You Did It... The ELA lives!

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Friends, I have big news to share with you on the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA). The e-mails and letters you sent calling for the ELA to be saved, the petitions you signed, the pressure you helped to mount on social media – it has all paid off. Today the Ontario government announced that it will step in to help keep the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area operating. Public pressure from concerned citizens like you made this happen. Your support enabled the Council of Canadians to join other groups in sustaining a broad and effective campaign over the last several months. Our efforts culminated last month with our urgent '48 Hours to Save the ELA' action alert, in which nearly 4,000 Council members sent messages to Ontario Premier Wynne and Manitoba Premier Selinger calling on them to intervene – and today, they did! You and I must build on the momentum of this victory for the next fight to protect water. We must challenge the Harper Conservative government's gutting of environmental regulations, the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act. We must stop the corporate control and ownership of water. And we must work as communities and individuals to change the way we view and treat our shared water. Thank you for your valuable contribution in helping to save the ELA. You've proven once again that our collective action can, and does, effect real change. You can keep up the momentum by making a $10 donation to our water campaign right now. Onwards! Maude Barlow National Chairperson, The Council of Canadians

Black Market in Moose Thrives in Manitoba

Winnipeg Free Press

The animal has been wiped out in parts of Manitoba, so why is it easy to get moose meat? Details here.

Graham Powell Photography

Huge Response - Break the Grip of Monsanto

Wow -- 35,000 pledges already! Let's reach 45,000 and stop the take over of our food and our politics. Click here to pledge now.


Dear Avaazers,

One mega-company is gradually taking over our food supply -- putting the planet’s food future in serious danger. But we can turn the tide on Monsanto and other companies that push through policies that prioritise their profits over the public good. Pledge $4 now to help stop this dangerous domination of our politics and our food:

One mega-company is gradually taking over our global food supply, poisoning our politics and putting the planet’s food future in serious danger. To stop it we need to expose and break up Monsanto’s worldwide grip.

Monsanto, the chemical giant that gave us poisons like Agent Orange and DDT, has a super-profitable racket. Step 1: Develop pesticides and genetically modified (GM) seeds designed to resist them, patent the seeds, prohibit farmers from replanting their seeds year to year, then send undercover agents out to investigate and sue farmers who don’t comply. Step 2: Spend millions lobbying government officials and contributing to political campaigns, get former Monsanto bigwigs into top government jobs, and then work with them to weaken regulations and push Monsanto goods into markets across the world.

As long as US law allows corporations to spend unlimited sums to influence policy, they can often buy the laws they want. Last year, Monsanto and biotech giants spent a whopping $45m to kill a ballot initiative that would have labelled GMO products just in California, despite 82 percent of Americans wanting to know if they are buying GM. And just this month, the company helped ram through the "Monsanto Protection Act,” that blocks courts from stopping the sale of a product even if they’ve been wrongly approved by the government.

Monsanto’s power in the US gives them a launch pad to dominate across the world. But brave farmers and activists from the EU, to Brazil, to India and Canada are resisting and starting to win.

We’re at a global tipping point. If enough of us pledge just $4 now, we can join forces to break Monsanto’s grip on our politics and our food and help stop the corporate capture of our governments. Avaaz will only process the pledges if we get enough to make a real difference:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_monsanto_rend3/?bZGyjab&v=24379

Prairies Get Ready For Runoff

Manitoba Co-Operator

Flood risks rise again in Manitoba, high runoffs expected in Sask. Details here.

A swollen Assiniboine, St. Lazare MB, 

Spring, 2011. PLT photo. 

Fish Die in Lake of the Prairies in Western Manitoba

(Video by Kirk Lyttle)

What caused the fish-kill (or the extent of it) are still unknown. Was it the dramatically-lower lake levels caused when the authorities deliberately "drew them down," in anticipation of serious flooding this spring? Was it lack of oxygen? Or both?Lake of the Prairies formed decades ago with the construction of the Shellmouth dam on the Assiniboine River, near Russell, MB. This year, authorities have drawn its water levels down dramatically, in anticipation of serious flooding this spring. See "then" and "now" shots below, both taken at the bridge which crosses the lake, east of Yorkton, SK.

Above, during the record flood on the Assiniboine in 2011. Note the high water levels below the bridge. Below, note the low levels and exposed abutments, in full "pre-flood" mode this past weekend. 

(PLT photos)

VIDEO: Left On The Ice To Rot

Winnipeg Free Press

Frank Kenyon wants to sell fish. Not let them die. Details here.

BPA in Most Canadians’ Urine, Effects Unknown

Canadian Press

TORONTO – A Health Canada study suggests most Canadians have the chemical bisphenol A in their urine and all have traces of lead in their blood. Details here.

The Tyranny Of The Tar Sands

thestar.com - Clayton Ruby

In exploiting every last drop of tar sands crude, the government is impoverishing our country, its democratic freedoms and its future prosperity. Full story here.

The Curse of Fertilizer

National Geographic

Ducks in a nutrient-rich river. PLT photo

If we don’t watch out, agriculture could destroy our planet. Here’s how to grow all the food we need with fewer chemicals. Details here.

Related articles:

• Field of Nightmares - Ottawa continues to embrace the widespread use of Roundup on Canadian farms by letting corporate seduction trump scientific evidence.
• Ditches of Destruction - Manitoba’s “war on weeds” comes complete with powerful herbicides, questionable spraying practices and collateral damage.

Summer Ice Melt In Antarctica Is At The Highest Point In 1,000 Years, Researchers Say

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The summer ice melt in parts of Antarctica is at its highest level in 1,000 years, Australian and British researchers reported on Monday, adding new evidence of the impact of global warming on sensitive Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves.

Researchers from the Australian National University and the British Antarctic Survey found data taken from an ice core also shows the summer ice melt has been 10 times more intense over the past 50 years compared with 600 years ago.

"It's definitely evidence that the climate and the environment is changing in this part of Antarctica," lead researcher Nerilie Abram said.

Why Would Anyone Celebrate the Death of Margaret Thatcher? Ask a Chilean

The Nation

Never have I witnessed a gap between the mainstream media and the public quite like the last twenty-four hours since the death of Margaret Thatcher. Details here.