PLANET IN PERIL

Fossil Free Geneva, Switzerland - 11 July - The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches ( WCC ), a fellowship of over 300 churches which represent some 590 million people in 150 countries, endorsed fossil fuel divestment this week, agreeing to phase out its own holdings and encourage its members to do the same. The WCC Central Committee is made up of dozens of influential religious leaders from around the world, meaning the decision could resonate far and wide. Full story here.

TheGuardian As early as 2018, solar could be economically viable to power big cities. By 2040 over half of all electricity may be generated in the same place it's used. Centralised, coal-fired power is over. Full story here. PLT photo.

Manitoba Co-Operator. Laura Rance PLT photo Canadian health and veterinary authorities have been discussing the virtually unregulated and poorly monitored antibiotic use in farm animals since the late 1990s. Full story here.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) A PinP photo. WINNIPEG: In 2013, the City of Winnipeg and IISD embarked on a project to turn locally harvested cattail ( Typha ) and native prairie grasses into pellets to burn in a pellet stove located at the Living Prairie Museum, a facility run by the City. This video documents the process of harvesting, processing, pelletizing and burning the plant materials.

Montreal Gazette Sale of controversial seed delayed after protests across Canada. Details here.

The Globe and Mail An unprecedented court injunction has barred the DFO from opening a commercial fishery off Vancouver Island after a judge concluded DFO was “fudging the numbers” and that the federal minister declared it open against her own bureaucrats’ advice. Details here.

CBC News Five nations work on deal to block commercial fishing until more studies done. Details here.

International Institute for Sustainable Development OTTAWA—The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) welcomes today’s announcement of proposed new regulations that would allow the important scientific research at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) to continue.  One of a countless number of freshwater lakes in Manitoba, Canada. PLT photo. The proposed regulations are published in the  Canada Gazette  and are entitled “ Experimental Lakes Area Research Activities Regulations ” and “ Regulations Establishing Conditions for Making Regulations under Subsection 36(5.2) of the  Fisheries Act . ” This step, together with the Ontario government’s  regulation proposal notice  last month, is of critical importance to allow the operation of ELA by a third party. IISD seeks to ensure that the long-term scientific work to understand Canada’s changing freshwater management challenges continues.  “IISD continues to negotiate with both Ontario and the federal go

Huffington Post The decline of coal as a power source in favour of natural gas in the U.S. is a big part... Full story here.

Fox News Latino California's $2.3 billion strawberry industry edging toward non-chemical alternatives to pesticides.  Details here. Organic strawberries in Manitoba. PLT photo

PEOPLE IN ACTION  Reah Janise Kauffman and Julianne Simpson www.earth-policy.org/action_center/C27 Earth Policy Release August 13, 2013 We love hearing about how our publications inspire others to take action and share their stories  on our website. From the classroom to the political arena, people are spreading the word about  Plan B and EPI’s work to create a roadmap to sustainability.  In 2007, Dr. Bonnie Winslow-Garvin, a school psychologist and  long-time fan of Lester’s work, gave her husband Michael Garvin a  copy of  Plan B 2.0 . Garvin was so inspired by Lester’s call to action  that he left his national security consulting work to focus on moving  the world to a carbon-free energy economy. In 2009 they founded  RENAIS, a renewable energy technology and financing consultancy  specializing in wind power, in their home state of Iowa. Garvin also wanted to act internationally. He decided to begin with  the Caribbean, a region heavily dependent upon f

UN Climate Change Secretariat The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, ended on  Friday after making concrete progress towards a new universal climate change agreement and… Details here. PLT photo

Winnipeg Free Press The International Institute for Sustainable Development (a Winnipeg-based think tank) will step in to operate experimental lakes. Full story here. Related: Experimental Lakes Closure a Financial Blunder - Greens.

The Guardian EU member states vote ushers in continent-wide suspension of neonicotinoid pesticides. Details here. PLT: Below is a comment I left in the comments section following this story in "The Guardian." "Damn straight, the EU did right by banning these chemicals! They are a curse & a threat to both the natural world and the future of many human food crops! As a blogger and journalist, I've written extensively on this topic, chronicling the disgusting and shameful, do-nothing approach of my own Canadian government, which acts more like an agent for Bayer et al than a representative of real people. I'd invite you to read one of my articles on this topic which I wrote some time ago." "Are Canada's Pesticide Regulators on the Take? Canadian Authorities Refuse to Protect Precious Pollinators From Known Toxins. Is Something Crooked Going on Here? "

CBC News Chat over beer generates lower-cost way to make hydrogen from water. Details here.

John Vidal - The Guardian Organic Canadian potatoes. PLT photo In a village in India's poorest state, Bihar, farmers are growing world record amounts of rice, potatoes and wheat with no GM, and no herbicide. Is this one solution to world food shortages? Details here. PLT:  These breakthroughs need to be shouted from the rooftops. Do North American farmers even know about this?  Here in my home province of Manitoba, Canada, commercial potato-growers spray their crops up to 5 times a season with potent fungicides. How healthy is that?  Excellent story, John!

Toronto Star Canada, the land of abundant fresh water, has little need for desalination technologies to quench the thirst of its citizens.  This makes it all the more amazing that Canadians are behind some of the most innovative new approaches to taking salt out of seawater, the need for which is expected to rise substantially over the coming years. Details here .

Manitoba Co-operator Step Forward Paper is made with 80 per cent straw Manitoba farmers could see a lucrative new market for straw emerge, as the province moves closer to becoming the site of North America's first pulp and paper mill using straw. Full story here.