Monday, July 10, 2017

The Uninhabitable Earth

New York Magazine
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. Story here.

PinP photo

Study warns about the impact of the carp in shallow lakes with high ecological value for the preservation of waterbirds

ScienceDaily


The presence of the carp, a freshwater invasive species spread worldwide, is alarmingly reducing the populations of diving ducks and waterbirds, according to a study. Story here.

One of the carps' victims, the white-Headed Duck. Photo by Ken Billington.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Manitoba getting a carbon tax, amount uncertain

Manitoba Co-Operator

Manitobans will pay a carbon tax, but how much may depend on the courts. Details here.

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Global Warming Poses Pros and Cons for the Port of Churchill, Manitoba.

CBCnews
Warming climate opens up opportunities for the port but could pose problems for the railway. Details here.

One of many washed out sections of the rail line to Churchill. (Omnitrax)









'Talk Is Cheap': G20 Told to End Public Subsidy of All Dirty Fuels by 2020

Common Dreams
New report reveals that public financing by wealthiest governments belies stated commitments to Paris climate goals. Story here.

Canada Geese fly over the Suncor Millennium Mine, 
Alberta tar sands. Photo credit - Beautiful Destruction.

Friday, July 7, 2017

Prep school teens were accused of massacring protected birds. Did they get off too easy?

The Washington Post
Albatross. Photo by JJ Harrison

KAPA‘A, Hawaii — The first of the bodies was discovered by a hiker who snapped a photo of the suspicious scene with his cellphone. Buried in a nest on the westernmost spit of the Hawaiian island of Oahu was a dead bird the size of a human child. On the ground next to it was a large stick. More Here.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Will New Research From Europe Nudge Canada Toward a "Neonic" Ban?

by Larry Powell
Most Canadian fields  of canola ("oilseed rape" 
in Europe) grow from seed treated with neonics. PinP photo.
Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), which tests and registers pesticides in this country, says it will take recent European research into account in deciding the future of neonicotinoids. They're the world's most widely used, and controversial family of insecticides. A major field study, published in the journal Nature last week,  found that neonics did not seem to harm honey bees and two wild bee species scientists studied in Germany. However, it was a different story in Hungary and the U.K. There, the same species located near oil rapeseed (canola) crops treated with the neonic, clothianidin, produced 24% fewer workers the following spring! 

While the European Union clamped a moratorium on neonics in 2013, Canada chose a different path. The PMRA has continued to approve their use, even tho it acknowledges that they were linked to the deaths of millions of  honeybees in corn and soybean fields in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba in 2012 and '13.  The agency further notes, the neonics appear to have had no impact on bees which forage on canola, a crop grown widely, notably on the western Canadian prairies. 

But it admits that "over 89%"of the thousands of Canadians who responded in a consultation process, "supported taking further action, including a ban or moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides generally."

It adds, however, that such action has not been necessary, since other measures like closer monitoring and better warning labels have since resulted in a reduction of "70 to 80% in incidents relating to honey bees.”


The Agency goes on, “A preliminary pollinator risk assessment for imidacloprid, did not point to unacceptable risks to managed honeybees (or to humans), provided strict precautions to limit exposure were followed.” 

But, in an e-mail to Planet in Peril,  the PMRA hints, it hasn't slammed the door on some kind of possible restrictions in future. “Relevant scientific studies, such as the one recently published in Science, will be considered as part of (an ongoing) Health Canada’s review. Studies conducted in other countries will also be considered if they are found to be relevant to Canadian conditions. 

Surprisingly enough, it may not be pollinators that seal the fate of neonics, after all. No less than three kinds of neonics are frequently being found in Canadian waterways!
 
The orange wheat blossom midge. Gilles San Martin                        The mayfly. Ryan Hodnett

The PMRA reports, Imadacloprid is being detected “at levels that are harmful to aquatic insects such as midges and mayflies, important food sources for fish, birds and other animals.”

Some time ago it hinted that, because of this, it might actually "phase out the use of imadacloprid in farming and most other outdoor uses over three to five years." But, for some reason which is not immediately clear, it has now postponed that decision.

This has enraged environmental groups like Friends of the Earth. They believe there's already enough evidence of adverse impacts on pollinators to have pulled the plug on neonics long ago. A year ago, they launched a lawsuit, alleging the PMRA was unlawfully abandoning its duties as a regulator and calling it "an arrogant government agency more dedicated to helping pesticide manufacturers to profit than doing its job to protect human health and the environment."

Due to opposition from both the industry and government, the suit is still tied up in legal proceedings.


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RELATED: "New Studies Show Farm Chemicals Are Affecting More Than Bees. Bird Populations are Declining, Too. Is modern agriculture's hold on nature becoming a death grip?"


If you want to save a whale, first save its food

|NATIONAL
                           |OBSERVER - David Suzuki
Orcas breaching - photo credit - Robert Pittman - NOAA
Two of British Columbia’s most iconic species, chinook salmon and southern resident killer whales, are in trouble. The whale depends on the salmon for survival. Is it time to manage chinook fisheries with killer whales in mind? Story here.

Friday, June 30, 2017

New research warns, the world’s most widely-used family of insecticides, can decimate bee populations.

 Chemical companies, who helped fund the study, believe it provides a loophole they can use to support their case for their continued use.
by Larry Powell
Bumblebees forage on chives in a Canadian garden. 
A PinP photo.

It was the first, large-scale field trial of its kind in Europe. It looked at ways that two kinds of “neonics," (clothianidin and thiamethoxam) may affect tame honeybees and two wild bee species in the UK, Hungary and Germany. 

Its findings were published yesterday in the journal, Science.

In the UK and Hungary, honeybee colonies located near crops of “oilseed rape” (also called “Canola”) treated with clothianidin and planted the previous year, had almost one quarter (24%) fewer workers in the spring. (Thiamethoxam didn’t hurt them.)

As Richard Pywell, an ecologist at the UK-based Centre for Ecology & Hydrology,  puts it, “We’re showing significant negative effects at critical life-cycle stages, which is a cause for concern.” (Pywell co-authored a paper resulting from the field trial.)

But, in an unexpected twist, the results also found that the German bees seemed to have come through the trial without negative effects! 


Pywell believes he knows why. Wildflowers growing near the German fields may have kept those colonies healthier and more resistant to the toxic effects of the chemical than those in the other two countries.

A Canadian scientist, Prof. Nigel Raine of the University of Guelph, (R), believes the writing should now be on the wall as to the harm “neonics” can do to pollinators. 

"Whilst results from this large-scale study report varying impacts…the overall picture points towards appreciable negative impacts on these important pollinators across the time course of this study.  It is concerning that bumblebee colonies produce fewer queens, and solitary bees (Osmia bicornis) produce fewer offspring, where higher levels of exposure to neonics were found. These bees represent the basis for the next generation of these species in the following year, and fewer of these important individuals could have significant impacts on population size and persistence."

Prof. Raine is also worried that researchers found residues of the culprit chemical, clothianidin, in crops grown from what was supposed to be “clean” or “control” seed. “This suggests that residues from previous agricultural applications could still be affecting bees in the field even several years after the EU moratorium (of 2013) on these active ingredients came into effect. It provides additional support for restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids based on concerns about impacts on insect pollinator health. Such regulations must balance the benefits of using insecticides to control damaging crop pests appropriately against the unintended costs of harming beneficial insects exposed to these chemicals in agricultural landscapes. Pollinators are responsible for one in three mouthfuls of food we eat, so safeguarding their health is something we should all care deeply about.”

Another scientist shares Prof. Rain’s sentiments. In the words of David Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex, “In the light of this new study, continuing to claim that use of neonicotinoids in farming does not harm bees is no longer a tenable position.”

In any case, few can fault this latest effort for not being thorough or extensive. It cost £2.8 million, lasted for two years and covered 33 sites in the three countries involved.

But it has also provided at least some perceived ammunition for the chemical industry to cling to its position that its products are safe for pollinators. Here’s what Dr Peter Campbell, Senior Environmental Risk Assessor at Syngenta (which manufactures and sells related products) has to say following publication of these new field trials.


This demonstrates that neonics can be used safely or even with benefit to bees under certain circumstances e.g. such as reported in Germany.”

Meanwhile, Health Canada is considering whether to take another member of the "neonic" family, imadacloprid, off the market. It has delayed its decision on the matter.



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RELATED: 

Planet in Peril. Famine in Africa. Sea-Level Rise in Atlantic Canada. (Video)




Health Canada probes claim that government officials helped pesticide company overturn a ban

CANADA'S                                                                                                                                ...