TPP is About Many Things,But Free Trade? Not So Much

The Globe and Mail

Let’s be clear about the just-released, negotiated-in-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. Despite how it’s being referred to, it is definitely not a “free-trade” agreement. It’s much more than that. Story here.

Maternal Deaths Fell 44% Since 1990 – UN

Report from WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division highlights progress 

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 12 November 2015 – Maternal mortality has fallen by 44% since 1990, United Nations agencies and the World Bank Group reported today.

Maternal deaths around the world dropped from about 532 000 in 1990 to an estimated 303 000 this year, according to the report, the last in a series that has looked at progress under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  This equates to an estimated global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 216 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births, down from 385 in 1990.

Three Trends in US Wildfires

World

Resources

Institute

While fires in Indonesia may be making headlines recently, unprecedented forest fires have also scorched the Western United States this year…Story here.

Smoke From Wildfires Is Killing Hundreds of Thousands of People

National Geographic

And fires like the ones raging in Indonesia can cross mountains and oceans, spreading lung-clogging particles and toxic chemicals. Story here.

Manitoba Lakes Among ‘Most Poorly- Managed' in the World: Watchdog

CBC NEWS

Fish caught in Manitoba's three largest lakes have a "do not buy" rating from the sustainable fisheries organization SeaChoice. STORY HERE.

The Free Trade Agreement Between the EU and Canada Threatens Water Management

bilateral.org

PinP photo

During the secret negotiations of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada known as CETA, the European Commission always maintained that water would be excluded from the treaty, and that the choice on how to manage services related to the production and distribution of drinking water by the public authorities would not be questioned. But a careful reading of the consolidated text of CETA shows that the reality is different. Details here.

How Tanzania plans to light up a million homes with solar power

theguardian

In a country where only 40% of people have access to grid electricity, the government is looking to sunshine to power health centres and homes. Story here.

The Most Brazen Corporate Power Grab in American History

Chris Hedges

If there is no sustained uprising to prevent the passage of the TPP in Congress this spring we will be shackled by corporate power. Wages will decline. Working conditions will deteriorate. Unemployment will rise. Our few remaining rights will be revoked. The assault on the ecosystem will be accelerated. Banks and global speculation will be beyond oversight or control. Food safety standards and regulations will be jettisoned. Story here.

Loved to Death (Video)

by George Monbiot

The UK’s national parks should be redesignated as ecological disaster zones. A lecture to the UK National Parks conference, by George Monbiot, 14th October 2015 This is my ferocious attack on the dire state of the UK’s national parks, and my ideas for how they could be improved. (See Video, below.)

Vast Amazon Wildfire Destroys Forest in Brazil and Threatens Uncontacted Tribe

theguardian 

The blaze, which has burned for two months on indigenous land and spread across 100km at its peak, is suspected to have been started by illegal loggers. Story here.

Ruptured Dams Engulf Brazilian Village in Toxic Mine Waste

CommonDreams

More than a dozen are feared dead, with scores missing, after tailings dams owned by some of the biggest mining companies in the world burst. Story here.