PLANET in PERIL: Bio

Friday, October 2, 2020

The Bio of Larry Powell - publisher of this blog.

Larry Powell

Powell is a veteran, award-winning journalist based in Shoal Lake, Manitoba, Canada. He specialize in stories about agriculture and the environment. For decades, he worked for broadcast outlets in all four provinces in western Canada. This included a 5 years stint as Senior Editor for CBC Radio News in Saskatchewan.

He is authorized to receive embargoed news releases on important, global stories, through the Science Media Centre of Canada, the Royal Society, Nature Research and the World Weather Attribution Network. He's a member of the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada, the Canadian Association of Journalists and a past member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 2020, Powell joined an international team of writers providing articles for the Swiss-based online journal, Focusing on Wildlife - celebrating the biodiversity of Planet Earth.

In June, 2014, he was a panelist at a world conference in Winnipeg entitled Holding Power to Account. Investigative Journalism, Democracy and Human Rights. A keynote speaker there was Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame.

In 1986, he received one of several awards, when the Centre for Investigative Journalism chose his radio documentary about high cancer rates among uranium miners in northern Saskatchewan as the best in the country that year.

Since retiring as a full-time employee in the late 80s, Powell has been able to devote more time to deeply- researched articles about important issues of our time, such as climate change and industrial farming.

In 2012, the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association awarded his story about vanishing pollinators, Plight of the Humble Bee second prize in its environmental category.

He has reported in many media, online, print and broadcast. They include CBC Radio; CBC TV’s flagship newscast, “The National;” NACTV - Community TV, Neepawa, Manitoba; farm newspapers including The Manitoba Co-Operator and The Western Producer; the weekly newspaper, The Roblin Review in Roblin, MB; along with progressive media such as the journal Alternatives; Briarpatch; Sasquatch; Canadian Dimension; The Dominion; OnEarth; Planetsave; The Manitoba Eco-Journal; Earthkeeper and Outdoor Edge.

WORK HISTORY:

• 1989-present: Freelance writer, broadcaster, photographer, and researcher – online, print and television.

• 1979-’88: Employee of CBC Radio News in Regina, including five years as Senior Editor of CBC Radio News in Saskatchewan.

• 1972-’78: CBC Radio/TV News, Calgary AB.

• 1958-’71: News reporter/announcer/host at private radio stations at CFAR, Flin Flon, MB; CJGX, Yorkton, SK; CJVI, Victoria, BC; CHAB, Moose Jaw, SK and CFAC, Calgary, AB.

EDUCATION:

• High school diploma, Dauphin Collegiate Technical Institute, Dauphin, MB; typing and shorthand degree, Sprott-Shaw Business College, Victoria, BC along with various skills courses at CBC, including writing and interviewing.

OTHER AWARDS:

• 1990: The B’Nai Brith award for human rights broadcasting as part of a team at CBC Radio, Saskatchewan. The series, "A People Apart," chronicled incidents of discrimination and abuse against indigenous people.

• 1984: Nomination for Peabody and winner of Saskatchewan Reporters’ Asn. Award for best radio documentary.

REFERENCES & WRITING SAMPLES: On request.

INTERESTS: Blogging, reading, writing, organics, market gardening, eat-local movements, community activism, jamming with friends on my clarinet.