PLANET IN PERIL

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Another Flood of the Century?

Winnipeg Free Press - By: Bruce Owen - 2/12/2010

Heavy rainfall, snow lead premier to sound the alarm.

Flooding in the Red River Valley - 1997

Courtesy of the Gov't. of Manitoba

Cycle City, USA. How Portland Plans to Become the First World-Class bike City in America.

by Jay Walljasper - yes! Nov 29, 2010

It’s become a cliché that Portland is America’s most livable...

EDITOR'S NOTE: As cities like Toronto and Winnipeg elect (& re-elect) loonies as their mayors, it's refreshing to note that there remain pockets of sanity somewhere on this continent!

I am reminded of a quote from H.G. Wells, who once said, "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." l.p.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

US Federal Court Orders First-Ever Destruction of a GMO Crop

San Francisco, CA – November 30, 2010 – Centre for Food Safety.

Genetically Engineered Sugar Beet Seed Crop Must be Removed!
Finds Government and Monsanto rushed to illegally plant herbicide resistant crop.

Cdn. Biotechnology Action Network
Press Statement, December 1, 2010: Yesterday a US federal district judge ordered Monsanto's genetically engineered sugarbeet seedlings be uprooted. This is the first court-ordered destruction of a GE crop in the US. The decision (November 30, 2010) follows a challenge from farmer and environmental groups based on the risks of contamination. The judge noted that non-GE crops were at risk and that the US Department of Agriculture, by allowing September plantings, tried to circumvent his prior ruling that the sugarbeets were illegal, pending an environmental assessment.

Below is a letter from CBAN to Canadian sugar company Lantic, and a press release from US group Center for Food Safety which represented groups in the legal challenge.

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LETTER FROM CBAN TO LANTIC:

Edward Makin
President and CEO, Lantic Inc.
4026, Notre-Dame Street East
Montréal, Québec, H1W 2K3
Fax: (514) 527 1318

RE: Request for Lantic to phase out GE sugar following US court-ordered destruction of Monsanto's genetically engineered sugarbeets

December 1, 2010

Dear Mr. Makin,

We are writing to bring your attention to the new court-ordered destruction of genetically engineered (GE) sugarbeet seedlings in the United States (November 30, 2010) and to ask that Lantic plant only non-GE sugarbeet seeds in 2011, reversing your 2009 decision to process GE sugar in Canada.

Lantic Inc. is currently the only Canadian sugar company that processes GE sugarbeet. This is an unacceptable situation for Canadian consumers.

In correspondence in 2009, CBAN warned Lantic that the the GE sugarbeets were highly controversial, were accompanied by many serious concerns, and would meet with widespread consumer opposition. We requested a meeting to discuss these issues and repeatedly provided information about the risks of GE sugarbeets to Lantic and to the Alberta farmers who grow sugarbeet for Lantic. Though this correspondence was met with silence from Lantic, we hope you will now pay sufficient attention to this critical issue in order to phase out your use of Monsanto's genetically engineered sugarbeet.

We request that you take urgent action to ensure that sugar in Canada is reverted to its previous non-GE status. We trust that Lantic will want to avoid being isolated globally as the only producer of GE sugar. For your information, please find below a US press release describing the court decision in brief.

Sincerely, Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network

Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)
431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5
Phone: 613 241 2267 ext.6
Fax: 613 241 2506
coordinator@cban.ca
www.cban.ca

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Study at Manitoba's Netley-Libau Marsh Pilot Project to Find Ways of Keeping Pollutants Out of Lake Winnipeg

Manitoba News Release - November 30, 2010

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Action Also Aimed at Reducing Greenhouse-gas Emissions: Selinger

A unique pilot project at Netley-Libau Marsh, supported by $150,000 in provincial funding, will explore ways of preventing pollutants from getting into Lake Winnipeg while at the same time reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, Lk. Wpg. Greenpeace Photo Premier Greg Selinger announced today.

"In partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the University of Manitoba, we are announcing funding to support the further development of a green,

bio-energy project which builds on actions we have already taken," said Selinger. "This is a made-in-Manitoba solution to help Lake Winnipeg by keeping pollutants out, while at the same time providing a green solution to offset coal use."

The project will see the harvest of about 200 hectares of marsh grasses. Research has shown that pollutants, such as phosphorus, are stored in the marsh grass and, as part of the project, the
grass will be turned into a clean, bio-energy product. This product can be used to burn green biomass and reduce the burning of coal. At the same time, the pollutants would not get into the water of the marsh or Lake Winnipeg.

"The results from this pilot project could become a critical part of efforts to reduce nutrients flowing into Lake Winnipeg," said Henry David Venema, International Institute for Sustainable Development's director of Sustainable Natural Resources Management and the Water Innovation Centre. "This Netley-Libau project is a practical example of the bio-economy concept and we are excited about the partnership and the opportunities it presents."

Once fully developed the project could:

· produce approximately 3,000 tonnes of biomass;

· offset approximately 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and

· capture and recover approximately eight tonnes of phosphorus and remove 30 to 40 tonnes of nitrogen, the equivalent produced from the waste water of a town of 20,000 people.

"Netley-Libau is the largest coastal marsh on the continent and restoring and managing vegetation in the marsh is critical to the health of the marsh and Lake Winnipeg," said Dr. Gordon
Goldsborough, professor of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba.

Through the Sustainable Development Innovations Fund, the Manitoba government has provided approximately $100,000 to IISD over the past five years to support initial research of the Netley-Libau biomass harvest project.

Other support from or action by the Manitoba government to help reduce nutrients getting into Lake Winnipeg includes:

· passing the most comprehensive legislation in the country to protect surface and groundwater from the impacts of phosphorous;

· investing millions of dollars for waste-water treatment infrastructure upgrades to remove nutrients;

· introducing the first-in-Canada ban on phosphates in dish detergent;

· instituting a moratorium on hog expansion in areas near Lake Winnipeg;

· introducing the first-in-Canada ban on lawn fertilizers containing phosphorous;

· introducing new buffer zones protecting water from spreading nutrients like phosphorous and an outright ban in sensitive areas;

· instituting a major initiative to protect wetlands and riparian areas by providing incentives to farmers to protect these sensitive lands;

· starting a wetland restoration initiative to restore Manitoba's two largest marsh wetlands, Netley and Delta;

· banning new sewage ejectors provincewide and banning septic fields in provincial parks and sensitive areas within a new enforcement initiative; and

· funding for research, planning and work with inter-jurisdictional partners to help keep phosphorous out of Manitoba's watershed and help Lake Winnipeg.

Information on other research and studies to help restore the health of Lake Winnipeg is available at
www.manitoba.ca/waterstewarship www.manitoba.ca/waterstewarship.

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