Warmest Year on Record for the United Kingdom"    Ice suspended in roadshide shrubs,  a testament to how deep the floodwater  had been in the ditch before it subsideed. Spring '11 - western Manitoba. PLT photo

Vincent Bevins, Los Angeles Times De 31 '11 Brazil's plan to become a top petroleum producer is grounded in the state-run oil company's difficult deep-water extraction project. So a relatively small offshore spill has stirred big concern. Details here.