#SaveTheBees Campaign Update...

The Sierra Club Canada Foundation will be undertaking a cross-country speaking tour as part of our #SaveTheBees campaign.How can you help? Find out here.

Australia Is Burning, and Climate Change Is Making It Worse

Inside Climate News

It’s summertime in Australia, which means the fires are raging. Every year, the continent’s sweltering temperatures and dry conditions create a toxic combination for bush fires that can threaten homes and lead to injuries and deaths. This season’s wildfires are particularly damaging, destroying the largest amount of territory in more than three decades. The Insurance Council of Australia yesterday declared a catastrophe for regions near Adelaide in South Australia. Story here.

Related: Emissions for Power Sector Jump as Carbon Tax Ends in Australia

All Forms of Life Are Sacred

OpEdNews - Chris Hedges

Fowl on an organic farm in Canada. (Someone once said, 

"Livestock raised on organic farms each has one bad day in its life. 

For those raised in animal factories - every day is a living hell!") Larry Powell PinP photo.

The battle for the rights of animals is not only about animals. It is about us. Once we desanctify animals we desanctify all life. And once life is desanctified the industrial machines of death, and the drone-like bureaucrats, sadists and profiteers who operate them, carry out human carnage as easily as animal carnage. There is a direct link between our industrial slaughterhouses for animals and our industrial weapons used on the battlefields in the Middle East. Details here.

Climate Change Plan Should be Priority for Political Parties in 2015 Election

the Hill Times

All federal political parties face a spotlight glare on climate, says columnist David Crane. Which will be willing to offer real and clear choices on our energy-environment future, with credible policies to back their plans up? Story here.

2014 Was The Hottest Year On Record Globally By Far

Climate Progress

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has announced that 2014 was the hottest year in more than 120 years of record-keeping — by far. NOAA (the US weather service) is expected to make a similar call in a couple of weeks and so is NASA. Story here.

The Fight to Save Canada's Legendary Peel Watershed Continues

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER MATHER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

The Yukon Government has announced that it will appeal a decision in the lawsuit concerning the Peel Watershed launched by a Yukon First Nation, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Yukon Conservation Society. Story here.

Leonardo DiCaprio (UN Messenger of Peace) at the Opening of Climate Summit 2014

Will Climate Change Kill Outdoor Hockey In Canada?

University of Washington Conservation

Youngsters skate on an outdoor rink in Manitoba. 

Larry Powell PinP photo.

Take anything from Canadians, anything at all—anything except hockey. Story here.

The Wreck of the Kulluk

The New York Times

In 2005, Royal Dutch Shell, then the fourth-largest company on Earth, bought a drill rig that was both tall, rising almost 250 feet above the waterline, and unusually round. Story here.

PinP: This is not an easy read, but well worth the time and effort. An epic and disturbing tale of folly at sea.

A Cinematic Insight Into the Kind of Country Canada Embraces as a "Free Trade Amigo"

RELATED:  "Free Trade: Path to Prosperity - or Back Road to Corporatism?"

Federal Tax Relief Program for Some Cattle Producers in Western Canada - Another Price to Pay For Climate Change Inaction?

By: The Canadian Press

PinP photo.

EDMONTON - The federal government is giving some livestock producers in Western Canada a bit of tax relief. Producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and B.C. who faced forage shortfalls due to extreme weather will be allowed to defer tax on their cattle sales for 2014.  Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says eligible producers in designated areas can defer income tax on the sale of their breeding livestock for one year in order to help replenish that stock.