'There Was Just no Snow': Climate Change Puts Iditarod Future in Doubt

theguardian

After record high winter temperatures reduced parts of the course to a bone-jarring, sled-wrecking obstacle course, is the great mushing race on its way out? More here.

Year of the Animal. (Viideo)

Year of the Animal from National Observer on Vimeo.

Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry

The Nation By Bill McKibben

Fracking rig. By Battenbrook Wickimeda Commons.

Our leaders thought fracking would save our climate. They were wrong. Very wrong. More here.

Christy Clark Taps Ex-Fraser Institute Director to Create BC's Climate Change Plan

PressProgress

Premier Clark

First the good news:

After spending months ignoring the recommendations put forward by British Columbia's Climate Leadership team, Premier Christy Clark has finally found someone to take charge of this very important file.  

Bad news? His experience includes serving as a director at the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank whose experts question the science of climate change. Story here.

Is Modern Agriculture Threatening Traditional First Nations Food and Medicine? (Story & Video)

by Larry Powell  

(A PinP exclusive.)

First Nations researchers in Manitoba sound a warning note.

Deformed berries in the study area. 

Standing Medicine People Project photo.

                                                                                  

They call it “The Standing Medicine People Project.”  

Researchers from three reserves in south-central Manitoba, Long Plain, Swan Lake and Rolling River, have teamed up with the charity, “Food Matters Manitoba,” (FMM) to conduct the project. 

They collected samples of six wild plants which grow there – pin cherry, saskatoon, nannyberry, raspberry, grape and the medicinal herb, wiike (or sweet flag). Indigenous gatherers throughout North America have harvested them traditionally as both food and medicine, for centuries. The team submitted the samples to “ALS Laboratory Group,” a certified lab in Winnipeg. There, they were analyzed for 103 different pesticides and heavy metals. 

The lab detected several in either the roots, the soil, or both. However, most of the readings were well below levels of concern. In other words, the risk of getting sick from environmental contamination is low. And, if certain precautions are taken, the berries and herbs are still considered safe to eat.

Still, concerns linger. 

Green Party Would Stop The Energy East Pipeline and Help Manitoba Families Save on Their Energy Bills.

Winnipeg, March 23, 2016 – Green Party of Manitoba Energy advocate for Conservation and Water Stewardship, David Nickarz, says that a Green government would reject all projects associated with construction of the proposed Energy East pipeline.

The Green Party of Manitoba (GPM) thinks that Manitoba Hydro would help Manitobans more by investing in energy retrofitting and development of solar production, rather than quietly preparing to sell hydroelectric power to the Energy East pipeline,” Nickarz said.

Bait-and-Switch - The Trans-Pacific Partnership’s Promised Environmental Protections Do Not Deliver

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

This study investigates the TPP’s environment chapter and finds, despite official assurances to the contrary, the protections afforded by the deal are weak and generally unenforceable. Far from being a milestone for environmental protection, the TPP does little to safeguard or promote a healthy environment.  More here.

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

Climate Change Plays a Sinister Role in More Ways Than One

by Larry Powell

Many of us would be surprised to hear that climate change actually played a role in the civil war in Syria, that disastrous conflict that has dragged on for five weary years now. But that’s precisely what the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in the US concluded in a report last year. A terrible drought ravaged that country for at least four years before the war began. It wiped out crops, forcing farm families into urban centres in a mass migration that greatly increased internal tensions. Keep in mind, Syria was already a country rife with poor governance and unsustainable farming and environmental policies. 

Now, using evidence from tree rings covering the past thousand years, the Earth Institute at Columbia University has added some new perspectives. In a study just published in the “Journal of Geophysical Research,” it concludes with confidence, not only was this drought aggravated by our burning of fossil fuels, it was likely the worst in 900 years.

Methane Emissions Are Spiking, But It Might Be More Cow Than Car

climateprogress

Since 2006, atmospheric levels of methane — a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period — have steadily been on the rise. For years, scientists weren’t sure what was behind the rising levels of methane, but they had a few ideas: namely an increase in fossil fuel-related emissions. More here.

Woodfibre LNG Gets Approval From Ottawa

NATIONAL

OBSERVER

Environment and Climate Change Canada, has given the green light to the controversial Woodfibre LNG project, ruling on Friday that the proposal is "not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects." More here.

Behind Closed Doors–the Vulnerability of Big Meat Production

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

More than 400,000 turkies and chickens have been euthenized in massive animal factories in Indiana this past month. It's an attempt to contain a new strain of avian flu in the U.S. Last year, approximately 45 million birds were killed to contain the spread of a different avian flu strain in the U.S. These epidemics are not limited to poultry: two years ago, a massive piglet virus outbreak killed an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. hog population. More here.