Sunday, July 3, 2016

Court Rules Organic Farmers in Minnesota Can Sue Conventional GMO Farmers

GLOBAL
POSSIBILITIES
Court rules organic farmers can sue conventional, GMO farmers whose pesticides ‘trespass’ and contaminate their fields. Story here.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Can Organic Farming Feed the World?

EcoWatch

Forty five years have passed since Earl Butz, then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, asserted, “Before we go back to organic agriculture in this country, somebody must decide which 50 million Americans we are going to let starve or go hungry.” Time has proven Butz very wrong. Story here.

Coral With Leaves: Millions of Trees Joining the List of Climate Change Casualties

inside
climate
news

Mass die-offs in California, the Southwest and Europe are not only tied to global warming by new studies, they will add to it. Story here.

‘Guacamole-Thick’ Algae Takes Over Florida’s Atlantic Coast, 4 Counties Declare State of Emergency

EcoWatch
Algal blooms on Lake Erie, similar to Florida's. Photo by NOAA.

Waterways and beaches along Florida’s Atlantic coast have been taken over by thick, blue-green algae blooms, prompting Florida Gov. Rick Scott to declare local states of emergency in St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach and Lee counties. Story here.

These Fires Are Huge, Hidden And Harmful. What Can We Do?

ensia
Smouldering peat gives off massive quantities of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, but the search for solutions is on. Story here.

Friday, July 1, 2016

As World Burns, Richest Nations Can't Decide When to End Fossil Fuel Handouts

CommonDreams

Despite ambitious pledges, global energy ministers could not agree on a target date to phase out billions in subsidies to dirty energy. Story here.

Wild Creatures and Places in and Near Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, Canada.

by Larry Powell
Some of the wildlife and terrain we saw and photographed in and near the park. Enjoy!


















A lone member of the park's herd of prairie bison.



A shy (and rare) burrowing owl.






Ringneck pheasant





















Black-tailed prairie dogs

















"Seventy-Mile Butte"















A sweep of rare, wild prairie, preserved for posterity in the park. (All photos by PinP.)

Free Trade, the Democratic National Congress and the Climate Crisis

CommonDreams

The same day TransCanada Pipelines sued the U.S. government for $15 billion, the Democratic Party’s platform drafting committee met in Missouri. Between the two, there is a lesson to be learned about free trade and the climate crisis. Story here.

Victory in Canada as Court Strikes Down Northern Gateway Pipeline

CommonDreams

Opponents "said 'no' to Enbridge 12 years ago when it first proposed the project. And now that 'no' has the backing of the courts." Story here.

You Can Give Them Back Their Summers

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Forest fires are not an unusual thing in the Northwest Territories, but the summer of 2014 went beyond anything Yellowknife residents had seen before. The air quality index was at 10 or worse – the worst it can be – for much of the summer because of all the smoke. Story here.

RELATED: "B.C. remains quiet over polluted Hullcar aquifer"

Thursday, June 30, 2016

British Columbia Sinks Into Morass of Aquifer Contamination

VANCOUVER
SUN

Three professional hydrologists have told the provincial government that it should immediately impose a full ban on spreading liquid manure above a contaminated aquifer that provides drinking water to several hundred householders in the Okanagan Valley. Story here.