Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time on record

 The Guardian

Image Credit: NASA/Operation IceBridge

Usually frozen waters open up twice this year in phenomenon scientists described as scary. More here.

Deadly African swine fever arrives in China, the world’s largest producer of pigs

International Livestock Research Institute

A piglet, one of countless who died of Porcine Epidemic 

Diarrhea in Manitoba over the past 18 months. (A Manitoba Pork photo.) 

Diseases deadly to hogs, some of which can also spread to humans, are legion.

Long feared, it's now finally happened. African Swine Fever (ASF), an infectious and highly-lethal viral disease of pigs has, for the first time, reared its head in China. Story here.

RELATED; "In Hogs We Trust - Part 111"

Sources say pesticides linked to bee deaths will be phased out in Canada

Canada's National Observer

A honeybee forages on a flower. A PinP photo.

The federal government will begin phasing out the outdoor use of nicotine-based pesticides beginning in 2021, part of an effort to stop the mysterious decline of honey bee colonies around the world. More here.

A call for seagrass protection

Science Magazine

By Heather Dine. - NOAA Photo Library

Seagrass meadows - one of the most widespread coastal habitats on Earth - are in decline. Human coastal development and poor water quality are threatening the meadows - home to a wide array of marine plants and animals. More here.

Scourge of superbugs killing Malawi’s babies

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Babies are dying in their thousands in Malawi because drugs to treat common infections no longer work. We went to investigate. 

Related: In Hogs We Trust - Part 1 - Antibiotic Overuse. 

Why Is Glyphosate Sprayed on Crops Right Before Harvest?

EcoWatch

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, is recognized as the world's most widely used weed killer. What is not so well known is that farmers also use glyphosate on crops such as wheat, oats, edible beans and other crops right before harvest, raising concerns that the herbicide could get into food products. Story here.

EPA ordered to ban pesticide linked to learning disabilities

The Guardian

A "crop-duster" sprays a pesticide on a canola crop in Manitoba. 

A PinP photo.

A federal court said the US agency must prohibit the use of chlorpyrifos after seven states and DC backed the case against it. Story here.

In 2,006, I told the story of  a farmer in the Swan Valley of Manitoba. He said he and his family were sickened when the same chemical, chlorpyrifos (brand name, Lorsban) drifted onto his property from a field across the road. Read the terrifying tale of the Burqharts here. And listen to my report on CBC Radio (with images), below.

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.