PHYS ORG Drought in Quensland, 2014.  Btcpg Australia suffered its hottest summer on record from December through February and forecasts show the southern autumn will continue to be drier and warmer than average, the government said Thursday. Story here. FOOTNOTE:  Australia's annual emissions continue to rise, driven by LNG production.  Emissions for the year to September 2018 up 0.9% as Morrison government attempts a policy pivot on climate. The Guardian.

PHYS ORG A diesel truck in Canada. A PinP photo. Some 385,000 people worldwide died prematurely in 2015 from air pollution caused by vehicle exhaust emissions, a US study found Wednesday, which singled out diesel engines as the main culprit. Story here.

THE Guardian A chinook salmon. Photo by US Fish & Wildlife Service. Prospects for species look dire as federal science body finds that only one of Canada's16 populations is believed to be stable. STORY HERE.

Decades of  research  - recently published - has found a significant link between a chronic loss of smell (olfactory impairment or "OI") among American farmers, and their high exposure to certain chemicals they applied to their fields. Far from being a minor ailment, "OI" has long been identified as one of the earliest and most important symptoms of several neurological diseases,  including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. by Larry Powell The human "olfactory" system governs  our sense of smell. Image - public domain. Beginning in the '90s, a team of US scientists surveyed more than 11 thousand farmers from Iowa and North Carolina. They were asked about their experiences with farm chemicals during their lifetimes. In 2015, there was a follow-up survey. Almost 12 hundred (10.6%) reported they had either lost, or significantly lost, their sense of smell. And those who reported incidents of unusually high exposure to pesticides during

The Guardian Plants, insects and organisms crucial to food production in steep decline, says UN. Story here. A display of harvesting "might" in Canada. 

There is a ‘clear risk’ the swiftly spreading disease could come here, says leading swine health vet By Alexis Kienlen FOLLOW Reporter Alberta farmer -  February 11, 2019 These red spots are typical of African swine fever.   A Wikimedia photo. There is a real risk that the African swine fever virus could enter Canada — and if it did, it would be catastrophic, says one of the country’s leading swine health experts.

Science Magazine IN SECTION: NEWS IN BRIEF Edited by Jeffrey Brainard Opens in modal lightbox Monarch butterflies clustered at a reserve in  Mexico. PHOTO: BIOSPHOTO/ALAMY STOCK   PHOTO Viewable Image - mexicos monarch population booms Image Caption Monarch butterflies clustered at a reserve in Angangueo, Mexico.   PHOTO: BIOSPHOTO/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Every winter, monarch butterflies in Canada and the northeastern and midwestern United States flock to the pine and fir forests of central Mexico to hibernate, covering trees and turning hectares of forest orange and black. This year, the butterfly population overwintering in Mexico more than doubled, according to World Wildlife Fund Mexico, which helps lead the annual count. The butterflies covered 6.05 hectares of forest, up from 2.48 last year. It’s the largest wintering area since the winter of 2006–07. This famous group of migrating monarchs has been struggling in recent years, with an all-time low arriving

Smithsonian.com "Moose may soon disappear completely from some parts of Manitoba, Canada, where   the population has dropped by as much as 57 percent ." Source CPAWS MB. A PinP photo. A new analysis found that 70 percent of Earth’s largest creatures are decreasing in number, while 59 percent are at risk of extinction. Story here.

YaleEnvironment360 By far the largest mining endeavour globally is digging up sand, mainly for the concrete that goes into buildings. But this little-noticed and largely unregulated activity has serious costs — damaging rivers, wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems, and even wiping away entire islands. Story here. Sand mining in the Netherlands. Photo by GeraldM at Dutch Wikipedia ========== Guess what folks? This already questionable practise is set to start up, big-time, here in my home province of Manitoba, too! And this one is for the even more disreputable purpose of FRACKING! You didn't know? Not surprising. Read on and weep. l.p. RELATED:  Frack Sand Mining Coming to Manitoba and Soon. Consultation or Coercion – You Tell Me Is a controversial “frac sand mine”about to go ahead on the east side of Manitoba's Lake Winnipeg without proper consent? by Don Sullivan.

ScienceDaily The Birdtail River meanders past a big gravel-mine in western Manitoba, Canada. A PinP photo. Surface water protection is well below global targets in over half of the world's countries, according to a new study. Story here.  

The Guardian Houses burn in the monster "Fort Mac" fire in Alberta, CA. IMAGE CREDITS:  TWITTER, INDIATODAY . I was wilfully deluded until I began covering global warming, says David Wallace-Wells. But extreme heat could transform the planet by 2100.  Story here.

Photo by Laval U, Canada.

TRUTHOUT The polar opposite of a factory farm. A pig herder in Romania. Photo by  PetrS. Hog waste can contain potentially dangerous pathogens, pharmaceuticals and chemicals.  Story here. RELATED:                                                     "In Hogs We Trust."   A critique of Manitoba’s “runaway” hog industry. By Larry Powell. Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse. Part 11 - The price we pay for corporate pig$.   Part 111 - From Malaysia to Manitoba - the global magnitude of livestock diseases. Part 1V - The health and environmental costs of an expanded hog industry. Part V - What’s behind Manitoba’s drive to expand?