Have Investment Treaties Put a Scare Into Government Regulators, Who Are Supposed to Protect Our Health and Environment?

bilaterals.org

Many such treaties give foreign investors a free hand to sue sovereign governments for pretty much any amount they choose, if those regulations interfere with a company’s business plan. Read about Ontario’s experience here. 

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

When Planting Trees Hurts the Environment

THE

NATION

In Paris this week, policy-makers are considering an ambitious new plan to cover 50 million acres of South American land with trees. That might not be a good idea. More here.

Floods (Story & Video)

Hi Larry,

As you read this email, vast swathes of the UK are underwater. Buckling from the strain of torrential rains, rivers have overflowed and flood defences have been breached. Hundreds of families have been forced to evacuate their homes [1].



David Cameron has pledged to help people suffering in the wake of the destruction. That’s a start. But in the aftermath of such ferocious storms, we need to make sure he joins the dots to climate change.

Canada Shocks COP21 With Big New Climate Commitment

NATIONAL OBSERVER

Canada has surprised a world of nations and negotiators in closed-door climate talks in Paris by endorsing a bolder, more ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gases than the UN climate change summit is officially aiming for. More here.

'Huge Error': Former US Military Chief Admits Iraq Invasion Spawned ISIS

CommonDreams

The U.S. is poised to repeat all the same mistakes in Syria that it made in Iraq after 9/11, says former head of Defense Intelligence Agency. Story here.

The Contrails Conspiracy Is Not Only Garbage, It's Letting Aviation Off The Hook Too

George Monbiot - The Guardian

The real issue – global warming caused by aircraft emissions – calls on us to act. But focusing on ‘chemtrails’ absolves people of the responsibility to do so. More here.

Palm Oil

Dear Larry, The fires in Indonesia have been called “a crime against humanity” – and our investigators are on the ground now gathering evidence to expose the companies responsible and hold them to account. Can you take your support to the next step and help us by donating £5 per month?

Dow moving ahead with Enlist corn in Canada despite US setback

AgroNews

Dow AgroSciences is moving ahead with plans for Enlist corn in Canada, despite a significant regulatory setback in the United States. More here.

A dirty deal: How the Trans-Pacific Partnership threatens our climate

bilaterals.org

 The deal fails to even mention the words “climate change”—a clear sign it is not “a 21st-century trade agreement,” as some have claimed. More here.

’Twas the Night Before Christmas…Larry takes crass liberties with the classic old poem & science itself to serve his own narrow, selfish ends!

by Larry Powell

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land 

global warming was here. 

It was grand! It was grand! 

Cars would start! 

Ice would melt! 

Folks wore their light clothes!

While up through their chimneys mere wisps of smoke rose!

On the air one could hear mindless broadcasters say,

"It's seven degrees. Hope this thaw lasts 'til May!" 

But up at the pole it was not Santa's day.

Two of his reindeer had just passed away. Dasher and Dancer 

had sadly drowned while playing with mates confined to the 

ground. 

There was a river they could normally cross

but its ice had grown thin in the tenuous frost. 

So the two were not helped by the fact they could fly 

and the deep, clear water is where they did die. 

The Great Bears of the north met similar ends just as learned scholars did portend. 

Christmas day dawned - but alas, 'twas not white!

Lawns were brown - fields were black. It just didn't seem right! 

The skis and toboggans the kids had received 

were soon tossed aside just like old Christmas trees. 

"The moon on the crest of the new-fallen snow 

gave the lustre of midday to objects below." 

But scant decades from now when these words are intoned....

will their image be real..........................or merely a poem?  

    

Ecojustice files complaint with Competition Bureau against climate denial groups

NATIONAL OBSERVER

Ecojustice, on behalf of a group of prominent Canadians, has filed a complaint with the federal Competition Bureau, asking it to investigate false and misleading representations made by climate change denier groups. More here.