A Third Smithfield Lawsuit Verdict Creates Alarm Among Producers

FarmJournal’s PORK

A Smithfield operation in Missouri. A Wikimedia photo. 

A third lawsuit against Smithfield Foods had found the company guilty for “unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks.” A federal jury placed the fine at $473.5 million to six neighbors of pig farms. STORY HERE.

Related: 

•                                                                            "In Hogs We Trust"  

                                           A critique of hog industry expansion in Manitoba.

Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse.

Part 11 - Government subsidies. 

Part 111 - The consequences of animal diseases, worldwide.

Part 1V - The environmental costs of an expanded hog industry in Manitoba.

Part V - Who’s behind Manitoba’s drive to expand? Click here and find out!

• Is Manitoba's factory hog industry becoming its own worst enemy?

Earth's Carbon Concentrations Have Soared to Levels Not Seen in 800,000 Years

ComonDreams

Sunset on the Canadian prairies. A PinP photo.

One NOAA oceanographer warns that even if humanity "stopped the greenhouse gases at their current concentrations today, the atmosphere would still continue to warm for next couple decades to maybe a century." Story here.

University of Saskatchewan (USK) is taken to Court

The Battles - DISCUSSIONS BY SANDRA FINLEY

USK refuses to disclose Right to Know symposium proceedings. More here.

With one island’s losses, the king penguin species shrinks by a third

ScienceNews

King penguin chicks, South Georgia. by Butterly austral.

It’s unclear what has happened to what was the largest of king penguin colonies in the 1980s. Story here.

When the EPA sided with factory farms, she quit. (Video)

Back in 2001, Michele Merkel worked for the EPA.

One of her first cases was with farmers who were suing mega-hog factory farms for polluting the community's air and water. When the EPA sided with the giant corporations, she quit.

Now Michele works at Food & Water Watch, fighting for laws and legislation that force our government and the EPA to protect your water, air and food from factory farms — as they are mandated to do.

Check out Michele's TEDx Talk to hear her story and how you can fight with Michele against factory farms.

State of the Climate Report Confirms Planet Has Entered 'New Neighborhood' of Global Temperatures

EcoWatch

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the results of what it calls the "annual checkup for the planet" Wednesday, and the patient is not doing well. More here.

Canada, U.S. governments watching, but not intervening, in coal mine pollution controversy

The Narwhal

U.S. officials accused Canada of omitting information on selenium pollution flowing from B.C.’s Elk Valley into Montana waters. Story here.

For Marine Life, New Threats from a Fast-Tracked Canadian Pipeline

Yale Environment 360

A new Canadian government-backed pipeline that will triple the amount of thick Alberta tar sands oil flowing to a British Columbia port poses significant risks for a threatened population of killer whales and other coastal marine life. Story here.

Unsurvivable heatwaves could strike heart of China by end of century

The Guardian

The most populous region of the biggest polluter on Earth – China’s northern plain – will become uninhabitable in places if climate change is not curbed. Story here.

Extreme global weather is 'the face of climate change' says leading scientist

The

Guardian

A farm family is isolated by widespread flooding in Saskatchewan, Canada. Circa 2005. PinP photo.

Prof Michael Mann declares the impacts of global warming are now ‘playing out in real-time.’  Story here.

Rivers in the Sky: How Deforestation Is Affecting Global Water Cycles

Yale Environment 360

Producing charcoal in the rainforest.
By User Kelberul on de.wikipedia 

A growing body of evidence indicates that the continuing destruction of tropical forests is disrupting the movement of water in the atmosphere, causing major shifts in precipitation that could lead to drought in key agricultural areas in China, India, and the U.S. Midwest. Story here.