VANCOUVER SUN Three professional hydrologists have told the provincial government that it should immediately impose a full ban on spreading liquid manure above a contaminated aquifer that provides drinking water to several hundred householders in the Okanagan Valley. Story here.

CBC news 'Megafires' result from severe drying, says McMaster researcher. Story here. RELATED: "Only Heroic Efforts Will Spare Earth's Mighty Boreal Forest From the Worst Ravages of Climate Change."

The beginning of the "70-Mile Butte" trail. by Larry Powell Row & I are visiting a special place right now. It's Grasslands National Park in SW Saskatchewan. I can swear the animals, birds and even plants are saying "thank you" for not huntinig or spraying us, or plowing us down! Enjoy the photos.  Yours in Nature. Larry

CommonDreams 'The situation is criminal.’ Story here.

MotherJones 2016 is shaping up to be another epic fire season. Story here.

AgroNews It's hard to find an herbicide like glyphosate . It’s cheap, highly effective, and is generally regarded as one of the safest and most environmentally benign herbicides ever discovered. But a report last year that glyphosate could cause cancer has thrown its future into jeopardy. Now the European Union faces a 30 June deadline to reapprove its use, or glyphosate will not be allowed for sale. Here's a quick explanation of the issues. Story here.

THE WESTERN PRODUCER The federal government has ordered an environmental review of a controversial flood control project west of Calgary. Story here.

CBC News ‘I’ve been waiting for this for 12 years,’ says 18-year-old Rikki Houle.  'This is how we're going to remember our grad.'  Story here . RELATED: Easterville, Chemawawin Cree Nation in Manitoba Evacuated Due to Forest Fire

The New York Times A sobering report by the International Energy Agency   says air pollution has become a major public health crisis leading to around 6.5 million deaths each year, with “many of its root causes and cures” found in the energy industry. Story here.

RODALE INSTITUTE In its 35 th year of existence, the Farming Systems Trial (FST) at Rodale Institute continues to demonstrate, through scientific research data, that organic farming is superior to conventional systems with regard to building, maintaining and replenishing the health of the soil. This is the key to regenerative agriculture as it provides the foundation for its present and future growth. Story here.

Common Dreams "If we continue with business-as-usual burning of fossil fuels, by mid-century what we think of as extreme summer heat today will become a typical summer day." Story here.

GOV'T. OF MANITOBA Manitoba Sustainable Development advises a voluntary evacuation is underway in some areas of the Whiteshell following heavy rains as resulting high water has caused deteriorating road conditions. A number of roads will wash out leaving cottage owners stranded.  Officials are contacting cottage owners in the following areas and recommending they evacuate: • Block 5, Caddy Lake; • cottage owners east of Block 9 on PR 312; and  • no vehicle access south of the ambulance garage on South Shore Road in Falcon Lake. The road to Florence and Nora Lakes is also washed out, and the Mantario Trail is closed until further notice. Residents and cottage owners only can call 1-204-349-2201 for information between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. today and tomorrow. 

ClimateProgress Less than three weeks after a fiery oil train derailment in Oregon spilled 42,000 gallons of crude into the Columbia River and forced the evacuation of hundreds,  the company behind the derailment  announced that it would resume sending oil trains through the area. Story here.

InsideClimateNews Forty-four of West Virginia’s 55 counties are under a state of emergency as severe weather and devastating floods have killed at least 14 residents and left hundreds of thousands without power. A spokesperson for West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin told ABC News that the floods, in some areas, had the potential to be “the worst in 100 years.” Story here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER An Atlantic roughie. Photo credit NOAA A leading conservation group, OCEANA, has sounded an alarm over the state of Canada’s fishery in a new report that reveals that less than 25 per cent of the country’s fish stocks are considered healthy and the status of almost half is unknown. Story here.

CBC News First wave of evacuees expected to arrive in Winnipeg tonight. Story here. RELATED:   Climate Change and Life on Earth. When Will the Treadmill Stop?

Below is a letter I just submitted to several newspapers, mostly in Manitoba. Larry ========= Dear Editor, An old man is rescued from epic floodwaters - Calgary, Canada. 2013. Photo credit- RAF-YYC   A lot has happened to Mother Earth since I wrote my last letter about our changing climate.  A state of emergency was declared in Dawson Creek, B.C. last week after heavy rain turned the creek, which runs through the middle of town, into a raging torrent. It cut the community in two. They got as much rain in a day (90mm) as they normally get in a month. People living there say they’ve never seen anything like it. One called it “the worst in living memory.” Homes were flooded, streets and vehicles swept away. Many residents were stranded and had to be rescued. Premier Clark warned Canadians to expect more of the same, as global warming (caused by the burning of fossil fuel) spawns more extreme weather events like this. She pledged millions of dollars to help “flood-proof”

CBC News 'No more fancy talk, no more studies. We just want it cleaned up,' Chief Simon Fobister says. Story here.

CBC News The Pallister government has opened the door a crack for Winnipeg to re-examine upgrades to the North End sewage-treatment plant, the most expensive capital project on the city's books. Story here.

climatescience.com Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that average Arctic sea ice extent during May 2016 set a new record low for the month of May over the period of satellite observations which goes back to 1979. Story here.

WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE The Caribbean has long been hailed as a vacationer’s paradise, with its coral reefs, bioluminescent bays, white sand beaches and rainforests. Yet there’s a problem lurking beneath the sparkling sea—untreated wastewater. Story here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER Chinook salmon. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced new federal action to bring back struggling Atlantic salmon on Canada's East Coast, a panel of DFO scientists on Canada's West Coast said the outlook for Pacific salmon has declined from previous years. Story here.

Nation of Change                                                           Honeybee on milkthistle plant. Photo credit:  Fir0002 Dave Schuit, a honey-producer in Elmwood, Canada,   said that his farm lost  37 million bees   almost immediately  after a nearby farm began planting GMO corn and spraying neonics on their crops.  Story here.

EcoWatch Jellyfish - said to be one of the few creatures able to survive & thrive in dead zones. Photo credit -    Dan90266 The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its  annual forecast for the size of the Gulf of Mexico “ dead zone ”—an area of coastal water where low oxygen is lethal to marine life. They say we should expect an “average year.” That doesn’t sound so bad, but as we wrote last year , the dead zone average is approximately 6,000 square miles or the size of the state of Connecticut. Average is not normal. Story here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER A Canadian climate change denial group has popped up in a U.S. coal giant's  bankruptcy proceedings that have lifted the curtain on the funding of a sophisticated continent-wide marketing campaign designed to fool the public about how human activity is contributing to global warming. Story here.

THE WESTERN PRODUCER Cattle sector looks at strategies to reduce animal losses, including guardian animals. Story here.

Manitoba Co-Operator In addition to crop staging farmers should assess how much risk their crop faces before applying a fungicide. Story here.

CJ Radio PinP photo. The Rural Municipality of Pipestone, Manitoba has passed a resolution and created a petition to have the Provincial Government create designated hunting zones for Metis status hunters in the province. Story here.

CCPA TransCanada Pipeline’s Energy East pipeline (EE), if approved, will run from Hardisty Alberta to St. John, New Brunswick and will carry bitumen from Alberta’s Tar Sands to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick. Story here.

Common Dreams Bayer, Monsanto, and Syngenta are effectively "shaping new pollinator 'protection' plans nationwide that do little to protect bees, but a lot to protect industry profits." Story here.

RELATED: Post directly below.

CBC News Future transmission lines could influence World Heritage designation for boreal forest. Story here. ===== Please watch video below to see the kind of project Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister seems prepared to scuttle. Heartless, ruthless politics I'd say! PinP =====

DESMOG Luck was in abundance on Friday in Mosier, Oregon where the latest Bakken oil train derailed and erupted into flames near a 50-home residential area and a school.  STORY HERE.

EcoWatch It’s back! Today was  #WorldMeatFreeDay , a great time to think about how the everyday choices we make about the food we eat can impact our health and the health of the planet.  Story here.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL Finance Canada is quietly pushing the idea of a federal carbon tax as the Liberal government looks to set a minimum national price and complement provincial carbon pricing plans, sources say. Story here.

National Snow & Ice Data Centre “Upside-down rivers” of warm ocean water threaten the stability of floating ice shelves in Antarctica, according to a new study led by researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center published today in Nature Geoscience . The study highlights how parts of Antarctica’s ice sheet may be weakening due to contact with warm ocean water. Story here.

EcoWatch Golfing in Greenland. Photo by  Graphicos The northern edge of North America is getting steadily greener . In the most detailed study so far of plant growth across Alaska and Canada, scientists say that about a third of the land cover now looks less like tundra, and more like a warmer ecosystem. Story here.

Nation of Change Why has the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to take adequate action against disastrous, climate-warming methane emissions from the fracking industry?  An environmental watchdog alleges that the answer may be… Story here.

the guardian Manmade global warming greatly increased the risk of extreme rain affecting the French capital, analysis shows. Story here.

Greenpeace Canada Earlier this week on World Oceans Day we were greeted with some wonderful and exciting news : Shell announced it was giving up all its offshore exploration permits in the Canadian Arctic! Story here. RELATED:   "Shell Relinquishes Canadian Arctic Drilling Rights"

EcoWatch Monsanto marketed its potent weed killer glyphosate —the active ingredient in  Roundup —and the corn and soybeans genetically engineered to withstand it, by claiming it would replace other, more toxic weed killers such as atrazine. But, it didn’t happen. Story here.

Alberta's Premier, Rachel Notley, has responded to my proposal to replace all buildings destroyed in the Fort McMurray wildfire with the most energy-efficient ones possible (see letter, below). While her answer to my specific suggestion seems to be a polite "no," she outlines other steps her province is taking to achieve a carbon-free future. Larry  For the background to this story, click here.

Nation of Change A clearcut in BC. Wikimedia Commons. The Norwegian Parliament has pledged to be deforestation-free. They are the first country in history to ban deforestation. Story here .

the guardian Scientists hope large-scale maps will offer new insight into effects of warming and pollution as previous studies have almost always been done up close in the water.  Story here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER One of the planet’s largest oil companies has just walked away from a large swath of oil and gas reserves in the Canadian Arctic. But it says it hasn't given up altogether on the prospects of drilling for the fossil fuels in the pristine waters of the North. Story here. RELATED: " Shell’s Retreat From Canadian Arctic Creates Space for Arctic Protection"

Greenpeace MADRID - The effects of climate change on the Arctic — including melting ice and sea level rise — may possibly alter weather patterns in the northern hemisphere. These effects could include hotter, drier summers in some areas, wetter summers in other areas, and cold, stormy winters in others, according to studies compiled by the Greenpeace Research Laboratories in the report, “ What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic ” which is published today. Story here.

The Independent Norway will ban the sale of all fossil fuel-based cars in the next decade, continuing its trend towards becoming one of the most ecologically progressive countries on the planet, according to reports. Story here.

AVAAZ A "crop-duster" at work in Canada, where no such ban exists. PinP photo. Europe just took an extraordinary vote, refusing to grant Monsanto a license for its main product and cornerstone of its empire - the cancer-linked weed killer glyphosate. Story here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER Canada’s well-above-average wildfire activity of the past few years can be linked to manmade climate change.  Story here.

INTER PRESS SERVICE Almost half of the country’s population is facing hunger this year due to no or low harvests, resulting from the effects of El Nino which hit most parts of the southern and northern regions late last year. Story here.