UN-Backed World Migratory Bird Day Puts Spotlight on Land Sustainability

United Nations News Centre - 14 May 2011 

United Nations-backed events celebrating the annual migration of an estimated 50 billion birds are taking place this… Details here.

 

The ZENN Car! Ask the Premier, Why Not in Manitoba?

United Nations Chief Urges Change in Resource Consumption Patterns for Sustainable Development

13 May 2011 – UN News Centre
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed the need for fundamental changes in humanity’s resource consumption patterns and values. Details here.

Renewable Energy Can Power the World, says Landmark IPCC Study

guardian.co.uk 9 May 2011
UN's climate change science body says renewables supply, particularly solar power, can meet global demand. Details here.

The Audacity of Genetically Modified Foods

By Bruce Robinson Daily Camera - 05/08/2011
The biotech industry, led by Monsanto, promotes the idea that the arguments about genetically modified crops should focus on the science and the economics as Monsanto sees them. Read more:

The Cost of Doing Nothing (about Climate Change)!

This is the CBC (aerial) video of the dike being deliberately breached at the Hoop & Holler Bend in the Assiniboine River, near Portage La Prairie.

A Grandpa's Plea for Future Generations

David Suzuki - Science Matters - May 13'11

We shouldn't expect the kids to clean up our mess.

Harper Ignores Climate Change to his Discredit

NOTE; My letter below, now appears in the Winnipeg Free Press online at: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/121825344.html as "Ditches not enough."
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Dear Editor,

It was quite a spectacle.

There was Prime Minister Harper, who once called climate change "a Communist plot," blissfully inspecting the devastation it has created in Manitoba before his very eyes.

But rather than launching a frontal attack on its root causes, he predictably promised to help Manitoba dig deeper ditches and build higher dikes.
 
Scientists who know the most about the topic have warned for years that climate change is playing a role in the terrible storms around the world which are getting worse and more frequent. And that, in all likelihood, includes the worst flooding this province has seen in centuries.

So, if we hope to protect our earthly home in more meaningful, lasting ways, we need to cut back on the fossil fuels we burn in our cars and passenger planes. We need meaningful emission control regulations and clean energy sources now.

If this is not done, we will surely be placing future generations at even higher risk.

But I'm not naive.

I know that scandalous neglect by governments, industry and individuals has gone on for so long, we now have no choice but to take the kind of heroic and desperate measures to flood-proof our province which we are now taking.

I also know that action by Canada alone, won't go very far. This is a global problem. It needs global co-operation.

But leadership and backbone by Harper and his newly-minted government would go a long way.

Too bad they have neither.

Maybe in four years.

Larry Powell
Roblin, Manitoba, CA
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Please also read: High Waters: A Climate Connection to the Mississippi River Floods?

The Canadian Wheat Board's Going... Now What?

By: Laura Rance - Wpg. Free Press - Posted: 05/7/2011 
Monopoly did much more for farmers than just sell their grain for them. Details here.

Climate Change May Not Only Be Causing More Mega-Fires, Those Very Fires May, in Turn, be Worsening Climate Change!

May 10-'11 Food & Agriculture Organization

scrape TV 

FAO calls for wildfire emissions monitoring and comprehensive fire management strategies. 

Details here.

Divisive Dams Approved in Patagonia, Chile

International Rivers - 9/5/11
Coyhaique, Chile - A five-dam hydroelectric scheme that locals fear will destroy the character of one of Chile's most important wild regions was approved today.  Details here.