This Fracking Zeal Overshadows the Perfect Energy Solution – Solar

TheGuardian

The (UK) government ignores the drawbacks to shale gas, while its erratic policies around solar frustrate budding entrepreneurs. Details here.

"Tide is Turning" as Two Oregon Counties Vote Overwhelmingly to Ban GMOs

Common Dreams

Ronnie Cummins: "These victories make it clear to agribusiness giants like Monsanto and Dow that the day has come when they can no longer buy and lie their way to victory." Details here.

Coming Clean - Canada to Reduce Unregulated Use of Antibiotics in Farm Animals.

Manitoba Co-Operator. Laura Rance

PLT photo

Canadian health and veterinary authorities have been discussing the virtually unregulated and poorly monitored antibiotic use in farm animals since the late 1990s. Full story here.

California Drought Will Cost Thousands of Farm Jobs, Study Says

Sacramento | Reuters – California’s drought will cause thousands of workers to lose their jobs and cost farmers in the state’s Central Valley breadbasket US$1.7 billion, researchers said in the first economic study of what may be the state’s driest year on record. Details here.

Cattails for Clean Community Waterways

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

A PinP photo.

WINNIPEG: In 2013, the City of Winnipeg and IISD embarked on a project to turn locally harvested cattail (Typha) and native prairie grasses into pellets to burn in a pellet stove located at the Living Prairie Museum, a facility run by the City. This video documents the process of harvesting, processing, pelletizing and burning the plant materials.

Full Episode: Flight of the Bees (Video)

Global TV -  "16x9" 

PLT photo.

In this episode of 16×9: Honeybees in crisis – dying by the tens of millions. But it may be the human factor – our trust in science – that’s killing the species. Watch video here.

PinP Publisher Larry Powell to Take Part in a World Conference on Investigative Journalism in Winnipeg This Summer.

I am pleased to have been chosen to serve on a panel during the "Holding Power to Account" conference, at the University of Winnipeg, on June 13th, 14th and 15th. The event will explore the importance of the news medias' role in exposing corporate and political wrongdoing. There will be scores of speakers from no less than 5 continents. Among the featured speakers will be Peter Mansbridge, host of CBC TV's The National, Diana Swayne, the CBC's senior investigative correspondent and Carl Bernstein, part of the Washington Post team which exposed the Watergate scandal several years ago. 

My panel will provide "a showcase of co-operative and public radio pioneers and their work in holding the powerful to account." It is scheduled for 2.15 on the afternoon of Sat. June 14th. Please consider attending!

Unprecedented Glacier Melt in British Columbia, Canada Seeps Into Climate Change Concerns

CBC News

Some B.C. glaciers losing 22 billion cubic metres of water. Full story here.

Further east, the massive 

Columbia Icefield in Alberta, 

(r.) is receding, too. PLT photo.

Alberta Health Warns of High Levels of Mercury -a Potent Neurotoxin - in Northern Alberta Birds' Eggs

CBC News

Alberta Health has issued a health warning about eggs from two northern lakes downstream from the oilsands after they were found to contain dangerous levels of mercury. Details here.

Related: Manitoba's Declining Wild Berries and Medicinal Plants Found To Be In Sickly Condition; Farm chemicals remain the prime suspect. First Nations Researchers. 

Quebec Farmers Oppose Release of Genetically-Modified Alfalfa

Montreal Gazette

Sale of controversial seed delayed after protests across Canada. Details here.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Reports Honeybee Death Rate There "Too High for Long-Term Survival!"

EcoWatch: Over the past winter—a season when honeybee hives are most vulnerable—the U.S. lost 23.2 percent of its hive honeybee population. That is lower than the previous winter’s 30.5 percent death rate, but the cumulative impact on honeybee populations over the past eight years poses a major threat to their long-term survival, as well as the country’s agricultural productivity, the USDA said. Details here.

PLT photo.