Miranda Holmes - the Common Sense Canadian When the final tally is done on humanity’s many post-Industrial Revolution screw ups, it is likely that the top of the list will be: They let the bees die . Details here. Many foods, including apples, depend on  pollinators, like bees, to produce. PLT photo

Mar 29th - the Guardian The first study conducted in a natural environment has shown that systemic pesticides damage bees' ability to navigate. Details here.   PinP photo PinP : And the beat goes on! Meanwhile, the honeybee killers roam our streets, apparently not even on parole, but with complete pardons! Please also read: "Are Canada's Pesticide Regulators on the Take? Authorities Refuse to Protect Precious Pollinators from Known Toxins. Is Something Crooked Going on Here?"  Below is a summary of the scientific study, itself. It adds yet another layer of proof to the fear that these chemicals render the bees incapable of navigating & finding their way back to the hives. Hence, the piece in the "Colony Collapse Disorder" puzzle, involving disappearing bees, seems now to have been found! So what are we waiting for? Extinctions?  Criminal charges must surely be in order now!    ==== "Nonlethal exposure of honey bees to thiamethoxa

CPAWS Mar 28'12 Holly Postlethwaite True to my Canadian heritage, I love winter.  As soon as the first snowfall hits, I look forward to the crystal white... Details here. PLT photo

by Larry Powell   His name is Joe Leschyshyn (above), a first-generation Canadian of Ukrainian descent. Some of his indigenous friends (who can't handle his hard-to-pronounce last name) know him endearingly as "Joe the Crow." Joe is 72 now. While he'll likely never be rich or famous, his refusal to accept injustice lying down, has made him distinctly well-known in certain circles, at least. So it would be a mistake to call him "ordinary." For the pain and suffering he has come to endure at the hands of factory hog barns and uncaring governments, and the courage and tenacity he has shown in the face of it all, are anything but. "I have been fighting these barns since 1996," Joe writes, "and blame the governments that allowed these to be built with no plan, impact or risk studies, open-house or self-policing policies." Joe was born in Chatfield, in the Interlake region of central Manitoba and left home when he was

Mar 23'12 - Planetsave As the corruption in our system continues unabated and the interminable Republican primary season continues its buffoonery of ‘solutions’ for our failing state, there is some highly unusual behavior taking place independent of either. Details here. PLTphoto

Dear Editor, I recently learned I may be getting a new "neighbour" -  a sewage lagoon.  The municipal plow prepares a way to the site for the drill truck. (l.)              The grader and truck on the site.(below)   The drilling begins. PinP photos The Rural Municipality of Shell River sent in a drill truck a week or two ago to sink holes less than a mile upwind of my retirement home in the country, north and west of Roblin. The test results will determine whether the site is suitable for such a project. Apparently, it could cost millions of dollars, especially if a liner has to be installed to prevent leakage.* Turns out, the "quarter" is owned by the Reeve, Albert Nabe. It's also within a couple of miles of some six farm homes nearby, mostly downwind as well. I was disappointed that no one from the RM council had given me a "heads-up" about this. I heard about it, instead, from a private individual at a social even

Michael Pollan's Food Rules from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo .

London - UK - A major international conference focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge - International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Details here.

Please also read: "EthicalOil.org Exposed,"here. <p><p><p>PleasePlease asl </p></p></p>

Huffington Post - Mar 13 - 2012 MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Asian Development Bank is warning countries to prepare for influxes of people fleeing natural disasters as climate change exacerbates rising sea levels, soil degradation and seasonal flooding. Full story here.

Eleven people interested in vending during the 2012 season attended a planning meeting on March 12. Roblin Farmers’ Market invited customers and potential vendors to voice their interest, concerns, and dreams to long-time members Irene Mitchell and Tamela Friesen. Eleven people attended, including folks desiring to sell vegetables, breads, baked goods, crafts, pastured beef, pastured chickens for meat and eggs, greenhouse tomatoes and peppers, and massage therapy. “We were ecstatic to see such a boost to the number of potential vendors. We’ve been hoping to expand our collective offering and involvement for several years.” Friesen noted. The Market hoped to find out what customers were looking for in a local market, as well as to encourage more diversity of product and vendors for the 2012 season. “While there are additional rules surrounding selling meat or egg products, there are provisions to make that possible. Vendors will explore options to make this niche product available to c

Dear Editor,                      The sad reality for hundreds of thousands of sows is that the cost of getting rid of gestation crates (sow stalls) is being used as an excuse to prolong the cruel practice.   Market conditions for raising pigs in a factory setting are changing as Laura Rance pointed out in her February 23, 2012 editorial “The economics of animal welfare.”  People are increasingly less prepared to tolerate the inhumane way pregnant gilts and sows are confined in 2 foot by 7 foot crates on concrete slatted floors most of their lives.   The Manitoba Pork Council says producers are willing to adjust to changing market conditions.  But not until 2025, claiming that it will cost $1 million per existing operation to convert from sow stalls to group housing.    Manitoba Agriculture and Food web-posted 2010 cost of production figures for a 500 sow farrow to finish operation show that a new gestation building costs $23.10 per square foot. Total building cost

                                           A Year in Review  - Environment CA   A soggy field in western MB - spring, 2011. PLT photo.   From the death and destruction following the Japanese earthquake/tsunami to extreme weather in the United States that killed more than 1,000 people through the course of the year, Mother Nature seemed to be on the warpath. Full story here.

TheGuardian.com - Mar - '12 Michael Mann's now-famous "hockey stick graph" which incurred the wrath of numerous climate cranks. (source - IPCC). Research by Michael Mann confirmed the reality of global warming. Little did he know that it would also expose him to a vicious hate campaign. Full story here.

Alternet - Mar 3 - '12  CHICAGO — Oil giant BP has reached a $7.8 billion (5.9 billion euro) deal to settle thousands of claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but some of the victims said Saturday that the money won't bring the disaster to a close. Full story here.

March 6, 2012 by Common Dreams In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed, huge numbers of US workers lost their jobs, homes were lost to foreclosure, and most found themselves in the most precarious economic shape of their lives. Full story here. Occupy Winnipeg. PLT photo

By Sharon Begley - Huffington Post - Mar 6 - 2012    Courtesy of Huffington Post NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - When at least 80 tornadoes rampaged across the United States, from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico, last Friday, it was more than is typically observed during the entire… Full story here.

Mar 5'12 by Common Dreams "We are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change;” ocean acidification called "evil twin" of climate change. Full story here

By JIM ROBBINS - New York Times - Feb 24'12 Cape May Warbler - PIP photo A just-published analysis of some 200 separate studies of the impact of climate change on birds is grim. Full story here.

Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative As the human population has climbed past seven billion, and the consumption per person of everything from burgers to blue jeans has risen inexorably, the finiteness of Earth’s freshwater is becoming ever more apparent. Full story here.

Calgary Herald-Feb'12 Collateral damage from Canada's booming oilsands sector may be irreversible, posing a "significant environmental and financial risk to the province of Alberta," says a secret memorandum prepared for the federal government's top   Courtesy of Beautiful Destruction. bureaucrat . Full story here.

HELEN BRANSWELL-TORONTO— The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail - Mar 1'12 One of the world's leading scientific journals has criticized the federal government for policies that limit its scientists from speaking publicly about their research. Full story here.

HuffingtonPost Mar 1 - 2012 DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Animal welfare groups reacted with outrage Wednesday after the Iowa Legislature made the state the first to approve a bill making it a crime to surreptitiously get into a farming operation to record video of animal abuse. Full story here.

Los Angeles Times - Feb 29'12  Royal Dutch Shell launched an extraordinary preemptive legal strike Wednesday against opponents of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean.. .Details here.    (photo: NASA/Kathryn Hansen)