YaleEnvironment360
by Jim Robbins
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| A Daniel G Rego photo. |
California’s ancient sequoias — some of which have stood more than 1,000 years — are facing an existential threat from increasingly intense wildfires linked to climate change. But federal efforts to thin forests to reduce fire risks are drawing pushback from conservation groups. Story here.
Royal Society Journals
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| A mangrove forrest, close up. Photo by Jeff Kelleway |
The expansions are occurring on low-lying islands of the Great Barrier Reef, creating new habitats and protecting coastlines from storms and sea level rise. They're also capturing carbon and helping tiny islands grow. Mangroves of the Howick Islands in the northern Great Barrier Reef have been mapped for the first time since 1974. The new maps show that the mangrove forests have extended at rates of up to five metres a year, adding over 10,000 tonnes of new biomass. Watch video, below.
EurekAlert
Wildfires, cigarette smoking and vehicles all emit a potentially harmful compound called isocyanic acid. The substance has been linked to several health conditions, including heart disease and cataracts. Scientists investigating sources of the compound have now identified off-road diesel vehicles in oil sands production in Alberta, Canada, as a major contributor to regional levels of the pollutant. Their report appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.
MOTHER CORP NEWS
Silica sand. Photo by ರವಿಮುಂ
Springfield councillor says survey results will be shared with council, provincial election candidates. Widespread opposition persists in southeastern Manitoba to an Alberta-based company's proposed plan to mine for pure silica sand in the rural municipality of Springfield, two local councillors say. Story here.
MiningWatch CANADA
Last week, the Government of Manitoba released the Critical Minerals Strategy: Driving Sustainable Growth. For years, Manitoba’s environmental community has been raising the alarm about the short and long-term implications of mining on the environment and the health of mining-adjacent communities.
There is a need for a more thoughtful and detailed strategy that meaningfully addresses the environmental concerns and interests of the public and Indigenous communities. DETAILS HERE.
Jamie Sandison - Canada's National Observer
My analysis of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveals a staggering revelation — more than 150 monthly temperature records have been broken across Canada this year. Details here.
The Tyee
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| Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith. |
World Weather Attribution
During May and June 2023 Canada witnessed exceptionally extreme fire-weather conditions, leading to extensive wildfires that burned over 13 million hectares. Story here.
WORLD WEATHER ATTRIBUTION
Following a record hot June, large areas of the US, Canada, Mexico, Southern Europe and China experienced extreme heat in July 2023, breaking many local high temperature records. Details here.
Please also read;
National Observer
“There is no rain in our community. We walk for more than eight hours every day to get water,” Drought forced Dawele*, 14, from Ethiopia, to drop out of school.she explains. “Because of this, I couldn’t attend class and was forced to drop out. I love mathematics and want to be a teacher, but now I don’t know what my future will be.” Dawele is just one of 15 million people in the Horn of Africa who can no longer go to school because of severe drought. STORY HERE.
EurekAlert - Peer-Reviewed Publication
MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY
Human-caused global warming has continued to increase at an “unprecedented rate” since the last major assessment of the climate system published two years ago, say 50 leading scientists. STORY HERE.
AUG 2019
Dear Yellowheadians,
Earlier this summer, in a letter in the Crossroads, I complained about a huge multi-million dollar roadbuilding project on Highway 21, south of Shoal Lake. While I wasn't crazy about the noise or the violation of my personal space, that's not why I'm writing this.
Here’s why.
The United Nations warned some time ago that the construction sector needs to cut back on its huge carbon footprint “yesterday” if we are to meet our obligations under the Paris Climate Accord. Yet, either out of ignorance, apathy or downright defiance, a steady stream of diesel trucks rumbled through Shoal Lake for weeks, from dawn to dusk, right past my living room window.
Scant months ago, the Parks and Wilderness Society reminded us that world biodiversity (the variety of plant and animal life on Earth) is declining faster now than at any other time in human history. Yet that did not stop the trucks from making hundreds of round trips a day, hauling copious loads of gravel from a mine which has, for years, been transforming a beautiful stretch of the Birdtail Valley west of here, into an ugly hub of commerce.
Yet my letter was met with a deafening silence. Why? I have no idea. But one very disturbing possibility has come to mind since. Could it be that many simply do not believe that climate change is real; that we humans are behind it; or that its consequences are already widespread, deadly and getting worse?
A study by UBC seems to raise the chilling possibility that this is, indeed, the case. It finds that school curricula in at least a few places in Canada, including Manitoba, present the science as not being settled yet! It pains me to say this, but - if this is what is being taught - it's a lie! The science is settled! There’s an overwhelming and longstanding consensus among the world’s top climatologists. We humans are altering the nature of our atmosphere by the amount of fossil fuels we're burning. This is trapping heat close to the earth’s surface. And, if we do nothing, the only home we have could morph into a place that’s not just inhospitable, but downright deadly, even for the healthiest among us! Ironically, the month just past, when the road construction was at its peak, was globally, the warmest July on the human record!
So, would Planet Earth have been spared from a worst-case scenario had my "least favourite" road project not gone ahead? Of course not! But are we doomed to that worst-case scenario if every community in the world barges ahead with “business as usual,” as mine, sadly, is doing? Absolutely!
Larry Powell
Shoal Lake, MB.
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Even moderate temperature increases can cause more emergency hospital visits and deaths. Story here.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA
Many of the world’s largest aquatic food producers are highly vulnerable to human-induced environmental change, with some of the highest-risk countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa demonstrating the lowest capacity for adaptation, a landmark study has shown.
Please also read; Toxic Tides, the tragedy of fish farming everywhere.
The Manitoba Co-Operator - by Vicki Burns
CBC NEWS
Milder winter likely ahead, and more severe weather too, expert says.
CBC News
Azure Sustainable Fuels Corporation's processing facility planned for near Portage la Prairie, Man.
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Hog Watch Manitoba - June 23rd, 2023.
Letter to the editor.
"The entire pork industry in Manitoba is facing a difficult time. That includes the hog farmers as well as the processors," GM Cam Dahl of MB Pork told the Brandon Sun, 17 June,2023.
Without the benefit of taxpayers’ dollars (read: government support), the Manitoba hog industry (not farming) would have collapsed many years ago.
Born and raised on a farm, I appreciate the proper raising and care of swine. Pigs produced in a factory-type situation however, live in conditions that are far removed from achieving humane animal stewardship status.
Bad ideas and poor operating principles are very costly for the animals, our environment and society.
It was some 24 years ago that the Filmon Progressive Conservative government unfurled the red carpet and opened Pandora’s box for the hog Industry to come into Manitoba. Now, since being elected in 2016, the Pallister and Stefanson regimes—through their Red Tape Reduction Act—have taken the cue to further expand the industry by discarding much of the legislation that had been put in place to protect our environment, Lake Winnipeg, and Manitoba water sources.
Yes, it is very clear that Mr. Pallister and Premier Stefanson’s ministers have been busy reading the Filmon manual on how to manage the Manitoba government on the value-added concept of economics regarding the hog Industry.
I often think there are those who will not be pleased with anything short of a regulatory footprint so light it allows hog barns to be built on floating platforms in the middle of Lake Winnipeg.
This hog industry of Maple Leaf Foods and foreign-owned Hylife Foods is a meat exporting business. Manitobans consume about six per cent of their production. The rest is shipped away, leaving Manitobans to deal with all the waste and pollution that is leaves behind.
Unfortunately, polluted water, toxic air, health concerns and the plight of rural residents is not a consideration to Manitoba’s government.
This political transgression of ruination is upon us, affecting the future of our children and generations that follow.
Pig production on straw that meets the animals’ needs and is still profitable – is that possible? Yes! With the sustainable and animal-friendly Xaletto® straw bedding concept, both piglet rearing and pig finishing are profitable, either in closed houses or in ventilated barns with open-air run.
Xaletto® is the result of a collaboration between Big Dutchman, the feed producer Bröring and an experienced farmer. Prerequisites for the success of the Xaletto® concept include:
Nature Communications
The Arctic could be sea-ice-free during the month of September as early as the 2030s even under a low emissions scenario — about one decade earlier than previously projected — suggests a study published in Nature Communications.
Geneva, 13 September 2022 (WMO) - Climate science is clear: we are heading in the wrong direction, according to a new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which highlights the huge gap between aspirations and reality. DETAILS HERE.
Dear Editor,
And here I thought there were things governments could do to make our planet safer from the ravages of manmade climate change - offer subsidies to those who give us cleaner energy alternatives, or regulations to those who pollute.
Then, those of us who want to save our earthly home from climate catastrophe, can simply vote for the Party that seems most likely to do these things.
The “At Issue" panel on CBC TV reminded me just how wrong I was, when they recently discussed the topic of Alberta, now facing epic wildfires amidst an election campaign.
The guest panelist from Alberta thought “Danielle,” (Premier Danielle Smith) was “generally acting as a Premier” in the face of the crisis. (I wonder if she knows him as “Jason?”) The other panelists generally thought the way the Premier was handling things would probably be seen as "a plus,” too.
Never mind that, it wasn't that long ago that Smith considered the science of climate change, “unsettled,” or now describes the federal program to transition away from fossil fuels, “an existential threat.”
Neither does it apparently matter that, when Premier herself, Rachel Notley moved to phase out coal and place a cap on oil sands emissions.
I believe this panel, which mostly offers intelligent insight into world affairs, missed the mark this time.
They also insulted Alberta voters by suggesting they'll be basing their votes - not on solid, science-based policies which will make or break a successful, long-term counter-offensive against these"Hellfires" - but rather on a death-bed display of “showmanship” in the final days of a campaign.
Larry Powell
SHOAL LK MB
University of Toronto
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DeSmog Blog
Alberta-based Indian Resource Council quietly received funding from CNRL, corporate documents reveal. Details here.
Letters - Winnipeg Free Press
I wish to add to the comment made by Karen Lalonde (“Project a risk to aquifers,” Letters, Feb. 28) that “there are other companies in Manitoba producing silica sand but not going through aquifers to attain it.” While this is true, this statement implies that drinking water is not affected by traditional silica sand mining methods.
In the case of the Wanipigow Sand Mine, Canadian Premium Sand will use massive amounts of groundwater to wash their sand before exporting it. That groundwater presently drains to Lake Winnipeg, the Manigotogan and the Wanipigow rivers via fish-bearing creeks and underground springs. Four communities obtain their drinking water from the Wanipigow and Manigotogan rivers, and many cottagers along Lake Winnipeg use wells. In fact, the whole ecosystem well past the mine’s boundaries will likely be affected.
A mine can’t take millions of gallons of water out of a watershed without affecting life.
Four years after Canadian Premium Sand received its licence, the public has yet to see the hydrogeological report that would confirm the effects of this project on the ecosystem, the wells and the water people drink. Why hasn’t the government demanded clear, transparent reporting to the citizens most affected?
Let us agree on one thing — the problem is a shoddy environmental-review process and enforcement of the 98 conditions attached to the Wanipigow Sand Licence issued four years ago. This government is failing to protect the water of all of its citizens.
We agree: there is no room for error when it comes to water. The invasive process being proposed for the Sio Silica mine threatens drinking water on a massive scale. Camp Morning Star stands with citizens opposing the Sio Silica Mine. We all deserve thorough research and answers regarding these projects before they license the processing plants. Show us the science! Water is life!
M.J. McCarron
Camp Morning Star
Gimli
Executive summary
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| Bighorn Country, Alberta Eastern Slopes Photo by Aerin Jacob |
The Prime Minister has directed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, with the support of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Minister of Natural Resources and the Special Representative for the Prairies to create a new Canada Water Agency (CWA) to work together with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists and others to find the best ways to keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.
The Prime Minister also directed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada to “develop further protections and take active steps to clean up the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Simcoe and other large lakes.”
These two commitments are being addressed in an integrated manner. To support this effort, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) released a public discussion paper in December 2020: “Toward the Creation of a Canada Water Agency”.
The paper acknowledges that freshwater management is a shared responsibility between Canada’s federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments. In creating the CWA, the Government of Canada has committed to ensuring that each jurisdiction is respected, and that overlap, and duplication is avoided.
ECCC invited Canadians to provide their thoughts and ideas via participation in national and regional forums, an online survey or written submissions.
Input was received from individuals, municipal government representatives, non-government organizations, industry representatives, academia and Indigenous peoples.
Read the full report here.
CBC News
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