Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Top Water Specialist Ties Into Harper Government For Killing the Experimental Lakes Area (podcast)


CBC Radio - As It Happens
As we've discussed on the program this week, federal funding for the Experimental Lakes Area in northern Ontario will be cut off at the end of March. And scientists will not be allowed to conduct research at the facility this summer, even those with their own funding. David Schindler is the founding director of the world-renowned freshwater research facility. He is best-known for his research on phosphates, and on the environmental impact of the oilsands. Listen to the interview, here.

Backers of the Experimental Lakes Area Question Ottawa's Intentions


Winnipeg Free Press
Skeptics wonder about the sincerity of the federal government to get a new operator for ELA. Details here.

Friday, March 29, 2013

"Mystery" Malady Kills More US Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms

New York Times
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A "mysterious" malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the 'States last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. Details here.

PLT; I see researchers and the media insist on clinging to  the line that Colony Collapse Disorder is a "mystery." ("Quotation marks"are mine.) This is tragic since a main contributing factor is pesticides. Period. While this is acknowledged in the story, it never seems to occur to the brightest mind to simply ban the fucking ones we already know to be the worst offenders!  


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Worst-Case Climate Scenario May Backfire on Activists: Study


Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- Climate activists' strategy of barraging people with information about the consequences of climate change could end up hurting the cause, according to a benchmark study released Thursday. Details here.

Canada's Governing Party Blows a Golden Opportunity to Curb the Brutal Practice of "Shark-Finning" on the High Seas




by Larry Powell

                   Robert Sopuck, MP for Bottom-Trawling & Shark-Finning.                                                                             

It may be deplorable.  But, for the Harper government (and my own MP, Robert Sopuck), not quite deplorable enough.

I'm talking about "shark-finning." Each year, worldwide, an estimated 100 million sharks are caught for their fins, only. The sharks, still alive and bleeding, with their fins cut off, are then dumped back into the ocean, either to die a slow death, or be eaten by other predators. 

Shark fins are considered a delicacy. While shark fishing is legal off Canada's coasts, finning was banned here years ago. Still, tonnes of fins obtained elsewhere in this manner, often from endangered species, are imported, yearly. So an NDP MP introduced a private members' bill to help curb the practice by simply banning imports into this country.

Sopuck (CPC - Dauphin/Swan River/Marquette), spoke at length during the Commons debate on the Bill. First, he made it clear how much he respected his colleague who introduced it, and that finning was not only deplorable, but "abhorrent." But then he announced his Party would not be supporting the Bill.

According to Sopuck, it would set "a very bad precedent, is overly broad and could unfairly target sustainable fisheries around the world." China is already taking action, he claimed. And Canada is "already exploring what can be done." Whatever that means.

Then, (despite winning only 39% of the popular vote in the last election, and despite a recent poll, showing 81 percent of Canadians support a ban) the government used its majority to defeat the Bill.

But this kind of behaviour is hardly new for the Harperites. In '06, shortly after they came to power, they distinguished themselves at the United Nations by helping to scuttle a motion to ban bottom-trawling. That's another brutal practise which basically devastates all sea-life in its path; All this in the face of grave predictions from top marine scientists that, if nothing changes, such life could actually disappear from our oceans in less than half-a-century. 

I guess we're all supposed to assume that the crisis facing dwindling world fish stocks, and the brutal practices that go with it, would be even worse, were it not for "environmentalists" such as Mr. Sopuck, watching out for all of us.

Subsidies Play “Significant Role” in Climate Change, IMF Says

Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON (IPS) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is urging national governments around the world to roll back or eliminate subsidies on petroleum-based energy sources, estimating that this alone could result in a 13-percent decline in global carbon dioxide emissions. Details here.

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

CANADA'S                                                                                                                                ...