Manitoba Search Crews Enter Flood Zone

CBC News - Jun 16, 2011 Teams will stabilize properties so that owners can safely retrieve items. Details here. 

Toronto Star photo 

PLT: According to the provincial government's latest flood bulletin, 2,527 Manitobans have now been forced from their homes by the massive flooding. This has surely become an event "of biblical proportions." Except, in this case, does God really have that much to do with it?

Food Prices Not Likely to Decline for Some Time, says UN Report

17/06/11 – The international community will be facing higher food prices and volatility in commodity markets for some time, according to…Details here.

l.p. photo

Manitoba Permanently Designates Largest Area Of Protected Land In More Than a Decade

June 16, 2011 Gov't. of Manitoba

Asatiwisipe Aki Management Plan Approved: Blaikie. Details here.
Part of the Boreal forest in west-central MB. l.p. photo

Climate Change is the Symptom, Not the Cause

By: Rod Kueneman - 06/11/2011 - Winnipeg Free Press
 The soil is warming and the arrival of this year's growing season once again provides…Details here.  

A crowded beach in China. Courtesy; Secondose

PLT - While I might have worded the headline differently that the Free Press did, I believe this is an excellent article. If Prof. Kueneman is not suggesting that climate change is unimportant - and I don't believe he is, his references to world population and consumption are compelling. l.p. 

Water Woes Pose Dire Prospects for Prairie Crops

Canadian Wheat Board 06/14/11

Winnipeg - Unrelenting rain across large areas of Western Canada will severely impact grain production….Details here.

Soggy field. l.p. photo

Why Supermarket Tomatoes Suck

By Barry Estabrook - 6/13/11 ONEARTH  
a survival guide for the planet
Excerpted from the new book "Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit" Details here.

Organic cherry tomatoes. l.p. photo

Innu, Nalcor Disagree on Impact of Labrador Hydro Dams

CBC News - Mar 21, 2011
Innu say caribou will be harmed. Details here.

Photo courtesy of 
"Our Labrador"

Canadian Inspectors Can’t Stop Dangerous Food Imports

Bob Kingston, Ottawa Citizen 06/14/11
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency might be trying hard to protect Canadian consumers from unsafe imported food. But, the simple fact is….Details here.

On Environment Week, Government of Canada Missing in Action - Green Party of Canada

8 June 2011 - GPC
OTTAWA - Today is World Oceans Day, Canadian National Clean Air Day, and both World Environment Week and Canadian Environment Week. Today the Green Party of Canada is noting the sad irony that the first federal budget to be tabled during Environment Week is also the weakest environmental budget in recent history. Details here.

A Link Between Climate Change and Joplin Tornadoes? Never.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhCY-3XnqS0

Stephen Tomson   Published on Sunday, June 12, 2011 by Plomomedia (via Grist.org)

Bill McKibben published a must-read op-ed in The Washington Post last month about the connection between climate change and recent extreme weather events. Now Stephen Thomson has combined McKibben's words with striking footage of the events he writes about. The result is a chilling must-see video:

Manitoba Studies Strategy to Help Flooded Farmland, Address Climate Change

Chinta Puxley, The Canadian Press - 06/12/2011
WINNIPEG - After four soggy years of flooded pastures and ruined crops, the Manitoba government is looking at how to help frustrated farmers cope with climate change in the province's Interlake region. Details here.
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PLT: It tears my heart out to learn about the damage and human suffering being inflicted on my fellow Manitobans by the bad weather and flooding. So, as one who supports the science of climate change, I'm encouraged that the topic is slowly creeping into the public discourse. But, our policy-makers will simply have to screw up the courage to put it in context, (which the above story sure as Hell does not do)! At some point they are going to have to say, out loud, that climate change IS CAUSED BY HUMANS. What we need, therefore, are meaningful changes in our personal lifestyles and those of business, industry and government; changes which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If this is not done, it is all pointless.

I am NOT saying we should harden our hearts and stop supporting affected producers and homeowners from the public purse. I am saying leadership is needed at all levels if we are to turn this insidious phenomenon around in the long-term.  Sadly, world leadership from the Harper government just isn't in the cards - just more "fossil-of-the-day" awards for Stephen to proudly display in his den!

I know first-hand, from writing in this space alone, that you simply can't say such things without being prepared to face hostile, irrational, angry and ignorant opposition from deniers, cranks and vested interests. These folks are not interested in evidence - only in impressing the world with their cynicism and close-mindedness. To them, this is supposed to trump the best brains on the planet who actually spend their working lives studying the problem - not "jawing" about it in the coffee shops.  l.p.