The ad they don't want you to see.

Larry, Unreal! The ad we booked to run in Helijet magazine has just been denied! This is the ad both Helijet and their in-flight magazine publisher approved last week. So why are they backing out now?

The European Union’s renewable energy policy is making global warming worse

New Scientist

Countries in the EU, including the UK, are throwing away money by subsidising the burning of wood for energy, according to an independent report. While burning some forms of wood waste can indeed reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in practice the growing use of wood energy in the EU is increasing rather than reducing emissions, the new report concludes. Story here.

United Nations Declares War on Ocean Plastic

Interprets Agency Service News Agency

The available data is enough for the United Nations to literally declare war on oceans plastic: more than 8 million tonnes of it leaks into their waters each year – equal to dumping a garbage truck of plastic every minute, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least 8 billion dollars in damage to marine ecosystems. Story here.

Alarm raised in North Dakota over high risk of Red River flooding

Winnipeg Free Press

The U.S. National Weather Service says there is more than an 80 per cent chance of major flooding along the Red River near the Manitoba border in the coming months. Story here.
Grand Forks, ND in 1997
Ken Gardner, 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

"Jeff's Earth." Our Home Planet as Photographed From Space by NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams.

Canadians are making a supersized gamble on climate and the economy

NATIONAL

OBSERVER

Did you know that:

• We Canadians are now one of the world's largest extractors of climate pollution, per capita?
• We're planning one of world's biggest increases through 2030?
• Our relentlessly increasing extraction has become a supersized gamble that threatens both climate hope and our economic stability? DETAILS HERE.                        

Part if the infrastructure awaiting approval of the 

Keystone XL pipeline. Photo by shannonpatrick17

Conservation groups urge increased protection for boreal caribou habitat

The Globe & Mail

Federal and provincial governments are being urged to increase protection for the boreal forest and its imperilled woodland caribou herds from resource-company activity, as environment ministers prepare to meet in Ottawa this week to devise plans for greater conservation efforts. Story here.

Crop destroying caterpillar rapidly spreading across Africa; maize production endangered

AgroNews

New research announced by scientists at CABI (Center for Agriculture and Bioscience Information) confirms that a recently introduced crop-destroying armyworm caterpillar is now spreading rapidly across Mainland Africa and could spread to tropical Asia and the Mediterranean in the next few years, becoming a major threat to agricultural trade worldwide. Story here.

Manitoba "crop-duster." PinP photo.

Judge Orders Trump's EPA Pick to Release Emails by Tuesday

EcoWatch

The Oklahoma County Court on Thursday found Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee Scott Pruitt in violation of the state's Open Records Act. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed a lawsuit against Pruitt for improperly withholding public records and the court ordered his office to release thousands of emails in a matter of days. Story here.

Scientists have just detected a major change to the Earth’s oceans linked to a warming climate

The Washington Post

A large research synthesis, published in one of the world’s most influential scientific journals, has detected a decline in the amount of dissolved oxygen in oceans around the world — a long-predicted result of climate change that could have severe consequences for marine organisms if it continues. Story here.

A Mexican beach. 

PinP photo.

The upside to climate change

TheWestern

Producer

Prairie farmers in Canada can play a vital role in feeding the world if temperatures rise, says a researcher. Story here.
RELATED: Consistent negative response of US crops to high temperatures in observations and crop models

PinP photo.

Stop Trump From "Blessing" a "Marriage" (between Monsanto and Bayer) Made in Hell. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!

AVAAZ

This is urgent! Trump is ready to bless a merger between chemical giants Monsanto and Bayer to create a $100 billion agribusiness beast designed to dominate our earth's food system. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!!!

Coastal wetlands excel at storing carbon

EurekAlert!

New analysis supports mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows as effective climate buffers. Story here.

Coastal wetlands at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts. Credit: Kelly Fike/USFWS

Don't let Trump force construction of Dakota Access: Help cut off the money for the project! PLEASE SIGN!

Don't let Trump force construction of Dakota Access: Help cut off the money for the project! Dear Larry, The Army Corps of Engineers just greenlighted the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Corps was supposed to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement. It was supposed to accept comments from people like you.  But two weeks ago Donald Trump signed an executive action to speed up the project. Now the Corps is in Trump’s pocket. You can still resist Trump and this pipeline by cutting off the funding to complete it. Wall Street giants Citigroup and Wells Fargo are part of a group of banks who provided a $2.5 billion loan for the project. We need you to tell the banks to stop the pipeline! Don’t let Trump force construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline! Tell Citigroup and Wells Fargo to pull their loans for the project.

Danny Dimwit's Advice to the Nation on "Poppalation Growth."

by Danny Dimwit

Wow! Sekkund place! That’s awfl!

I just herd on the raydeeo that the people poppalation in Australia is growin kwikker there than here in Kanada! We need to hang our heds, folks! Shoor, we still have at least a millyun more fokes now than we had five yeers ago. But that’s not good enuff! All the big shots runnin Kanada keep tellin us (and they should no), that we need more peeple so we can have more, what do they call it, eekonomik growth? 

Heck, I can still look out my window here in town and see trees, grass, open spaces and sometimes even a heard of dear. Why in the heck aren’t they puttin up more billdings out there? Gets kinda tiresum lookin at nothin but…nacher. And I even herd some kinds of animals are akshully breedin as fast as we are. Kant have that! We need to get crackin! Sounds like there is still some habbatat out there that needs plowin down.

Blogger Warns of Creeping "Trumpism" (Letter)

Dear Editor,

It’s like a train wreck in slow-motion.

Just when you think Trump has made the worst possible choice for his cabinet, he announces another who’s even worse. 

Rick Perry, the wacka-doodle ex-Governor of Texas, is a sad example. Perry couldn’t remember the name of one of the government departments he pledged to eliminate when he tried to run for President four years ago. Now, Trump has named Perry to head it!  (It’s the department of Energy. You know, the “trivial” one responsible for the U.S. nuclear program!) 

Making America Ungovernable

Chris Hedges

Donald Trump's regime is rapidly reconfiguring the United States into an authoritarian state. All forms of dissent will soon be criminalized. Civil liberties will no longer exist. Corporate exploitation, through the abolition of regulations and laws, will be unimpeded. Global warming will accelerate. A repugnant nationalism, amplified by government propaganda, will promote bigotry and racism. Hate crimes will explode. New wars will be launched or expanded. Story here.

Massive hurricane-force Atlantic storm to push abnormally mild air toward North Pole

The Washington Post

A gigantic, powerhouse winter storm is charging through the North Atlantic and promises to flood the high Arctic with abnormally mild air. Arctic temperatures have blown past previous record highs in recent months, and this surge of (relative) warmth is just the latest in a long series that has amazed scientists. Story here.

Record-busting heat in eastern Australia as climate warming goes extreme

CLIMATE CODE RED

The Queensland town of Moree has recorded 41 days in a row of temperatures above 35C, absolutely smashing the previous record from 1981-82 of  17 days. Details here.

Nature trust 'astounded' by response to 100 Wild Islands campaign

CBCnews

Nova Scotia coastal archipelago now 85 per cent protected. Details here.

Don't Let Trump Get Away With It! Friends of the Earth Need Your Help!

Dear Larry, Support our work without spending a dime: Click here to vote for Friends of the Earth Action! Donald Trump is trying to gut the EPA. He advanced the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. And he’s threatened to “cancel” the Paris Climate Agreement. At Friends of the Earth Action, we’re building the movement to stop Trump. We’re working to expose and defeat his climate-denying cabinet. We’re pushing Congress to stand up to his extreme anti-environmental agenda. And we’re taking the fight outside Washington -- building power at the state and local level.

'Estimates of convenience': Researcher says Alberta spills data too positive

Winnipeg Free Press

A researcher says the agency that monitors Alberta's energy industry has underestimated the impact of tens of thousands of spills going back decades. Story here.

Deadly new wheat disease threatens Europe’s crops

nature

Researchers caution that stem rust may have returned to world’s largest wheat-producing region. Details here.



A healthy wheat field in Manitoba. PinP photo. 
Related: The Fusarium-Glyphosate Connection (Video)

The EU Once Again Refuses a Green Light for Glyphosate!

François Veillerette, Director of Générations Futures says thank you to SumOfUs members

Larry, You made something amazing happen. The EU refused to give Monsanto’s cancer-causing ingredient - glyphosate - the green light. It’s delayed the decision 18 months while glyphosate is re-evaluated. That’s a big win.