The 20 Worst Wall Street Banks Funding Our Filthiest Polluters

Dec 13, 2011 Alternet

A new study identifies the top 20 "climate killer" banks by the amount of financial support they give the coal industry. Details here.

PLT: Please also read, "How Ethical are Canada's Ethical Funds?"

Greenpeace's Year in Pictures (Video)

Durban: Where the Climate Deniers-in-Chief Ran the Show

Mark Hertsgaard -The Nation - 12/21/11
A different and more dangerous breed of climate denier commanded the stage at the recently concluded international negotiations in Durban, South Africa. Details here.

Courtesy of Alternet

Study Documents Nigerian Children Died From Families’ Gold Mining

Environmental Health News

Large numbers of infants and toddlers have died from lead poisoning in Nigerian villages where their parents process gold ore inside their family compounds, according to a report…Details here.

A Dirty Salvage Operation

 BULLIT MARQUEZ / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Residents retrieve a car which was washed away in Friday's flash flooding in southern Philippines Monday. With funeral parlors overwhelmed, authorities organized the first mass burial of unidentified victims who were swept to their deaths in one of the worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

Does Politics Trump Science in the Obama White House?

Politico - Dec 15 '11

President Barack Obama turned it into a campaign-trail talking point: He would end the Bush administration’s “war on science.” Read more:

Smog over New York.

Lax Federal Monitoring Putting Canadians at Risk: Environment Commissioner

By Jason Fekete, Postmedia News December 13, 2011
OTTAWA — The public safety of Canadians is increasingly at risk because the federal government is failing to monitor and enforce its regulations on dangerous goods and decades-old oil and gas pipelines, Canada's environment watchdog warns in a new report. Details here.

White Christmas? Dream on: Environment Canada says Snow Less Likely Over Time

By: Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press - 12/12/2011

TORONTO - Dreaming of a white Christmas may be a holiday tradition, but Canadians are more likely than ever to wake up instead to the dreary brown reality wrought by climate change, Environment Canada said Monday. Details here.

The shrinking Columbia Icefield, an important source of meltwater for Canada's prairie rivers. PinP photo.

A Stunning and Disturbing Tableau of Mother Earth - a Must-See Video!

Canada's "Law and Order" Prime Minister (Letter to the Editor)

If you like my blog, please consider a donation. Thanks! Larry

Dear Editor,

If Stephen Harper is so keen on becoming a "law and order" Prime Minister, why does he seem to have so little regard for the law, himself? Since coming to power about six years ago, his government has been riddled with a litany of dirty tricks, domestic and international crimes.

The most recent is his scandalous decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Accord, a legally binding, international agreement to limit human emissions of greenhouse gases, which are causing catastrophic climate change. (Have you noticed Manitoba's tragic and terrible flooding lately?)

Even China put Canada to shame at the recent climate talks in Durban, showing a willingness to "step up" and show some environmental leadership while Harper showed none. His "operative" at the talks, Peter Kent (who I now refer to as our "Minister of Environmental Destruction"), once again proved, neither of them really works for you, me, our children or our planet, for that matter. Make no mistake, they are, quite simply, the handmaidens of the likes of Syncrude, Suncor, and other big, rich, powerful players in the Alberta tar sands, earth's largest energy project and quite likely its dirtiest. 

His administration has been muzzling climate scientists since day one, threatening them with dismissal if they speak out about the gravity of the situation.

Then there was the court ruling which declared that the Harper government had broken the law in the way it is clumsily proceeding with the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board. It was just the most recent in a string of court decisions that ruled against the government on this matter. Rather than pausing to consider compromise or co-operation in the face of all of this, the Prime Minister is ruthlessly pressing ahead with a court appeal and a clamp down on democratic debate with heavy-handed measures like closure.

On top of this, there were the concerted efforts by Conservatives to subvert the Committee system in the Commons, as well as serious election fraud. (Remember the crafty "in and out" scheme to fund elections?) While some of the "dirty tricks" may not strictly speaking, be "crimes," it is the leader of a party and a government who sets the tone and creates the "culture" for what happens down the line.

It is against this backdrop that Harper is committing billions of our tax dollars to new prisons, fighter planes and warships, as if he has the moral authority to act as policeman to the world, let alone enforce tougher laws on we ordinary Canadians.

And we wonder why there's an "Occupy Movement!"

Perhaps some space needs to be reserved in Harper's shiny new "slammers" for himself and his accomplices, er, I mean, cabinet ministers, for all the crimes they are committing against us!

Larry Powell
Roblin, MB

Ancient Climate Record Points Toward Potential Rapid Climate Changes

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2011) — New research into Earth's paleoclimate history by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James E. Hansen (l.) suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple meters of sea level rise, if global warming is not abated. Details here.

PLT: Dr. Hansen is one of those rare birds - a scientist/activist! Here, he is shown being arrested at demonstrations at the White House, protesting against the Keystone XL pipeline. We need more like him!