PLANET IN PERIL

ScienceDaily A PinP photo. Beavers could help clean up polluted rivers and stem the loss of valuable soils from farms, new research shows.   More 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.

The Guardian Logging in Australia. Photo by  Peter Campbell Tree-felling helped trigger ‘hidden collapse’ of mountain ash forests, ecologists say. More here.

DeSmogCanada A pipeline owned by Paramount Resources Ltd. released an estimated 100,000 litres of crude oil and 190,000 litres of produced water near Zama City, in northwest Alberta, according to an April 11 incident report filed with the  Alberta Energy Regulator . Details here.

Last October, just before the provincial government relaxed regulations to allow for many more hogs to be produced in this province, George Matheson, Chair of the industry group, “Manitoba Pork,”  testified  before a legislative committee.  In an astonishing display of corporate hype, Matheson seemed to think he could, with a single statement, obliterate years of solid scientific research, conducted in his own province. “Hog manure is not getting into our rivers and lakes,” he declared. “The vast majority…about 85 per cent, is injected into the soil of farmland or immediately incorporated into the soil. This method of application essentially stops manure from running off the land. I cannot overemphasize this point. This means manure does not get into rivers and lakes. In fact, it is illegal for manure to leave a field.”    In her long career with the University of Winnipeg’s biology department,  Dr. Eva Pip  (below) has come to a dramatically different conclusion. Af

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. A "crop-duster" in Manitoba. PinP photo. The Government of Quebec has imposed a ban on five pesticides that are commonly used in the agricultural sector – three neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics), atrazine and chlorpyrifos. More here.

Science Across Asia, rampant extraction of sand for construction is eroding coastlines and scouring waterways. More here.

Nature Ecology & Evolution Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. PinP photo. As the terrestrial human footprint continues to expand, the amount of native forest that is free from significant damaging human activities is in precipitous decline. There is emerging evidence that the remaining intact forest supports an exceptional confluence of globally significant environmental values relative to degraded forests, including imperilled biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, indigenous culture and the maintenance of human health. Here we argue that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Retaining the integrity of intact forest ecosystems should be a central component of proactive global and national environmental strategies, alongside current efforts

The Washington Post The much-heralded demise of the coal industry may be overstated, a new scientific analysis asserts — finding that if all planned plants were constructed, the world would have little chance of meeting its climate change goals. Story here. Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant,  central Wyoming  Greg Goebel  from  Loveland CO, USA

Common  Dreams A fertilizer plant in Manitoba, Canada. A  PinP  video. Which is more frightening? The destruction of the environment and the climate that sustain human civilization as we have known it? Or the collapse of democracy and the rise of endless war and fascism?  More here.

NATIONAL OBSERVER Just as the Kinder Morgan pipeline controversy surges to fever pitch over oil spill impacts, a barge near Vancouver has sunk, spilling diesel into the ocean in the territory of the Squamish Nation. More here. A sunken tanker in the harbour at San Juan,  Puerto Rico, 1968.  U.S, Navy photo. RELATED:  Spills are an ocean away — until they’re not

ScienceDaily Study found that human-modified landscapes shrink mammal movements by up to half. Story here. Moose in Riding Mountain National Park,  Manitoba, Canada. PinP photo.

NATIONAL OBSERVER    PinP photo. Some birds have been forced to change their tune as a result of noise pollution from oil and  gas drilling, new research  from the University of Manitoba has found.  More here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

U.S. National Academy Sciences A Wikimedia photo. Across North America, streams and rivers are becoming saltier, and freshwater bodies, more alkaline, all thanks to human activity. According to a new study, salty compounds like road de-icers and fertilizers, which make their way into rivers, are significantly changing the salinity levels of the waters in the United States and southern Canada. Researchers analyzed the data recorded at 232 U.S. Geological Survey monitoring sites across the country over the past 50 years. It's the first study to simultaneously account for multiple salt ions — such as sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium — in freshwater across the United States and southern Canada. The results suggest that salt ions, damaging in their own right, are driving up the pH of freshwater as well, making it more alkaline.

the guardian Colossal funding in manufacturing plants by fossil fuel companies will increase plastic production by 40%, risking permanent pollution of the earth. Story here. RELATED:  Big oil invests $180B in plastics, merging two planet-killing industries

YaleEnvironment360 A loophole in carbon-accounting rules is spurring a boom in burning wood pellets in European power plants. The result has been a surge in logging, particularly in the U.S. South, and new doubts about whether Europe can meet its commitments under the Paris accord.   Story here. PinP photo   PinP photo.

The Tyee Province had ability to cancel project without cutting services, argues Eliesen. Story here.

CBC news UBC researchers found BMAA toxin in high concentrations in 25% of algal blooms tested in Manitoba lake. Story here. Lake Winnipeg. Greenpeace photo. A FOOTNOTE: In the interests of fairness and accuracy, it should be pointed out that it was Eva Pip, a long-time water expert at the University of Winnipeg, and a colleague who are on the record as first confirming BMAA in Lake Winnipeg, NOT the BC research team referenced in the CBC story.   PinP Find Prof. Pip's research here.

Antlers of the barren ground caribou can be a meter tall.  The majestic animals have traditionally provided food for subsistence hunters .  A Wikimedia Commons photo.   According to the magazine Science, US politicians may be about to put the continent’s biggest and healthiest caribou herd at risk. That’s because a US Senate committee has just voted to allow drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The coastal plain region of the sprawling refuge happens to be the calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo credit -  US Fish & Wildlife Service. Republicans supporting drilling say its footprint will be small. Environmental groups disagree, saying roads and pipelines will dissect the animals' habitat.  A Canadian wildlife ecologist quoted in the story, Chris Johnson of the University of Northern BC (Prince George), says the consensus that industrial activity disturbs the animals is

CBCnews Some fishermen are killing migratory female salmon to harvest their eggs for bait. Story here.