Monsanto May Have Just Met Their Match: Beekeepers.

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Help Mexico's Beekeepers Stand up to Monsanto. Story here.

Evaluating Soybean Varieties for Suitability in Organic Production Systems in Manitoba, Canada.

Manitoba Co-Operator

Organic growers in Manitoba have limited options right now. Story here.

A soy crop in Manitoba, genetically-engineered to resist the herbicide, Roundup. 

An estimated 90% of all such crops are manipulated in this fashion, 

resulting in copious use of such chemicals. P in P photo.

'Severe' Drought Covers Nearly 99.8% of California, Report Says

Los Angeles Times

Drought conditions may have leveled off across California, but nearly 100% of the state remains in the third-harshest category for dryness, according to the latest measurements. Story here.

Puddles of water are all that remain in some areas of the San Gabriel River's West Fork in the Angeles National Forest, revealing the effects of the prolonged drought. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 

Meet The First Pacific Island Town To Relocate Thanks To Climate Change

ClimateProgress

A small town on Taro Island — the capital of Choiseul Province in the Solomon Islands — is planning to relocate its entire population in response to climate change, Reuters reports. It’s the first time that a provincial capital in the Pacific Islands will have done so. More here.

Lac-Mégantic, Canada: Transportation Safety Board (TSB) says no Single Factor to Blame for Derailment

CBC News

TSB report made public more than a year after deadly train accident in Quebec. Details here.

Please also read; "Have Our Servants Become Our Masters?"

Caribou Herd in Crisis as Population Dwindles, Says Inuit leader in Labrador, Canada.

By: The Canadian Press

NAIN, N.L. - An Inuit group in Labrador says there's no time to waste in developing a long-term management plan for the George River caribou herd as its population dwindles.

Sarah Leo, president of the Nunatsiavut (noon-AT'-see-ah-voot) government, describes the situation as a crisis.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government said last week that the herd's population has dropped by more than 13,000 over the last two years despite monitoring, research and a five-year moratorium on all hunting.

The herd is now estimated at about 14,200, down from 27,600 in 2012.

The latest estimate comes from a photo census by biologists in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec in July. 

Keystone XL's Climate Impact Worse Than Thought: Study

CommonDreams

'We can't be investing in infrastructure that's going to lock in our fossil fuel reliance.' Details here.

Manitoba Politicians "Missing in Action" on the "Poison Berries" Issue.

by Larry Powell

Back in May, I reported (on P in P, the Roblin Review and Neepawa Press), that wild berries and medicinal plants in central Manitoba had been found by First Nations researchers to not only be declining in abundance, but to be in very sickly condition, as well. While lab tests proved inconclusive, the researchers remain convinced through observation and experience that farm chemicals used on field crops on and near the reserves, are likely contributing factors.

I asked three Manitoba cabinet ministers to comment. (While aboriginal people come under federal jurisdiction, conventional farmers who operate in the vicinity of reserves, do not.) 

Today, more than three months later, not one of these politicians has seen fit to get back to me!

Those I invited to comment were; 

Humans Now Strongest Driver of Glaciers Melting, Study Finds

                                  TheGuardian  

During the last two decades two thirds of glacial mass loss was due to humans, up from a quarter previously. More here.  

  







Traffic is bumper to bumper as people clamor to see the sites in Jasper National Park, CA, including the receding Columbia Icefield (r). PinP photos.

Big Farm Groups Adopt the "Ostrich Approach" to Major Environmental Issues.

by Larry Powell

It has been exactly two weeks since I contacted Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), Manitoba's main farm lobby group, to comment on my story, "New Studies Show Farm Chemicals Are Affecting More Than Bees. Bird Populations are Declining, Too. Is modern agriculture's toxic hold on nature becoming a death grip?" 

(It appeared both on this blog on July 30th and subsequently in the Virden Empire Advance weekly. A number of other publications declined to publish.) 

I reported on new research showing that insecticides, widely used on crops in this province and elsewhere, were associated with declines in populations of birds which eat insects. The chemicals, members of the "neonicotinoid" family, are the same ones which have, for some time, also been linked to large and significant declines in populations of pollinators, especially honeybees. 

Purple Martins. Among the "insectivorious" 

birds on the decline. Larry Powell - PinP photo.

The vast majority of conventional farmers, many who belong to KAP, sow seeds treated with "neonics," described as the most widely-used insecticide in the world.

My e-mail asked whether KAP, which describes itself as "Manitoba's general farm policy organization," feels any sense of responsibility for what seem to be escalating problems with the toxicity of the products in question.

I addressed my request to no less than six officials of the farm organization. 

Not one has responded!

I made the same request of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), which claims to be "a voice for 200,000 farm families at the national level." 

Like KAP, CFA did not respond, either!

What are Canadians to make of this; That the producers they represent do not care about the environment? 

I find this hard to believe. I've known many farmers over the years who claim to take their role as "stewards of the land" very seriously, indeed. 

So, are these organizations not doing justice to their members? 

Until they come clean and begin publicly confronting pressing issues such as this, head-on, I guess we'll all just have to keep wondering...

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Ex-Staffer With the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Guilty of Election Fraud in Robocalls Case

The Canadian Press

GUELPH, Ont. - Former Conservative party staffer Michael Sona has been convicted of trying to prevent voters from casting ballots during the 2011 federal election. Details here.