PLANET IN PERIL

The Guardian A coal plant in Wisconsin. US Geological Survey. Last year’s 3.4% jump in emissions is the largest since 2010 recession and second largest gain in more than two decades. More here.

Rainforest Action Network  The Borneo file-eared frog ( Polypedates otilophus ). Photo by Charlels J. Sharp. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are likely built on the backs of endangered species. That’s because the very timber being used to build the Olympic venues is being sourced from Indonesia’s rainforests. So much for being “one of the most sustainable Olympics yet!” Details here.

Science Slash-and-burn  forest  clearing along the Xingu River in  Brazil . A NASA satellite photo. Beset by economic woes and dissatisfied with the left-wing politicians in power for most of the past 15 years, Brazil appears poised to make a hard turn and elect a far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, as its next president. His rapid ascent has unnerved local researchers, who worry about the future of Brazilian science, the protection of the country's biodiversity, and its role in the global struggle against climate change. Bolsonaro has vowed to withdraw Brazil from the 2015 Paris agreement, which requires nations to reduce greenhouse emissions to combat climate change, and he plans to eliminate the Ministry of the Environment and fold its duties into the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply.  Download the PDF here.

The New York Times The Trump administration has completed its plan to roll back major offshore-drilling safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history. Story here. The Deepwater Horizon oil slick from space. Photo by NASA.

Read an alternative version here.  Also.... "In Hogs We Trust."   A critique of Manitoba’s “runaway” hog industry. 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?  

by Larry Powell Manitoba's  Premier, Brian Pallister has announced  another assistance package   to Hylife Foods of more than $11 m over the next several year.  (HyLife is now Canada's biggest pork processor.) Some $9.5m will come from the province, the rest from Ottawa. It will help the company pay for a pricey expansion of its killing plant in Neepawa and a new feed mill in the southwest. Last November, I warned in a blog-post here , that Manitoba taxpayers had better be prepared to "dig deeper." Why? Because Pallister's Conservatives had just begun to deregulate this province's corporate hog sector, so it could expand. And, expand, it has! Countless new barns are going up, so that millions more animals can be raised and slaughtered here: And all with fewer regulations than ever to control pollution, disease or catastrophic barn fires.  Given past history, my article reasoned, more "corporate welfare" was surely in the wind. It do

The Washington Post Hurricane Florence. A NASA photo. With depressingly ironic timing, the Trump administration has recently announced a plan to roll back federal rules on methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the main component in natural gas. When it comes to extreme weather, Mr. Trump is complicit.   More here.

NATIONAL  OBSERVER Environmentalists have accused the B.C. government of lying about the amount of majestic, centuries-old trees left standing in the province. Story here. An 800 year-old Douglas-fir near  Port Alberni,  BC Photo by  Gillian (EverySpoon)

EcoWatch The world's richest countries continue to subsidize at least $100 billion a year in subsidies for the production and use of  coal ,  oil  and  gas , despite repeated pledges to phase out  fossil fuels  by 2025. More here. Alberta's tar sands.  Photo by  Howl Arts Collective

ricochet  One of the many protests against the Kinder Morgan pipeline in Vancouver. Photo by  William Chen. Groups say prime minister’s stance on tar sands negates attempt to position Canada as a global climate leader. Story here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER An investigation by Joel Ballard indicates there is reason to believe that's exactly what Canada has done. More here. The Deepwater Horizon.  Photo by the US Coast Guard.

TheConversation The plan to build a massive hydropower dam in Sumatra as part of China’s immense  Belt and Road Initiative  threatens the habitat of the rarest ape in the world, which has only 800 remaining members. More here. Photo by   Tim Laman

WinnipegFreePress                                             A Pineland Forest Nursery photo. The provincial government is selling a massive tree-growing operation near Hadashville that produces and stores seeds for every type of tree grown in Manitoba. More here.

The Winnipeg Free Press The union that represents Winnipeg Transit staff says city hall is missing out on an opportunity to access loans and grants to electrify the transit fleet. Story here.

TheGuardian The energy-friendlly agenda inside Trump's iinterior department is revealed in rccords obtained by the Guardian and the watchdog groups, Documented and the Western Values Project.    More here.

World Wildlife Fund WWF’s first  Polar Bear Scorecard  found that Canada has shown leadership by investing in subpopulation monitoring. But two years into the 10-year, five-nation Circumpolar Action Plan for the Conservation of Polar Bears (CAP) it has not met its goals in identifying critical habitat nor in setting out best practices for tourism operators and for oil spill response. Story here. Photo by  Ansgar Walk

OTTAWA - Sierra Club Canada Foundation is disappointed, but not surprised, that Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna approved up to seven exploratory drill wells for BP off Nova Scotia yesterday. The leases where BP will be drilling are located 48 km from Sable Island National Park and 71 km from the Gully Marine Protected Area, home to the Northern bottlenose whale and deep-sea corals. "I wish I could say I was shocked, but sadly I'm not," stated Gretchen Fitzgerald, National Program Director of Sierra Club Canada Foundation.  "This project could  result in a massive blow out on the East coast, one  that  we are not prepared nor equipped  to deal with. Even under the best  conditions,  BP says it will take two weeks to cap a well.  That's two weeks  for oil to flow,  threatening whales, fish, birds, and fisheries." The Environmental Assessment Report for the project indicates that in  case of  a spill, oil could  rea

The Washington Post The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget. More here.

Manitoba Co-operator Anaerobic digesters out, new barns in. Story here. RELATED:   More alarm bells sound over drug usage in the world’s intensive livestock operations.

The Guardian - George Monbiot We are still living in the long 20 th  Century. We are stuck with its redundant technologies: the internal combustion engine; thermal power plants; factory farms. We are stuck with its redundant politics: unfair electoral systems; their capture by funders and lobbyists; the failure to temper representation with real participation. Story here.